Sketch of the present State of Palestine. [Dec. 
falls to produce another still greater. 
If a peasant be robbed, it becomes ne¬ 
cessary to plunder his neighbour: for, in 
Order to escape the poetical justice of the 
pacha, the robber must obtain the means 
Ot paying for the first by the commission 
of a second crime. The pacha, when 
be condescends to visit his district, in¬ 
stead of remedying and avenging the 
wrongs of the inhabitants, is himself, in 
lact, their most terrible scourge. Ills 
arrival at Jerusalem is dreaded more 
than the incursion of the most ferocious 
enemy: the shops are shut; the tenants 
of the mansion hide themselves in th» 
subterraneous passages of the city; some' 
stretch themselves on their pallet and 
feign death; others fly to the mountains. 
As we were at .Teru-.alem at the time of 
the Pacha’s arrival, we can attest the 
truth of this statement. The individual 
wliom we saw, was, (like most of the 
mussulmen of this quarter,) a slave to 
tile most sordid avarice. In his quality 
of chief of the caravan of IMecca, he 
thought himself authorised to muhiply 
his exactions, and there was no expedient 
of rapine which he did not practise, un¬ 
der pretext of collecting means for the 
protection of the pilgrims. One of Ids 
aiost usual devices was that of fixing a 
very low maximum for the price of provi- 
•ioiis. With tins the populace was de- 
ligiited; but the tradesmen shut their 
ihops. Tne consequence was—a scar¬ 
city: the paclia then made a secret com¬ 
promise with the shopkeepers; for a 
certain nuiiTber of purses, he gave them 
permission to sell at any rate they 
pleased. They naturally sought to in¬ 
demnify themselves for the sums they had 
paid to him, by putting a most extrava¬ 
gant price upon their commodities, and 
thus tlie populace, perishing a second 
time with hunger, was compelled to sa¬ 
crifice almost every article of clothing in 
order to procure food. We saw him 
practise at Jerusfilem a still more inge¬ 
nious scheme of vexation : Jle sent bis 
cavalry to pillage some Arabian farmers 
on the other side of the Jordan. These 
good folks, who had paid the miri or tax, 
and wlio did not think that they were in 
a state of w ar^ were surprised in the midst 
of their tents and docks, and robbed of 
about two thousand five hundred goats 
and sheep; an hundred calves; a thou¬ 
sand asses, and six mares of the best 
breed. The camels alone escaped. A 
fcheik. called them'from a distance, and 
iiidvf th^tu into th» mountains, wher^ 
their milk constituted the sole resource 
of tlieir unfortunate owners. 
An European w'ould not readily ima¬ 
gine wiiat the pacha did with this booty. 
He affixed to each of these animals a 
price of about treble its value. He tiien 
sent the whole of them so estimated to 
tiie butchers, to various individuals of 
Jerusalem, and to the chiefs of the adja¬ 
cent villages. The alternative for the 
persons thus favoured, was to pay or to 
suffier death. We confess that, if we had 
not been ourselves eyewitnesses of this 
accumulation of iniquity, we would not 
have believed it possible. 
The pacha retires at length, after 
having completely drained Jerusalem, 
Bur, in order to avoid paying the guards, 
and under the pretence of providing au 
escort for the caravan, he generally takes 
with him ail the troops to be found. 
The governor is then left with a handful 
of assistants, who are insufficient for the 
purposes of the domestic police of tlie 
city, and altogether unequal to the task 
of preserving order thougbout the cou-n- 
try. The year preceding our visit, he 
was obliged to conceal liimself in liis 
house, in order to elude the search of a 
hand of robbers who had leaped over the 
walls and attempted to plunder the city. 
After the departure of the pacha, 
another evil, the consequence of his op¬ 
pressions, usually displays itself. Tlie 
oppi tssed vilia.gc-s rise in arms, and make 
war upon each other for the purpose of 
gratifying hereditary feuds. All com¬ 
munication is then cut offi. Agriculture 
languishes in every direction. The pea¬ 
sant, during the night, lays waste the 
vineyard, and destroys the olive of liis 
enemy. The pacha returns the follow¬ 
ing year, and exacts tlie same tiibute 
from a riiiiMnished population. Tliere 
must be then an aggravation of tyranny : 
and whole settlements are exterminated, 
in order to satisfy his thirst of rapine and 
of blood. The scene of desolation 
widens by degrees: the only objects 
which remain for the eye are houses, at 
distant intervals, crumbling to ruins, aud 
near them burial-places constantly aug¬ 
menting in size. Every year a hut pe¬ 
rishes—a family disappears; and, at 
length, nothing but the cemetery remains 
to point out the spot upon which the vil¬ 
lage once stood. 
I cannot conclude this irregular nar¬ 
rative without indulging in some remarks 
concerning the character and manners of 
the Arabs as they fell under my obser- 
Tacio* 
