1S35.] Notes of a Tour through Palestine. 447 



part of the coast, the worms being fed on the large white mulberry, 

 but they use the large wheel in winding it, and the fibre is much 

 coarser and inferior to that of Dharwar. 



The Egyptians came to Syria under the most favorable circumstan- 

 ces. The people received them with open arms, and more than by the 

 exertions of the invading army, promoted their success. The Pasha 

 promised them a three years' exemption from taxes, and held out 

 manv other fair prospects. But he forgot to keep his word ; nay more, 

 he levied much heavier imposts than the officers of the Sultan had 

 been wont to take : which from his greater military establishments, and 

 the superior energy of his government, he was enabled to enforce. The 

 miri or land tax of the Porte, is 1 I oOf the gross produce. All the land is 

 therefore saleable, and the nobility and great men get a good rent, be- 

 sides the tax, from their private estates. Very large estates belong to 

 the crown, from the law that makes the Sultan heir to all his great 

 officers, and to all who die without direct heirs ; in which case the rent, 

 in addition to the miri, goes to the exchequer. The Government dues 

 are taken in three instalments or kists, and those due before harvest 

 are realized through an intermediate agent, called the Soo-basha, gen- 

 erally one of the great landed proprietors or Turkish gentlemen, who is 

 regularly recognised by the Government as the person through whom 

 such payments are to be made. He then, exactly as happens in India, 

 keeps a running account with the village, contriving that they shall 

 always be considerably his debtors ; and in recovering his advances, 

 what with interest (18 percent, per annum), gratuities, fees, &c. he 

 contrives to make from 30 to 40 per cent. The Egyptian government 

 now says to the rayahs, " we will release you from the Soo-bashas, 

 we will take our 10 per cent, only, in one instalment at harvest, but, 

 you must pay us also an additional sum, equal to the profits formerly 

 made by the Soo-basha. The poor rayahs are forced to agree, and go 

 on borrowing from the Soo-basha as much as ever. They were not 

 ill off under the Porte, and now see their error, and bitterly repent 

 the aid they lent to their more imperious tax-masters. Again, the 

 Pasha has introduced lately his absurd system of monopolies, begin- 

 ning with the silk, which he takes at a price, a very low one, fixed by 

 himself, selling it again at a very enhanced one. I ascertained the 

 prices of grain in Egypt, where the same system is in force. He takes 

 \- of the produce of all rice lands in kind, and buys the whole remain- 

 ing j crops at 25 piastres the ardib or measure, shuts it up in his 

 shoons or store-houses, and retails it for 75, at which price the very 

 fellah who raised it is obliged to re-purchase it. In Syria this gave 

 rise to increased discontent, and an attempt to enforce a military 

 3 m 2 



