them down; and, when in despair they fled into the interior of their barracks, fire was employed to root them out. Placed between the unsparing element on one side and the equally merciless foe on the other, not a man of the twenty thousand who were stationed in Constantinople escaped; and the same relentless severity having been shewn to the others throughout the empire, their dominion, after an existence of four and a half centuries, was thus ruthlessly terminated.

A new war in 1828 marked the perpetual advances of Russia. Taking advantage of the humiliation of Turkey at Navarino, she caused her general Diebitsch in 1829 to cross the Balkan, and dictate the dishonourable treaty of Adrianople. The contest with Mehemet Ali, whom she soon afterwards secretly excited, still more weakened Turkey's power. The battles of Homs and Koniah, following in rapid succession, so effectually crippled the Porte, that the sultan was under the humiliating necessity of applying to St. Petersburgh for protection, and the Czar with a show of magnanimity interposed to prevent its impending ruin.

Mehemet Ali, being betrayed, was furious; and, after stifling his wrath for some years, Ibrahim Pasha, his son, in 1839, burst forth with the ferocity of a tiger. At the decisive battle of Nezib the Turks were disastrously defeated, and the Capitan pasha shortly afterwards went over with the whole of the Ottoman fleet to the Egyptian viceroy. The proud heart of the sultan Mahmoud survived but three days the intelligence of this humiliation and treachery; and the inexperience of his son and successor Abdul Medjid, the present ruler, then but a youth of nineteen, was ill qualified to contend with a politician so profound as Mehemet, or a leader so impetuous as Ibrahim. The latter accordingly carried every thing before him. Acre was taken, Syria overrun in a space incredibly short, and Constantinople itself in danger, when Britain, Austria, Russia, and Prussia, deemed it expedient to interfere in 1840 with their celebrated quadruple alliance. The conduct of the Egyptian viceroy on this occasion, who chivalrously allowed the English mail and communications to pursue their course uninterrupted through Egypt, at a time when British fleets were battering his towns and assailing his forces, will probably be considered by posterity as the most interesting

trait of this contest; though it was memorable also from the circumstance of St. Jean d' Acre having yielded in three hours to the fire of the British fleet under Stopford, after it had for three months successfully resisted Napoleon, restrained during as many years Richard Coeur de Lion and the whole of the Crusaders, and finally, but a short period before, been captured only after a fierce siege of six months by Ibrahim Pasha in person.

For the consideration of those who would sacrifice all for the claims of commerce, and permit the erasure of an ancient state from the European chart merely in the hope of profiting by a temporary and delusive peace, it may be added that, even measured by the vulgar standard of trade, Turkey is not unimportant. It contains, in round numbers, a million of square miles, and twenty-two millions of men. Besides a vast militia, it has an army of a hundred thousand infantry and artillery, twenty-five thousand regular cavalry, and fully a hundred thousand irregular troopers, comprising in their ranks some of the fiercest horsemen that ever spurred across a field. It possesses a fleet, equipped or in ordinary, of fifteen vessels of the line, and at least as many frigates. In 1840 upwards of five thousand ships of commerce entered Constantinople, including five hundred English, whose tonnage amounted to a hundred and twenty thousand, with cargoes of the value of 625,000l. These considerations are not unimportant, and though the popular mind is inclined to think the days of the Turkish empire are numbered, the people are now shewing a spirit and an energy which may after all cause the Russian troops to be driven back ingloriously should they make an attempt on Constantinople. As far as the interests of the Greek Church are concerned, we cannot wish for the triumph of the Czar.

A STRING OF FACTS ABOUT SIAM.

A SKETCH of Siam will be in its main outlines a picture of the whole region situated between Hindostan and China. Recent events render it not improbable that our intercourse with this extensive tract of country will be less restricted than it has hitherto been, and a glimpse at the natural history, the government, the religion, the literature, the arts, the manners and customs, and the prospects of one of its most important nations may neither be uninteresting nor useless.

The territory under our notice is estimated to have an area of 190,000 geographical miles. It contains numerous rivers of small size, but only three of importance the Menam, the river of Cambodia, and the river of Martaban. This territory is mountainous, with the exception of Siam Proper, which is a great plain, traversed and annually inundated by the Menam.

