STORY OF EGYPTIAN OPPRESSION.

MR LANE, in his Account of the Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians, gives the following story as an illustration of the nature of the local government to which the people of Egypt are subjected:

The nazir, or governor of the southernmost district of the Delta, a short time before my present visit to the country, in collecting the taxes at a village, demanded of a poor peasant the sum of sixty rials, which was then equivalent to about thirty shillings. The poor man urged that he possessed nothing but a cow, which barely afforded sustenance to himself and his family. Instead of pursuing the method usually followed when a fellah or peasant declares himself unable to pay the tax demanded of him, which is to give him a severe bastinading, the nazir in this case sent the Sheik el-Beled to bring the poor peasant's cow, and desired some of the fellaheen or peasantry to buy it. They saying that they had not sufficient money, he sent for a butcher, and desired him to kill the cow, which was done: he then told him to divide it into sixty pieces. The butcher asked for his pay, and was given the head of the cow. Sixty fellaheen were then called together, and each of them was com pelled to purchase, for a rial, a piece of the cow. The owner of the cow went, weeping and complaining, to the nazir's superior, the late Mohammed Bey, defturdar. 'My master,' said he, 'I am oppressed and in misery: I had no property but one cow-a milch cow: I and my family lived upon her milk, and she ploughed for me, and thrashed my corn; and my whole subsistence was derived from her: the nazir has taken her, and killed her, and cut her up into sixty pieces, and sold the pieces to my neighbours-to each a piece, for one rial; so that he obtained but sixty rials for the whole, while the value of the cow was a hundred and twenty rials, or more.

I am oppressed and in misery, and a stranger in the place, for I came from another village; but the nazir had no pity on me. I and my family are become beggars, and have nothing left. Have mercy upon me, and give me justice: I implore it by the harem.'

The defturdar, having caused the nazir to be brought before him, asked him: Where is the cow of this fellah?' 'I have sold it,' said the nazir.

'For how much?"

'For sixty rials.'

'Why did you kill it and sell it?'

'He owed sixty rials for land; so I took his cow, and killed it, and sold it for the amount.'

'Where is the butcher that killed it?'

'In Menouf.'

The butcher was sent for, and brought. The defturdar said to him: Why did you kill this man's cow?'

'The nazir desired me,' he answered, and I could not oppose him; if I had attempted to do so, he would have beaten me, and destroyed my house. I killed it, and the gave me the head as my reward.'

nazir

'Man,' said the defturdar, do you know the persons who bought the meat?'

The butcher replied that he did. The defturdar then desired his secretary to write the names of the sixty men, and an order to the sheik of their village, to bring them to Menouf, where this complaint was made.

The nazir and butcher were placed in confinement till the next morning, when the sheik of the village came, with the sixty fellaheen. The two prisoners were then brought again before the defturdar, who said to the sheik and the sixty peasants: Was the value of this man's cow sixty rials?'

'Oh, our master,' they answered, her value was greater.'

The defturdar sent for the cadi of Menouf, and said to him: 'Oh, cadi, here is a man oppressed by this nazir, who has taken his cow, and killed it, and sold its flesh for sixty rials; what is thy judgment?'

The cadi replied: He is a cruel tyrant, who oppresses every one under his authority. Is not a cow worth a hundred and twenty rials, or more? and he has sold this one for sixty rials: this is tyranny towards the owner.'

The defturdar then said to some of his soldiers: 'Take the nazir, and strip him, and bind him.' This done, he said to the butcher: 'Butcher, dost thou not fear God? Thou hast killed the cow unjustly.' The butcher again urged that he was obliged to obey the nazir. Then,' said the defturdar, 'if I order thee to do a thing, wilt

thou do it?'

'I will do it,' answered the butcher.

'Kill the nazir !' said the defturdar.

Immediately several of the soldiers present seized the nazir, and threw him down; and the butcher cut his throat, in the regular orthodox manner of killing animals for food.

