be purchased. This profaned judgment-hall includes three distinct tribunals, each of which has its separate Cadi, and its own particular jurisdiction. The Cadis are all appointed by the Sultan, at Constantinople, and pay a high price for their offices, which invest them, in return, with the power of dispensing justice to the highest bidder, and of practising the most audacious acts of oppression.

The Court of the third Cadi, who tries the least important causes, was a large open gallery, having a having a divan at one end, on which the reverend functionary was seated, while a group of lawyers and scribes sat in a semicircle before him. Two miserable Arabs, who had had a quarrel, were seated in this magic curve, arraigning each other with great acrimony, and witnesses were called on both sides, and flatly contradicted each other in every point—a common occurrence here, where a witness may be obtained

to swear anything for twopence halfpenny. Such petty causes are usually decided in a summary manner, and the party who has the least money, not only loses his cause, but is severely bastinadoed into the bargain.

In a large room above, we saw the second Cadi, a fine old man, with a long white beard, which gave him a very venerable appearance. None but great civil causes are tried by this court, which consists only of the Cadi, and his clerk. We were passing on, when the Cadi invited us to stay, and on our complying, ordered us coffee. Being accompanied by an interpreter, we were able to converse with him, which we did for about twenty minutes, and found him a strange compound of good sense, shrewdness, and simplicity. He was very inquisitive about English jurisprudence, and would hardly believe that corporal punishment was not administered in our courts of justice, or that there was frequently a long

interval between the commission and the ex

piation of an offence. In the East, a man commits a theft, and is tried, convicted, and punished within the half-hour.

Leaving this hospitable magistrate, we proceeded to another room, where we found the first Cadi, who is the supreme judge of the vice-royalty, and tries only very difficult He was magnificently dressed, in

causes.

red and gold, and was sitting alone, in great state, on a divan of rich silk, where he smoked his long pipe in perfect ease. He seems to have duties corresponding with our Lord Chancellor's, and is perfectly independent of the Pasha, and subject only to the Sultan, from whom he derives power, when the ends of justice require it, to summon the Pasha and all his officers into his court, and call them to account. But I have already intimated that no one well supplied with money need have any misgiving about

this great functionary; and I must record an instance of flexibility in such cases. Mr. P——, the agent of a well-known house, had a bill on a native, which he wished to recover, but it was necessary, as a first step, to prove that the bill belonged to him, and, of course, it bore the name of the firm. The difficulty seemed insurmountable, but a native lawyer suggested a resource;

and a shilling being invested in witnesses, it was proved in court that Mr. P—— was the son of the firm; on which the money was ordered to be paid.

1

CHAPTER V.

The Citadel of Cairo-Mosque of Mehemet AliMoslem Carnival - The College of DervishesCurious religious ceremony-Presentation to the Viceroy-The Nepaulese Ambassador-Visit of the ladies to Ibrahim Pasha's hareem.

ON the heights, behind Cairo, rises the citadel, commanding a splendid view of the city, and of the surrounding country. It forms the eastern boundary of Cairo, and is strongly fortified and garrisoned. From its bristling ramparts, the spectator may survey