THE PURSE OF FORTUNATUS. 63 Still subject to the above qualifications, I maintain my assertion that, in the East, the sons of the same father by different mothers are apt to regard each other as enemies rather than friends, as rivals rather than colleagues. It is obvious that this state of things creates a serious objection to the principle laid down by the law of Mahomet, that a man's heir is not his oldest son, as in the West, but his oldest surviving male relative. This objection tells especially in the case of royal personages. In the ordinary course of nature, a son can count upon succeeding to his father ; but in the case of brothers, presumably about the same age, the chance of a younger son succeeding an elder is of very little actuarial value. Thus the temptation to expedite the termination of a reigning prince's life is apt to overcome all scruples of conscience or considerations of blood relationship. It is, therefore,-conceivable enough that the advisability of removing j this temptation from the path of his male relatives, / many of whom were much of his own age, by fixing ( the right of succession to the throne automatically \ upon his eldest son, should have recommended itself / to a suspicious nature, such as Ismail's, as an addition ( to his personal security, and as an advantage well ) worth purchasing, even at a heavy cost I have no/ ground to say that the Khedive had any just cause for the apprehensions to which I allude, but I do say that, with his intimate knowledge of the events which had attended changes in the succession to the throne both in Turkey and Egyptj' the advantage of