the fenior furvivor executes all diplomatic functions, thus wifely guarding against any impediment which a cafualty might throw in the way of negotiation. tion was not at all lively or interefting; for though I fat between them, our words had to make a wide circuit before they reached each other's' comprehenfion. I fpoke in the language of Hindoftan to a Muffulman who understood Birman; he delivered it to a Birman who fpoke Chinefe: this Birman gave it to the first official domeftic, who repeated it to his mafter in the Chinese tongue. Our wines, port, claret, and Madeira, all excellent of their kind, were ferved up; thefe, however, were too cold for Chinese palates; my vifitants did not feem to relish them; but when cherry-brandy was introduced, their approbation was mani. fefted by the fatisfaction with which each of them fwallowed a large glass full of the liquor,: they tafted our tea, and, before they departed, politely prefented me with fome fans, two or three pieces of filk, two small boxes of tea, and three bottles of fhouchou, a very fiery spirit diftilled from rice, of which the Chinese are extremely fond. I returned the vifit on the following day, and was received with as much pomp and of tentation as circumstances would admit; in front of the house a filk enfign waved, on which was embroidered the imperial dragon of China, and at their gate were fufpended whips and chains, importing the power which the owner poffeffed to inflict corporeal punishment. The two junior members met me at the threshold of their habitation, apologized for the unavoidable absence of the chief perfonage, and introduced me into a hall, the walls of which were concealed by fcreens of filk, and the chairs covered with loofe pieces of fattin. This interview was render The two junior members of the Chinese deputation came at the appointed hour, accompanied by feven or eight attendants. There is no perfonage on earth fo foiemn and ceremonious as a Chinese officer of ftate; his dignity is preferved by profound filence, unlefs when occafion renders it neceffary to exercife the faculty of speech, which is always flow, monotonous, and dull; even gentlemen in the familiarity of private life, feldom depart from their gravity, or relax into a fmile. On entering a room where there is company, good breeding is evinced by a modeft but pertinacious refufal to fit down till the mafter of the houfe is first seated, which would be an equal violation of decorum on his part. This cuftom, I was told, fometimes produces a very ludicrous fcene, and the guests are not unfrequently obliged to be dragged to their chairs, and placed in them, almoft by compulfion. My houfe being about to undergo fome alteration, I had caufed a fuite of tents, which I had brought with me, to be pitched for our temporary accommodation; in these I made arrangements to receive my vifitors, who were exact to their time. On entering the door of the marquee they both made an abrupt ftop, and refifted all folicitation to advance to chairs that had been prepared for them, until I fhould firft be feated. In this dilemma Dr Buchanan, who had vifited China, advised me what was to be done; I immediately feized on the foremoft, whilst the doctor himself grap-ed more interefting than the former, pled with the fecond: thus we foon fixed them to their feats, both parties, during the struggle, repeating Chin Chin, Chin Chin, the Chinefe term of falutation. The converfa by a fpontaneous queftion on the part of the fenior Chinese, to know whether I had heard of the fafe arrival of Lord Macartney in England. His Lordfhip having left China only the preceding preceding year, it was not poffible to have had accounts of his reaching England, and the iffue of his Lordhip's negociations was at that time wholly unknown; confequently, being unacquainted both with the ob jects and event of that fplendid miffion, I felt myself rather on delicate ground in regard to the inquiries which I, on my part, wished to make. In order to draw fome conclusion from their difcourfe, I encouraged them to purfue the topic, by afking how his Lordship's health had borne the viciffitudes of climate? they replied, that they only knew of the embaffy from report, and feem ed reluctant to enter into particulars with which, it is probable, they were entirely unacquainted; I did not, therefore, prets the subject farther; but I was not suffered to remain long in doubt what their fentiments were. Chinese vanity scarcely yields to that of the Birmans; here was an opportunity, by exaggeration and mifreprefentation, of indulging their own pride at the expence of the English nation, which, in the accounts circulated by them at Ummerapoora refpecting the embaffy to China, they did not neglect. They treated us with tea and fweetmeats, and smoked their long pipes with unrelaxed folemnity. I repaid their civilities by giving them fome broad cloth and brandy, and took my leave. (To be continued.) DESCRIPTION OF THE SITE OF ANCIENT TROY. From Capt. Franklin's Remarks and Observations on the Plain of Troy, made during an excurfion in June 1799. THE modern village of Bunarba shi, and fite of ancient Troy, is fituated on an eminence at the upper part of the plain, and rifes gradually from the fources of the Scamander, at the distance of half a mile. If a traveller be defirous of viewing to advantage the fituation of ancient Troy, he will place himself midway betwixt the fprings and the city, and near to where formerly ftood the Scaan gate. The city of Troy appears to have been bounded on the eaft and fouth by Mount Ida, and north and weft by the Simois, and the plain. From behind the village of Bunarbafhi the hills rife gradually, and at the distance of two miles from