The Siamese style themselves Thai," the free," and they are said to be divided into two races, the Thai Noe, the inhabitants of the low country, and the Thai Yai, a hardier race, who dwell in the mountainous districts. There are also numerous settlers from Pegu, Hindostan, China, and Cochin China, and a few of European descent, who are almost entirely of Portuguese extraction. Bangkok, the capital of the kingdom, is celebrated as a floating city, for none save the royal family, and the highest nobles, are permitted, except as a special favour, to build upon solid ground. "On each side of us," says one who visited this curious city,

as far as the eye could see, were countless little houses, neatly painted, and all floating upon the surface of the smooth waters, by means of strongly constructed bamboo rafts." Again this writer says, "Large Chinese junks, with a complement of full two hundred men, were hallooing and beating gongs, and hoisting up their anchors; others, that had only just arrived, were equally busy about their moorings; European ships, of all sizes and nations, were hoisting in cargo, or landing imported bale goods, whilst numberless canoes, chiefly moved about by women and girls, were paddling to and fro in all directions, laden with various sorts of commodities for apparel or for household consumption."

Amongst the articles of export are sugar, tin, timber, rice, gum, gamboge, oil, ivory, pepper, stick-lac, sapan-wood, and cotton. Amongst the imports are arms, ammunition, anchors, cutlery, piecc-goods, crockery, and mirrors. Amongst the fruits are the mango, the mangostein, the durian, the orange, the lichi, the pine-apple, and others. Tobacco is also a Siamese product, and agila, or aloes-wood, is found in the hilly equatorial districts. Sapan-wood furnishes a red dye, and there is a fine-grained red wood, which is exported for cabinet-work. There are forests of teak, whose wood is chiefly employed at home. Gold, iron, copper, zinc, lead, and antimony, are mineral productions of Siam, and tin is found throughout the whole Malay peninsula.

The bear, a kind of otter, the dog, the cat, the tiger, and the leopard, are met with, and the elephant is considered to reach its greatest perfection in Siam. Elephants are freely used as beasts of burden, and for riding. White elephants are greatly reverenced; they are regarded as the temporary abode of a soul that has approached far towards perfection, and are adorned with jewels, attended by numerous servants, and exempted from all labour.

The ox, the buffalo, the goat, and various species of deer are found, and monkeys are plentiful. Tortoises, crocodiles, lizards, and snakes, are Siamese reptiles. Boas are met with twenty-two feet in length. The coccus lacca is a Siamese insect; the lac obtained from it is said to be much superior to that of Bengal and Pegu. White ants are annoying; to preserve books from them the edges were varnished with a gum named cheyram, which is very transparent, and cannot be eaten through by these insects.

The Siamese average about five feet three inches in height; their arms are long, and their lower limbs large. They incline to corpulence. Their faces are broad and flat, their cheek-bones high and broad, their noses small, their mouths wide, and their lips thick but not prominent. Their eyes are small and black, and their foreheads very low. Their colour is yellowish, and this is made almost golden by a cosmetic.

The Siamese dress very lightly. A piece of silk or cotton, about three yards long, is their chief garment. This is passed round the middle, and over this the richer Siamese frequently wear a China crape or India shawl. A narrow

scarf, worn around the waist, or loosely over the shoulders, is the only remaining garment that is essential. Dark and grave colours are most approved. White is only worn by the religious recluses, and by the lay servants of the temples. It is the mourning colour. The hair is worn about two inches long on the top of the head, the rest is shaved by the men, and cut close by the women; but this shaving is not very carefully attended to, so that a man and a woman are not generally distinguished easily by a stranger. Black teeth are in great request, and they stain them at an early age. Their nails are suffered to grow to a great length, and the higher classes even wear artificial ones of metal.

Their houses are said either to float on bamboo rafts or to be built on piles, but this probably refers to certain situations only. But many of their towns are on the banks of the Menam, whose annual inundations are a chief cause of the aquatic habits of the Siamese. They are simply furnished, and have a central apartment for the household deities. Mats, a table without feet, vessels of iron, copper, or tin, bowls of porcelain or clay, and buckets of woven bamboo, are their chief furniture. The richer classes have a sort of bedstead, and wall cushions to lean against, with some European articles.

The government of Siam is purely despotic. The name of the monarch is not to be uttered, and it is said to be known only to a few. His health is not to be asked about, for he is to be reckoned free from bodily infirmities. The present king however, who has only reigned a short time, is said to be an accomplished scholar. He has sent his sons to Singapore to be educated, and has induced many of the chief men of Siam to do the same. Every man above twenty years of age, with certain exceptions, is bound to serve the king for four months annually, in civil or military service. The revenue was estimated in 1823 at somewhat above £3,000,000, and this calculation has been approved subsequently.

Buddhism is the religion of Siam. The transmigration of souls is its chief doctrine. Do not kill anything, do not steal, commit no impurity, lie not, drink no intoxicating liquor, are precepts of the Siamese Buddhists. But the talapoins or priests do not object to have one of these commandments broken for them, for they will eat animal food