It is very extraordinary, to find a race of men in power, all agree to leave their succession to strangers, in preference to their own children, for a number of ages; and that no one should ever have attempted to make his son succeed him, either in dignity or estate, in preference to a slave, whom he has bought for money like a beast.
The Beys themselves have seldom children, and those they have, seldom live. I have heard it as a common observation, that Cairo is very unwholesome for young children in general; the prostitution of the Beys from early youth probably give their progeny a worse chance than those of others.
The instant that I arrived at Cairo was perhaps the only one in which I ever could have been allowed, single and unprotected as I was, to have made my intended journey.
Ali Bey, lately known in Europe by various narratives of the last transactions of his life, after having undergone many changes of fortune, and been banished by his rivals from his capital, at last had enjoyed the satisfaction of a return, and of making himself absolute in Cairo.
The Port had constantly been adverse to him, and he cherished the strongest resentment in his heart. He wished nothing so much as to contribute his part to rend the Ottoman empire to pieces.
A favourable opportunity presented itself in the Russian war, and Ali Bey was prepared to go all lengths in support of that power. But never was there an expedition sosuccessful
