dred and forty ounces of gold, in one fepulchre, which was in the tower of a temple. The anonymous conqueror fays alfo, that he was prefent at the digging up of another fepulchre, from which they took about three thousand Caftellanos.

The caves of the mountains were the fepulchres of the ancient Chechemecas; but, as they grew more civilized, they adopted in this and other rites, the cuftoms of the Acolhuan nation, which were nearly the fame with thofe of the Mexi

cans.

The Miztecas retained in part the ancient ufage of the Chechemecas, but in fome things they were fingular in their cuftoms. When any of their lords fell fick, they offered prayers, vows, and facrifices for the recovery of his health. If it was restored, they made great rejoicings. If he died, they continued to fpeak of him as if he was ftill alive, and conducted one of his flaves to the corpfe, dreffed him in the habits of his mafter, put a mafk upon his face, and for one whole day, paid him all the honours which they had ufed to render to the deceafed. At midnight, four priefts carried the corpfe to be buried in a wood, or in fome cavern, particularly in that one where they believed the gate of paradife was, and at their return they facrificed the flave, and laid him, with all the ornaments of his tranfitory dignity, in a ditch; but without covering him with earth.

Every year they held a feftival in honour of their laft lord, on which they celebrated his birth, not his death, for of it they never spoke.

The Zapotecas, their neighbours, embalmed the body of the prin

cipal lord of their nation. Even from the time of the first Chechemecan kings aromatic preparations were in ufe among thofe nations to preferve dead bodies from speedy corruption; but we do not know that these were very frequent.

As the prefent Government of Egypt is chiefly in the hands of the Mamlouks, we have extracted the following particular account of that body, from Monf. Volney's Travels in Egypt and Syria.

Military Conftitution of the Mam

TH

louks.

and

HE Mamlouks, on obtaining the government of Egypt, adopted measures which feem to fecure to them the poffeffion of the country. The most efficacious is the precaution they have taken to de grade the military corps of the Azabs and Janiffaries: thefe two bodies, which were formerly the terror of the Pacha, are now as infignificant as himself. Of this the corrupt wretched government of the Turks has alone been the caufe; for, previous to the infurrection of Ibrahim Kiaya,the number of Turkish troops, which fhould confift of forty thousand men, infantry and cavalry, had been reduced to lefs than half that number, by the avarice of their officers, who diverted the pay to their own ufe. After Ibrahim, Ali Bey completely deftroyed their confequence. He firft difplaced all the officers who gave him umbrage; left unfilled the places that became vacant; deprived the commanders of all influence; and fo degraded all the Turkish troops, that at this day the Janiffaries, the Azabs, and the five K 4

other

other corps, are only a rabble of artizans and vagabonds, who guard the gates of thofe who pay them, and tremble in the prefence of the Mamlouks, as much as the populace of Cairo. The whole military force of Egypt really confifts in the Mamlouks. Some hundreds of these are difperfed throughout the country, and in the villages, to maintain the authority of their corps, collect the tributes, and improve every opportunity of extortion; but the main body continually remains at Cairo. From the computation of well-informed perfons, it appears, their number cannot exceed eight thoufand five hundred men, reckoning Beys and Cachefs, common freedmen, and Mamlouks, who are ftill flaves. In this number there are a multitude of youth under twenty and twenty-two years of age.

The most powerful houfe is that of Ibrahim Bey, who has about fix hundred Mamlouks. Next to him is Mourad, who has not above four hundred, but who, by his audacity and prodigality, forms a counterpoife to the infatiable avarice of his rival: the rest of the Beys, to the number of eighteen or twenty, have each of them from fifty to two hundred. Befides thefe, there is a great number of Mamlouks who may be called individual, who being fprung from houfes which are extinct, attach themfelves fometimes to one, and fometimes to another, as they find it their intereft, and are always ready to enter into the service of the best bidder. We must reckon

likewise fome Serradjes, a fort of domeftics on horfeback, who carry the orders of the Beys; but the whole together does not exceed ten thousand horfe. No mention is here made of infantry, which is neither known nor efteemed in Turkey, especially in the Afiatic provinces. The prejudices of the ancient Perfians, and of the Tartars, ftill prevail in thofe countries, where war, confifting only in flight and purfuit, the horfeman, who is beft qualified for both thefe, is reputed the only foldier; and as, among barbarians, the warrior is alone the man of diftinction; to walk on foot is held to be degrading, and is, for that reafon, referved for the common people. The Mamlouks, therefore, permit the inhabitants of Egypt to be carried only by mules or affes*, referving to themselves the exclufive privilege of riding on horfeback; and of this they make fufficient use; for whether they are in town or the country, or if they only make a visit to the next door, they are never seen but on horfeback. Their drefs, as well as the fupport of their dignity, obliges them to this. This dress, which does not differ from that of every other perfon in eafy circumftances in Turkey, deferves to bę defcribed.