the agha's house are terminated by the lofty ftations of the tomb of Hector, and other high ground. It is here that the appellation of Io vscóscar, or wind-fwept Ilium, occurs to the mind of the fpectator in full force when the Levanters blow the flurries coming over the broken ridges of Ida, muft here be experienced in their utmost violence. -Placed on this eminence, it requires no great stretch of imagination, to bring in review the tranfactions of the war, and the fate of Ilium, as fung by the divine bard. The feveral barrows are all in view, all in the pofitions they ought to occupy: and as they impreffed on my own mind, with so full a conviction as not to leave the smallest doubt remaining, but that I ftood on the very lite of Troy, or near it; fo I cannot think it poffible that any one can perfonally view the evidence afforded by the difpofition of the country round, and these monuments in particular, without complete fatisfaction in his mind, that Homer defcribed this fcene from characters that are indelible. Barrows, it is true, are common to other countries, but that we fhould have a rifing ground for the pofition of the city, a plain fuited to the conflicts of the armies, fweeping down to the Hellef pont, two rivers, one on each fide this plain, joining at no great diftance from the sea, added to the different barrows, all in the very places where they ought to be, cannot be the effect of chance, and are cir.cumftances fo various, that no country could produce them all, unless it were the very fpot defigned. Had I ever been fo fceptical (and doubts 1 certainly had,) I could not fee two barrows, one large, and one fmaller, at Sigæum, without confeffing that fuch they ought to be according to the Iliad, and fuch their place. I could not fee the Rhoeteum marked by another barrow, without reflecting that Ajax was encamped on the left of the line, and that on the left he ought to have been buried. I could not view the barrow of Ef yetes, marked out by Strabo, and fixed at the most advantageous point for reconnoitring, without recalling the affigament made of it by Homer to this purpose: but above all this, when I faw the barrow of Hector at the back of Troy, still marked by the pile of flones which Homer allots to this, and this only, I could not help thanking Mr Morritt for pointing out this peculiarly to my notice, and I must add my teftimony to his, that fuch is the fact; the tones are piled as his drawing reprefents them, and their appearance is not exaggerated. Now that all these circumftances fhould be united in the fpace of a few miles by accident, and that they fhould all correfpond with Homer, is beyond the power of calculation, if the fact were not true; no other fpot in the world could be accommodated to the defcription, or anfwer to the particulars required; and if this fpot does anfwer with fo much precifion, both generally and efpecially, here and no where elfe muft we look for Troy. ACCOUNT OF THE DJEOUABY ARABS AND THE BEDOUINS. From Memoirs relative to Egypt by the learned and fcientific Men who accompanied the French Expedition. their cattle. This tribe has, more than any other, preferved their ancient cuftoms; they are merely fhepherds, and refufe to cultivate the foil. Their manners are mild, and partake of the fimplicity of their way of life, They are not, however, exempted from the turbulence of the paffions, and efpecially that of love, which in every country, and efpecially in the Eaft, is clofely allied to jealoufy; and this fometimes hurries them into the most cruel exceffest. The clothing of the Djeouabys confits. *The Djeouabys have for their leaders Karamit-abou-ghaleb, chief fheik of the tribe, Hhadjy-thahh-aloudihil, and Hhadjy ica abou-al. This tribe is compofed of about two thousand men, and poffeffes about fixty horfes. †They never make war, and only take up arms to defend themselves, and even this but rarely; they almost always trade for money. Haoud, a refpectable old man, head of a large family, and a dependant on Bhadiy Taha, had his only fon affaffinated in the arms of his wife. She had had a former husband, who repudiated her on frivolous pretences; but, filled with love and confifts of an ihhram and a bernous, a kind of cloak fimilar to the furplice which is worn by thofe that officiate in the Romish church; it is made of white wool. This ftuff, which is ufed to clothe both men and women, is manufactured in Barbary: it is bought at Cairo, but chiefly at Alexandria. The women fpin the wool from their own sheep to make the cloth used for their tents, and other common purposes. The wealth of the Djeouabys, and in general of the Arabs of the defert, confifts in camels and fheep, whilst that of the Arabs who inhabit the villages is in large cattle; for thefe laft have but few camels. Who would imagine, that in the midst of deferts, a ftyle of eafy circumstances eftablishes the fame diftinctions as with civilized people, and turns afide natural propenfities? The Arabian women do not all fuckle their own children; the more opulent employ wet nurfes. Those mothers who do not aban don their children to hired nurses, appear equally fufceptible of the fame feelings towards this tender age as the more civilized people. At the attack of an Arabian camp, which was furprised by fome of our troops, the men took to their horfes and fled with precipitation towards the Nile, abandoning the women to their fate. Thefe, whether by the impulfe of the moment, or from reflection, thought to protect themselves from the fury of the foldiers, and retard their progrefs, by laying their children at the feet of their purfuers. This, however, did not stop our brave men; for in the midst of purfuit they lifted from the ground