6o TRAVELS IN AFRICA, 
long, it Is fcarcely poflible that the maize, lentils, milk, butter, 
&c. on which he feeds, can amount to lefs than three paras or 
medines daily, for each individual. 
Tenure of Lands, 
An explicit declaration of Mohammed himfelf, " That pro- 
perty, after the death of the proprietor, cannot be detained 
from divifion among his heirs," fhews in how great refpe<S]t 
inheritance was held by him, and how little he was inclined to 
confider as annexed to the fovereign power, the property of the 
lands of the countries it governed. 
But the fame moderation and good policy has not been found 
among his fucceflbrs. His code has been perverted to fandion 
abufes, or trampled on by the infolence of power. 
In many of the countries over which the Othman emperor 
exercifes or claims the fovereign authority, the property of the 
land is claimed by the Government in right of conqueft ; 
and though material exceptions muft have had place in Egypt, 
with refpedt to the great number who embraced Moham- 
medifm, or confented to pay the Jizie^ and who confequently 
did not forfeit their lands, all thefe diftindions are now con- 
founded, and, alienations, forfeitures, and, more than all, violence, 
have reduced the whole to one undiftinguifhed mafs. 
The 
