GOVERNMENT. 29

blind, to keep up the appearance of a just admi-

nistration of the law to the people, for every judg- ment is perfectly arbitrary.

The revenue consists of the ordinary taxes, and

in the levy of custom duties, but these are never

exacted in proper proportion, or after a fixed scale

;

for when a contribution is ordered to be levied

from Cairo, the country is generally forced to con-

tribute double the amount,—a very natural conse-

quence, when we consider that all the government

situations are held by officers, who purchase their

commissions from the governor. It is, of course,

an undei-stood thing, that one functionary endea-

vours to outbid the other, in which practice he is

encouraged by the knowledge, that he will in time

be able to make good his outlay. They certainly

cannot reckon on enjoying their privileges for any

length of time ; for if a person present himself, and

pay a few purses of money more, the colonel is not

long in finding a cause for turning one of his former

employes out of office, and conferring the vacant

situation on the new candidate. Every officer, there-

fore, endeavours to extort a.s much as he possibly

can by oppression, in the shortest possible time, in

order to reimburse himself for his expenditure, and

to gain something by his bargain. Each casheff, or

captain of a district, is provided with a few subor-

dinate officers, who are distributed in the distant

localities. These subalterns, and the Sheikhs el

Belled, or village magistrates, must occasionally