HISTORY. 19

species of cruelty. Thus it happened that one of

these servants was tempted to dip his finger into a

dish to taste it. The Defturdar, unfortunately, ob-

served the act. He demanded of the unhappy man,

in an ironical tone, whether the dish were sweet or

sour? The servant was naturally mute with fear. The Defturdar now ordered him to be nailed by the

tongue to the door and his face to be smeared with

honey, in order, as he expressed himself, to stimulate

his gustator)^ faculties. In this position the unfor-

tunate man had to pass two full hours. It took a

long time before he recovered, and a variety of

remedies were required to heal his tongue.

A seyss or groom, whose office is, according to custom in Egypt, to run before the rider, was inca-

pable of kce])ing up with the Defturdar from abso-

lute fatigue, in a long and quick trot. The tyrant

struck him with his whip to quicken his pace. The

unfortunate man, who was, however, quite exhausted,

as may be supposed, did not become more active

after this remedy had been applied. For this crime

the unnatural barbarian had his feet bound to the

tail of a horse, and ordered the animal to be driven

through the streets of Lobeid by two other seyss. The unhajipy groom would, no doubt, have met

with his death in this manner, were not the streets

paved merely with fine sand ; thus he received many

wounds, but none which proved mortal. The horse,

unaccustomed to such usage, turned suddenly round,

and struck at the unfortunate seyss, who, in despe-

c 2