V 
EGYPT, AND SYRIA. 297 
feen with it of the length of eight or ten inches, which they 
^fteem a beauty. Their complexion is for the moft part per- 
fedly black. The Arabs, who are numerous within the em- 
pire, retain their diftindlion of feature, colour, and language. 
They moft commonly intermarry with each other. The flaves, 
which are brought from the country they call FertUy (land of 
idolaters,) perfectly refemble thofe of Guinea, and their lan- 
guage is peculiar to themfelves. 
In moft of the towns, except Cobbe, which is the chief 
refidence of foreign merchants, and even at court, the vernacu- 
lar idiom is in more frequent ufe than the Arabic ; yet the lat- 
ter Is pretty generally underftood. The judicial proceedings, 
which are held in the monarch's prefence, are conduced in 
both languages, all that is fpoken in the one being immediately 
tranflated into the other by an interpreter {Tergiman)^ 
After thofe who fill the offices of government, the Faqui^ or 
learned man, i. e. prieft, holds the higheft rank. Some few of 
thefe Faquis have been educated at Kahira, but the majority of 
them in fchools of the country. They are ignorant of every 
thing except the Koran. The nation, like moft of the North of 
Africa, except Egypt, is of the fed: of the Imam Malek, which 
however differs not materially from that of Shafei. 
Revenues 
