GOVERNMENT. 29 blind, to keep up the appearance of a just administration of the law to the people, for every judgment 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 contribute double the amount,—a very natural consequence, 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 endeavours 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, therefore, 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 subordinate officers, who are distributed in the distant localities. These subalterns, and the Sheikhs el Belled, or village magistrates, must occasionally