would not let the Grand Vizier himself pass without his tazcara. After he had swaggered himself tired, I told him I had lived twenty years in this country, and knew the regulations of Government better than he did; that no order applicable to Franks was ever issued without official notice of the same being communicated to the consuls s; and that, as no such notification in regard to passports had been made, I would not conform to it except by force. If he turned me back, I should lodge a complaint against him with the consul, who would hold him responsible for damages. He immediately lowered his tone, bade me go in peace, and say nothing more about the matter. I did so, and have never been annoyed with a similar demand from that day to this. He had mistaken me for a stranger and expected a bakshish" (gratuity).

Returning to the excellent letter of Mr. Grattan Geary, in the Times, alluding to the country, he proceeds: Bagdad is 510 miles from Bussorah by the river, and, the current being strong, it takes a steamer on an average nearly five days to accomplish the distance. The rich pasture land on both banks of the Tigris nearly as far as

Bagdad is in the hands of the nomadic Arabs. Immense flocks of sheep graze over these limitless plains, but they are not always the property of the Arabs in whose care they are. Many of the flocks belong to rich merchants of Bagdad, who pay the Arabs for looking after them. The children of the desert are punctiliously honest in fulfilling engagements of this kind entered into with the Jews and Armenians of Bagdad. For some years before the outbreak of the late war the Turks had succeeded in reducing the powerful tribes in this part of the country to something like order. But the withdrawal of the troops from the Pashalik of Bagdad to fight the Russians has allowed the old habits of the nomads to revive. One Sheik has taken to plundering the boats coming from Bagdad to Bussorah with grain, and in several instances he has murdered the crews. Other Arab tribes have commenced fighting among themselves. There is a considerable degree of anarchy, but as yet nothing like an organised rebellion against the Sultan's authority. When the troops return from the seat of war the troubles now prevailing will no doubt subside. There is a tendency among the Arabs to settle on

the bank of the river, and when the Arab becomes 'sedentary' he becomes comparatively civilised."

Of late great tracts of land in the neighbourhood of Bagdad have been laid down under corn. In 1877 50,000 tons of grain were sent down the river from the city to be exported from Bussorah. Land is being extensively brought into cultivation on the banks of the Euphrates, about Mosseyib and as far south as Hillah and beyond. Small irrigation canals are cut which the superabundant waters of the Euphrates fill to overflowing.

The great want is means of transport. At Bagdad a tramway, three miles long, from the city to the suburb of Kasmain, was made by Midhat Pasha. The cars are always full, inside and out, and the dividend paid is stated to be 100 per cent. Something of this description, or, far better, a railway from Bagdad to the Euphrates at Mosseyib or Hillah, and thence onward to Kerbela, a town visited by 120,000 pilgrims annually, is what is needed, and this would pay handsomely. At present to carry four shillingsworth of produce on donkeys' backs from Hillah to Bagdad costs six shillings.

Another great source of trouble to the cultivator

is the liability to raids by the wandering Arabs and the nomadic Kurds. Mr. Geary states:

66

Having returned to Bagdad from beyond the Euphrates, I set out for Mosul, opposite to the site of Nineveh, at the head of the navigable waters of the Tigris. I travelled along the foot of the hills to the east of that river, and about forty hours from Bagdad quitted the country of the Arabs to enter that of the Kurds. The country is generally under cultivation, barley being the principal cereal grain. The Kurds, who are settled on the soil, are much more industrious than the Arabs, but the nomadic Kurds are particularly truculent; they are true-born bandits, whom it is dangerous to meet and difficult to avoid. They are armed with matchlocks and pistols, and if they are very bad shots it is not from want of practice. The Kurds from the mountains are perpetually raiding on the villagers, carrying off sheep, goats, and corn. I was told of one case (west of Mardin) in which a clean sweep had been made of everything in sixty villages, the Kurds saying that for the last twenty years the Turkish Government had kept them from levying what was due to them, and now,

that there were no troops in the way, they had come to collect the arrears.'

In the hills close by Arbil (Arbela) there are fountains of petroleum, which have been running ever since the time of Alexander the Great.

Palestine, although now in a low condition, is still an agricultural country, and, wherever cultivation is carried on, richly repays the labour and expense laid out, upon it. Grain is grown on all the high lying valleys, which everywhere open out among the hills in the mountainous districts of Judea, Samaria, and Galilee; but the chief. corn districts are on the great plains of Sharon, Esdraelon, and Jordan, The yield of corn upon these plains is from 40 to 100 per cent. On the mountain slopes the vine, fig, olive, and mulberry flourish. Speaking of the vine, Mrs. Finn states:

Magnificent were the grapes which we saw at Hebron during the vintage. The plants are raised up and propped on three poles, about four to five feet long, and they stand in rows, with just room enough for the small Oriental plough to be driven between them. I counted the bunches on one vine, chosen at random. There were thirty easily to be seen, and as many more half hidden among