18386.

er. 52.

BIEN.

{ thd

subject which seerne -se5s8 so much interest with
practical mind of wx "wrhe. Judge then of my astonish
ment when I found that the burden of his discourse
cotton / The speaker was bcasting of the richness #8
fertility of his territory. nd to illustrate the producti?
ness of Egypt, he gave us en account of the harvest of *
particular village in his favourite article of cotton: I
entered into a minute calculation of the population, numb?
of acres, the weight of the produce, the cost of raising, 8%
the value in the market, and then gave a glowing picture
the wealth and prosperity . this village, which bore ¥
resemblance to any place ever seen by myself or any othe’
traveller in his miserable country. It was certainly th
most audacious puff ever practised upon the credulity of #
audience, when Mehemet Ali vaunted the happiness aud
wealth of some ©sweet Auburn’ in his wretched and oF
pressed Pachaziick. In repli tu his statement, whic
savoured so Little of truth that I thought it harmonize!
completely with the fale- ression of the lips whic
nttered it, the Consul ¢ir'. * i the Pacha’s attention to the
gentleman immediately his left, who was from Manchest®
in England, and whom L: described to be. better acquainte?
than any person present with the subject he was speakits
apon. At this remark, he turned sharply round, and di
rected a look towards me, in which, as in every glance o!
his eye, suspicion and cunning predominated. He pause
for a moment, and the Colonel, not knowing whether b¥
hesitation arose from having imperfectly understood him
repeated in substance his observation, and explained tha!
Manchester was the chief seat of the British manufacture
and that Liverpool was the port by which the materis!
reached that place. Mehemet Ali had not apparently eve’
heard of either of these cities. There was another pause ©
half a minute, and a slight embarrassment in his manner