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indulged in by our countrymen of all ranks. Can the agreeable, soothing, comparatively healthy, or at least, innocuous effects of this cheap and convenient fluid be for a moment likened to the deleterious, debasing results arising from the use of ardent spirits, drunk no matter under what guise. Diseases, the effects of drunkenness, and the horrors of delirium tremens, are almost unknown in Egypt. Why do not temperance societies endeavour to have the duties on coffee lowered, and by establishing shops for the sale of it, as manufactured in the east, afford the newly-reclaimed drunkard some slight but harmless stimulant, and give to all a refreshment loudly called for in this country? But the coffee must be prepared according to the oriental mode, and the price so lowered as to allow the poor man to purchase it as a luxury, without materially curtailing his income. I grieve to state what I

contumely, and signifies as well a noisy, boisterous person."Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians.

It is the cannabis Indica, or Indian variety, which is used as a stimulant; it is there principally cultivated as a luxury, and besides being smoked and chewed, an intoxicating beverage is extracted from it. Some suppose that our word assassin, a name applied to murderers at the time of the crusades, and who made, it is said, use of this drug, is derived from the word hashasheen: others say it was from As Hassin, or the old man of the mountains, their founder.

I have been informed by my friend Surgeon W. C. Hood, while these pages were passing through the press, that some plants of it are growing in the Apothecary's Gardens at Chelsea, and that it is there used for fumigating the green-houses, stoves, &c.

believe to be a fact, that Frankish intercourse is daily conducing to the drinking of wine in the east.

Few females of the better class are to be met with in the streets of Alexandria, but they throng the avenues of the capital in great numbers, and are nearly all dressed alike; the outer garment being a large black silk cloak, enveloping the whole person, and coming up over the head and low down on the forehead. It is open in front, and held out from the waist by the hands; as it does not meet before, the gown or under garment is displayed, a tunic of pink, rose-colour, or white. The face veil, or boorko, is mostly of white thick muslin attached to the head immediately below the eyes, and hangs down to the very feet, which are clad in large yellow leather boots. A more inelegant costume (figure they have none) I have never witnessed than a Mooslim female of the upper class, waddling along, wrapped in the voluminous folds of her immense cloak. Nothing whatever of a Cairo lady's person can be seen but the eyes; and they offer a striking contrast to the rather too accurately defined persons of the lower orders. I never saw females walk so badly as they do. This probably arises from their feet being so tender, owing to their walking so little, and remaining barefooted in the hareem. hands are never seen, as it is a point of etiquette to keep them concealed in the folds of the cloak.

The

Although these ladies appear in the most public places, and mix in the most crowded assem

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EASTERN COQUETTES.

blies, no acquaintance or relative, be he ever so near, brother, father, or husband, ventures to recognize them abroad, as it would be considered a very great affront so to do; implying that the lady exposed herself so much, that friends were able to recognise her in the public streets. Such are the manners of Egyptians towards each other; but the Frank who mixes in a crowd of Mooslim ladies, will soon perceive that eyes and elbows too speak most eloquently, and the gay titter that he hears on all sides, with the occasional drawing aside, as if by accident, of the face veil, done with an art that shows considerable progress in the science of coquetry, all tell him that the immured life the ladies here spend, is by no means congenial to their inclinations. The state of morality in the higher circles consequent on this condition of society, is just what might be expected.*

You frequently meet whole hareems proceeding rank and file to the bath, the tombs, or other places of public resort open to respectable females, mounted cross-legged on their donkeys, and at

* I have reduced much of my notes, obtained either by inquiry or observation, during my stay here, since I read Mr.

Lane's beautiful work on the manners and customs of the modern Egyptians; his long residence in the country, acquaintance with its language, adoption of its habits, and accuracy of description, have given him facilities not usually to be met with; and all who have walked the streets of the Egyptian metropolis, will recognize the accuracy of his lifesketched illustrations.

tended by their sable, beardless guardians. At other times some wealthy Turk mounted on his richly caparisoned horse, attended by his groom and pipe-bearer, and followed by his wives and children, who bring up the rear on donkeys, with a servant at the head of each.

A dog at the hotel attracted our notice; it had peculiar description of palsy, an interrupted and sudden seizure of the body, as if it had received an electric shock; the limbs bending under it, and the whole body trembling violently for a second, when it again appeared in perfect health. About six months previous, a Frank had the plague, and none would go near him; this dog, however, never left him, and carried to him whatever was left for his use; and was also in the constant practice of licking the plague sores. The man recovered, but the dog fell ill; boils, analogous to those of the plague, broke out on it; it remained in the apartment of the man it had so lately nursed, and finally, it, too, escaped; but it recovered with the affection I describe. It has since taken up its quarters at the Hotel de Jardin, and has become, by its history, a general favourite. In other respects, it is in good health.*

* In connection with this I may remark, that while at Alexandria, I was informed of an act of a British medical man, that redounds not less to the credit of the individual, than to the country that gave him birth. A man was dying of plague; one of the ulcers being over a large artery, it became, in medical language, phagedenic, or eating, and eventually opened the femoral

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AN ENGLISH PHYSICIAN.

26th. We visited the Basha's palace at Shoubrah, about three miles from the city; the road, one of the most beautiful about Cairo, lies parallel to, and at a short distance from the Nile, affording transient glimpses of the river, enlivened by the passing kanghias, gliding gracefully on the glistening stream, whose slender waving yards and white sails peep through the vistas of green foliage which here skirt the water. The road, which is raised some feet above the surrounding level, to permit access to the city during the inundation, is bordered by a continuous line of splendid lotus trees; and such is the rapidity of vegetation here, that although but fifteen years planted, they are of such size that in a short time their branches will meet at top, forming a magnificent shaded approach worthy of the queen of cities," and no where else to be equalled. The ground on either side was now green with corn and vetches, and clumps of white mulberry and olive trees start up here and there. The path itself is not the least interesting: the couriers passing and repassing upon their dromedaries, at a rapid pace, to the royal residence, and the number of persons

artery in the groin; haemorrhage commenced, and the blood gushed in such torrents, that life must, in a few moments, have become extinct. The surgeon, who was standing by, instantly thrust his fingers into the wound, laid hold of the bleeding vessel, and on the spot performed an operation which, under the most favourable circumstances, is looked upon as most intricate, and requiring considerable skill; that of taking up the iliac artery. The patient recovered, and the surgeon escaped the infection!!