Dress of the Mamlouks.

First, they have a wide fhirt of thin cotton, of a yellowish colour, over which they wear a fort of gown of Indian linen, or the light ftuffs

of

This

of Damafcus and Aleppo. robe, called antari, defcends from the neck to the ankles, and folds. over the fore-part of the body, towards the hips, where it is faftened by two ftrings. Over this first covering is a fecond, of the fame form and width, the ample fleeves of which defcend likewife to the finger ends. This is called a coftan, and is ufually made of filk ftuff, richer than the former. Both thefe are fastened at the waift by a long belt, which divides the whole drefs into two bundles. Above them is a third, which is called djouba, which is of cloth without lining, and is made nearly in the fame manner, only the fleeves are cut at the elbow. In winter, nay frequently even in fummer, this djouba is lined with fur, and is converted into a peliffe. Lastly, over these three wrappers, they put on an outer garment, called the beniche. This is the cloak or robe of ceremony, and completely covers the whole body, even the ends of the fingers, which it would be deemed highly indecent to fuffer to appear before the great. The whole habit, when the beniche is on, has the appearance of a long fack, from out of which is thruft a bare neck, and a bald head, covered with a turban. The turban of the Mamlouks, called a Kaouk, is of a cylindrical shape, yellow, and turned up on the outfide with a roll of mullin artificially folded. On their feet, they wear a fock of yellow leather, which reaches up to the heels, and flippers without quarters, always liable to be left on the road. But the moft fingular part of this drefs is a fort of pantaloon, or trowlers, fo long as to reach up to the chin, and fo wide, that each of the legs is

large enough to contain the whole body, and made of that kind of Venetian cloth which the French call faille, which, although as pliant as the d'Elbeuf cloth, is thicker than the burre of Rouen; and that they may walk more at their ease, they faften, with a running fash, all the loofe parts of the drefs I have been defcribing. Thus fwaddled, we may imagine the Mamlouks are not very active walkers; and those who are not acquainted by experience with the prejudices of different countries, will find it fcarcely poffible to believe, what however is the fact, that they look on this dress as exceedingly commodious. In vain may we object that it hinders them from walking, and encumbers them, unneceffarily, on horfeback, and that in battle a horfeman, once difmounted, is a loft man. They reply, It is the custom, and every objection is answered.

Horfe accoutrements of the Mamlouks.

Let us now examine, whether their horfe accoutrements are more rational. Since the Europeans have had the good fenfe to examine the principles of every art, they have found that the horfe, in order to move freely under his rider, fhould be as little harneffed as the folidity neceffary would permit. This improvement, which has taken place among us in the eighteenth century, is ftill very far from being adopted by the Mamlouks, who have scarcely arrived at the knowledge of the ninth. Continually the flaves of cuftom, the horfe's faddle among them is a clumfy frame, loaded with wood, leather, and iron, on which a truffequin rifes behind, eight inches in

height above the hips of the horseman. A pummel before projects four or five inches, fo as to endanger his breaft, fhould he stoop. Under the faddie, inftead of a stuffed frame, they fpread three thick woollen coverings, and the whole is faftened by a furcingle, which, inftead of a buckle, is tied with leather thongs, in very complicated knots, and liable to flip. They ufe no crupper, but have a large martingale, which throws them on the fhoulders of the horfe. Each ftirrup is a plate of copper longer and wider than the foot, with circular edges, an inch high in the middle, and gradually declining toward each end; the edges are fharp, and are ufed, inftead of fpurs, to make long wounds in the horfe's fides. The common weight of a pair of thefe ftirrups is between nine and ten pounds, and frequently exceeds twelve or thirteen. The faddle and faddle-cloths do not weigh less than five-andtwenty; thus the horfe's furniture weighs above fix-and-thirty pounds, which is fo much the more ridiculous, as the Egyptian horfes are very fmall.

