The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1889-08-04
IN THE LANDS OF She
The Abode of Princely Thieves
and LOCALIZED Robbers.
THEPooR SOW AND THE RICH REAP
Every Man Compelled to Belong to One Of
the Few Recognized Religions
Fleeing as a Fine Art.

UPPER SYRIA, July 1, 1850 [Specia
Correspondence of The HERALD. AS
move about in the domains of
.'sHE WHO MUST BE vEILRD,"
may have ample opportunity to convey
information which can be gathered on tn,
spot concerning both the ancient anC
modern sciences, literature, history, Gus
toms and politics of this country, and per
haps time to write up the same, and al
though LIDO not promise positively to do al
this, yet 1 will occasionally breach some
subject connected with these lands. viii
now give an outline of the actual state OF
things in the Orient, referring chiefly tC
Turkey, Syria and Egypt.
The nomination of the supreme authori-
ties here, as l also understand is the case
with the prince of the believers at Nor
Deco, and in the other Barbary states, ex-
cepting the hereditary Office of grand
scherif Tor grand honOrable) who must be
prominent man, but literal descendant
is most frequently determined by wire
pulling or intrigue, and when absolutely
necessary, it is referred to the might of
arms. As consequence, the enforcement
VI CllS law, GllGl Is It's uC-
ponds, not upon the law or its provisions,
but upon the character or ambition of in
dividuals. Such a government, therefore,
though called a sublime empire is really
only mere form, having the outward
structure of monarchy, but lacking the
true power of lasting institution, namely,
harmony. Here we have not to do with
FEW PROMINENT TYRASTs,
but every man holding an office lin the
Ottoman empire especially has his court
iers, retainers and servants, and notwith-
standing his Office will only bring him in
80 or "a cents day, he will lounge about
and smoke a pipe with stem five feet long,
thus virtually demonstrating the necessity
of having a slave-bOy at the other end of
the pipe to light it for him, as certainly he
cannot himself be inhaling at one end of
the five-foot pipe while lighting it with d
match at the opposite extremity. This
same man expects to be saluted and have
his hands kissed by all the intellectual
scrubs VINO pass him. If he returns from
a trip, having perhaps gathered tithes for
the government or eXtorted taxes, most of
which he appropriates to his own uses, I'M
til his superior comes and makes him dis
gorge in turn his i'll gotten wealth, he (the
fOrmer) rides on 4 mule; behind him some
4
pots covered with skin. monotonously
punched, announce to the inhabitants of
the benighted city that they should make
room for person of consequence The
consequence is a dirty Arab bearing long
pole with a horses tail tied on the end |:
then comes donkey that brays vocifer-
ously at the prospect of soon being released
of his load; next, another Arab, pole and
a tail, then mule followed by another
horses tail etc, and at last the rabble who
follow this procession up to the grand
effendi's house.
These officers receive various names:
Sultan, pasha, ruaimaquam, kiaya- bey, aga
oualce or vale, etc, etc. The Sultan is the
leader of Islam. The kiaya is sort of
prime minister The aga is chief of the
war department The oualce is the head of
the military police. Then comes the
or superintendent of markets,
the base-aga, or civil police captain. In
every locality