POMPEY'S PILL All. 379 



which amount at a moderate computation to 100,000 crowns ; among 

 other things, there were 2,000 camels, 1,800 sheep, and 30 fine 

 Arabian horses; in addition to several purses of money. No circum- 

 stance could render the son's case more deplorable, except that the 

 wretch should pass unpunished. This inhuman murder he endeavoured 

 to excuse by giving out that the Sheik was cut off on account of a 

 secret con-espondence he had discovered between him and the rebels : 

 a report as false as it was needless, for pvery body was well apprised 

 that his only crime was his wealth. Riches in these parts seldom 

 or never fail of proving fatal to those who possess them. The several 

 Pashas or commanders dispersed over the vast Ottoman empire are 

 trusted with an absolute power, which, as men in general are less 

 prone to good than evil, they frequently abuse. A man is no sooner 

 known to be rich than he is marked out for destruction. The 

 Pashas, the representatives of the Grand Signor, are in oflSce durino- 

 his pleasure, so that their chief business is to acquire the most they 

 can, and by all accounts there are few who do not make a good use 

 of their time ; they enrich themselves by all manner of extortion and 

 rapine, and by the destruction of those whom it is their duty to 

 protect. But after all, they seem to be only the sponges of the 

 Grand Signor, to whom they are obliged to recommend themselves 

 by presents of immense value. 



Jan. 21. — Returned to Alexandria; on the 23d measured the 

 base of Pompey's pillar more exactly, having brought ladders for 

 that purpose. 



Jan. 24, 25. — Went out with the Theodolite accompanied by 

 Mr. M.'s Janissary ; took a base of 100 feet, and found the pillar 

 to be 92 feet high, without reckoning the separate stones by which 

 it is raised four feet from the ground. By means of a cord round 

 the foot of the pillar I found the circumference to be 27 feet, four 

 inches and a half Le Brun and Lucas both describe the column, 

 but do not agree in the measure. 



Jan. 16. — Went out with Dr. Turnbull to the pillar, removed some 

 of the stones below, and found that the pivot of five feet square on 



3 c 2 