thefe little innocents, gave them into the arms of their mothers, and continued as before to follow their enemies. It is very difficult to prevent diforder from reigning in a camp taken by affault. In thefe cafes the Arab women, under the apprehenfion of fubmitting to the defires of the conquerors, have been known to have recourfe to a fingular ftratagem, in order to inspire disgust, that of befmearing over their faces with cowdung. The Arabs of the defert bear the name of Khaiah Arabs, or inhabitants oftents-khaiah meaning canvas. The village Arabs are called Khaith, or dwellers within walls. These laft were once wandering tribes, who gradually approaching a more cultìvated country, at firft dwelt in tents, but infenfibly changed them for fettled habitations like the fellahs of Egypt. There is no kind of convention which binds the members of any tribe to the chief; he is almost always of an ancient family, and refpected as fuch; but to maintain his authority as the head of the tribe, he must employ perfuafion, address, accommodating manners, in a word, all the art of an experienced leader; he has, however, the right of making peace or war, and is charged with what concerns the general welfare of the tribe. 1. As foon as peace is made with a tribe, or a treaty commenced, the chief is invefted with a cloak, or peliffe; and this cuftom of making prefents is fo fully established, that the contract would not be thought binding without this diftinction. The Arab fheiks negotiate with a fort and rage, this atrocious wretch fwore that he would kill, with his own hand, every one who fhould marry her, and he kept his word. Haoud not being able to bear the fight of the murderer of his own fon, had retired to Upper Egypt, and, without wishing it, he had drawn with him several families. This unfortunate father, perceiving that his retirement occafioned diforder in the tribe, has rather chosen to fupprefs his refentment than injure the common intereft, and has returned to Bhadjy Taha. But he appears always melancholy, his eyes filled with tears, and he drags out a languishing existence. fort of dignity, or rather referve, like all other knaves. What has been called eating bread and falt with their new friends, and which has been thought fo facred a pledge, is, in fact, a mere farce, confecrated by custom. The Arabs on each bank of the Nile have shown that they pay no regard to the facredness of an oath: they violate their own treaties whenever fear or intereft impels them to it. When the Arabs prefent themfelves before a perfon whom they refpect, they leave their horfes at about a hundred paces distance, and then advance on foot. They know no other laws than that of retaliation. Where there are no penal laws, nor magiftrates to put them in execution; murder would go unpunished, if affaflination did not, in fome degree, fupply the want of pub. lic energy. Hence it is, that this, which with us is looked upon as a bafe crime, becomes a legitimate act of vengeance, which is purfued by the relations of the fufferer from generation to generation. Thefe murders conftantly foment warfare between different tribes, or between the wandering tribes and the villages. It is then called having blood between them. Sometimes, to ranfom the blood and to restore peace, a payment is made as a compromife; but this is accounted shameful, and thus the weak or pufillanimous become doubly tributary to the stronger. The villages that refufe to pay, are liable to be pillaged three times. Thefe plunders ftrike the country with terror, and make the inhabitants regard the Arabs as fome of the most formidable fcourges with which they are afflicted. I afked a fheik if he had had the plague this year in his village? We have had,' faid he, the plague and the Arabs.' great pains to avoid thofe that are fuffering under them. The fmall-pox leaves very confiderable pitting in their faces. Notwithstanding the prejudices of religion, the bodies of thofe dead of the plague are burnt with the greatest care. The ages of their children are dated from certain events or periods: thus thofe born in this year will date from the entry of the French into Egypt. The Arabs have a kind of chronicle, which comprehends about ten years. They have no public regifters. The date of the birth of their children is written on a flip of paper over a page of the Koran, and that of the children of the village on the gates or walls of the houses. The want of chirurgical inftruments gives rife to a very fingular custom in gun-fhot wounds, the intention of which (however fulfilled) is to fupply the place of forceps to extract the ball when it has only made a flefh-wound. This cuftom is to make an incifion in the hinder parts of a frog, of a correfponding fize with the lips of the wound, and unite the whole with a good ligature. They pretend that this procefs, and the convulfive movement of the dying animal, draws to the furface the ball that made the wound. They then drefs the wound with oil or butter, and burn it with verdigrife, to hinder it from clofing too foon. It is for the fame purpofe, and in order to promote fuppuration, that they put in the wound a small ftone, which is the fame with the cautery which is employed, in Europe. The Arabs always carry with them that which makes the greater part of their riches, and with which they provifion their dwelling camps. They preferve their chopped ftraw and their grain in large pits dug under ground. The neighbourhood of a well of fresh water, a few flips of land of fcanty product, or falt lakes that can be worked with fome profit, de3 A The Arabs have a great dread of the fmall-pox and the plague: thofe who have not had thefe difeafes take Ed, Mag. May 1800. termine |