Now, cut him up,' said the defturdar, into sixty pieces.'

This was done the people concerned in the affair, and many others, looking on, but none daring to speak. The sixty peasants who had bought the meat of the cow were then called forward, one after another, and each was made to take a piece of the flesh of the nazir, and to pay for it two rials; so that a hundred and twenty rials were obtained from them: they were then dismissed; but the butcher remained. The cadi was asked what should be the reward of the butcher, and answered, that he should be paid as he had been paid by the nazir. The defturdar, therefore, ordered that the head of the nazir should be given to him; and the butcher went away with his worse than valueless burden, thanking God that he had not been more unfortunate, and scarcely believing himself to have so easily escaped until he arrived at his village. The money paid for the flesh of the nazir was given to the owner of the cow.

Most of the governors of provinces and districts, Mr

Lane adds, carry their oppressions, of which the above is an instance, far beyond the limits to which they are authorised to proceed by the ruler of Egypt.

SHIP WRECK OF THE ENGLAND OF NEWCASTLE.

WRITTEN BY ONE OF THE SUFFERERS.

HAVING paid for a passage homeward from Quebec, on board the England of Newcastle, a vessel of 400 tons burden, laden with timber, and bound for Greenock, I lost no time in taking possession of my berth, and found that I was the only passenger. The vessel set sail with a pilot on board, on the 9th of November 1835. Nothing remarkable occurred while in the river, except that we had to come to anchor on account of a heavy snow-storm, and lay-to for about twenty-four hours, when we weighed anchor and set sail, our pilot leaving us the next day. In sailing through the Gulf of St Lawrence, we one night saw the aurora borealis of a splendid red colour, and both master and seamen remarked, that they had frequently seen it of a deep yellow or orange colour, inclining to red, but never before had seen it of such a blood-red hue. We all conjectured that the appearance portended a violent storm, but to our great delight the wind continued favourable, and the weather remarkably fine for several days. On the 20th, however, it began to blow fresh from the north-west, and up to the 23d it increased, till it amounted to a hurricane. Our ship was now obliged to run before the gale under close-reefed fore-top-sails. She also laboured much, and two men were placed at the wheel which governs the rudder. The sea had become tremendous, and our master was evidently under great trepidation, and a good deal alarmed. Being unable to go on deck

himself, he was constantly calling down the mate, and asking how matters looked. It was proposed to heave her to; but it was our captain's opinion, that in such a heavy gale, to do so would prove at once fatal: he advised them to stand firm by the wheel, and keep her scudding.

The night which now closed in upon us, will never be obliterated from my remembrance. I was sitting by the cabin fire, occasionally going up the companion-ladder or stair, to see how things looked, the master moving up and down the cabin, much discomposed, when a tremendous sea broke over the stern of the vessel, carrying destruction before it. The wheel came down with a crash through the cabin sky-light in broken fragments, and in an instant we were in total darkness. The floor of our cabin was almost immediately covered with water, and a scene of horror and confusion ensued which beggars description. The two men who had been at the wheel came down the companion, having fortunately caught hold of something as the water dashed them forward on the deck. In a few minutes all were down in the cabin; and having good tinder-boxes, we soon struck a light again, and getting a lantern, all hands went on deck except the captain. The state of the deck was terrible to look at the hammocks swept overboard, with great part of the bulwarks; the water-casks broke loose, and going to pieces. After getting the helm lashed, and keeping the ship to, the wind moderating a little, we went to the pumps, and found she was leaking considerably. All hands at once yoked to the duty of pumping. We wrought incessantly all night, and found that, by doing so, we could keep the water from gaining. We all joined in the work except the captain, who was in a bad state of health, and had been so for a considerable time before. The one-half rested while the other pumped. When the morning came, to our utter consternation we found our rudder had been broken, and rendered quite useless. It only hung together, and kept flapping violently against the stern of the vessel, at every blow breaking, and opening the seams of the ship. At length the broken