The bridle is equally ill contrived; it is a kind of fnaffle, but without a joint, and with a curb, which, being only an iron ring, binds the jaw fo as to lacerate the fkin, fo that the bars are injured, and the horfe abfolutely has no mouth. This neceffarily refults from the practice of the Mamlouks, who, instead of managing the mouth, like us, deftroy it by violent and fudden checks, which they employ particularly in a manceuvre peculiar to them. This confifts in putting the horfe on a full gallop, and fuddenly stopping him, when at his highest speed. Check

ed thus by the bit, the horse bends in his hind legs, ftiffens the fore, and flides along like a horfe of wood. How much this manœuvre muft injure the legs and mouth may eafily be conceived; but the Mamlouks think it graceful, and it is adapted to their mode of fighting. Notwithflanding however their fhort ftirrups, and the perpetual motion of their bodies, it cannot be denied that they are firm and vigorous horfemen, and that they have a warlike appearance, which pleases the eye even of a ftranger; it must also be allowed, they have fhewn more judgment in the choice of their

arms.

Arms of the Mamlouks.

Their principal weapon is an English carbine about thirty inches long, and of fo large a bore as to difcharge ten or twelve balls at a time, which, even without skill, cannot fail of great execution. They befides carry at their belt two large piftols, which are fastened to fome part of their garments by a filk ftring. At the bow of the faddle fometimes hangs a heavy mace, to knock down their enemy, and on the left thigh is fufpended, by a fhoulder-belt, a crooked fabre, of a kind little known in Europe; the length of the blade, in a right line, from the hilt to the point, is not more than twenty-four inches, but measured in the curve is at least thirty. This form, which appears whimfical to us, has not been adopted without motives; experience teaches us, that the effect of a strait blade is limited to the place and moment of its fall, as it acts merely from preffure: a crooked blade, on the contrary, prefenting, its edge in

retiring,

retiring, flides by the effort of the arm, and continues its action longer. The barbarians, who generally apply themselves moft to the deftructive arts, have not fuffered this obfervation to escape them; and hence the ufe of fcymetars, fo gene

ral and fo ancient in the Eaftern world. The Mamlouks commonly procure theirs from Conftantinople, and from Europe; but the Beys rival each other in Perfian blades, and in fabres of the ancient fteel of Damafcus, for which they frequently pay as high as forty or fifty pounds iterling. The qualities they efteem in them are lightnefs, the equality and ring of the temper, the waving of the iron, and, above all, the keenness of the edge, which it must be allowed is exquifite; but thefe blades have the defect of being as brittle as glass.

Education and Exercises of the

Mamlouks.

The art of ufing thefe arms conftitutes the education of the Mamlouks, and the whole occupation of their lives. Every day, early in the morning, the greater part of them refort to a plain, without Cairo, and there, riding full fpeed, exercife themselves in drawing out their carbine expeditiously from the bandaleer, difcharging it with gooda im, and then throwing it under their thigh, to feize a piftol, which they fire and throw over their fhoulder; immediately firing a fecond, and throwing it in the fame manner, trufting to the string by which they are faftened, without lofing time to. return them to their place. The Beys

who are prefent encourage them; and whoever breaks the earthen veffel which ferves by way of butt, receives great commendations and money, as a recompenfe. They practife alfo the management of the fabre, and efpecially the coup de revers which cuts upwards, and is the moft difficult to parry. Their blades are fo keen, and they handle them fo well, that many of them can cut a clew of wet cotton, like a piece of butter. They likewise fhoot with bows and arrows, though they no longer use them in battle; but their favourite exercise is throwing the djeride this word, which properly means a reed, is generally ufed to fignify any staff thrown by the hand, after the manner of the Roman pilum. Inftead of a staff, the Mamlouks make use of branches of the palm-tree, fresh ftripped. Thefe branches, which have the form of the ftalk of an artichoke, are four feet long, and weigh five or fix pounds. Armed with thefe, the cavaliers enter the lifts, and, riding full fpeed, throw them at each other from a confiderable distance. The affailant, as foon as he has thrown, turns his horfe, and his antagonist purfues, and throws his in his turn. The horfes, accustomed to this exercife, fecond their mafters fo well, that they feem also to share in the pleasure. But this pleasure is attended with danger; for fome can dart this weapon with so much force, as frequently to wound, and fometimes mortally. Ill-fated was the man who could not escape the djerid of Ali Bey! These sports, which to us feem barbarous, are intimately connected with the poli