The tax upon the palm-trees has been calculated to amount to about a hundred thousand pounds sterling. The trees are rated according to their qualities; generally at a piaster and a half each. The income-tax, which is called “firdeh,” is generally a twelfth or more of a man’s annual income or salary, when that can be ascertained. The maximum, however, is fixed at five hundred piasters. In the large towns it is levied upon individuals; in the villages upon houses. The income-tax of all the inhabitants of the metropolis amounts to eight thousand purses, or about forty thousand pounds sterling. The inhabitants of the metropolis and of other large towns pay a heavy tax on grain, etc. The tax on each kind of grain is eighteen piasters per ardebb (or about five bushels); which sum is equal to the price of wheat in the country after a good harvest.[231] ----- Footnote 208: Though his territory has been greatly lessened since the above was written, his power in Egypt remains nearly the same. Footnote 209: The government of Egypt, from the period of the conquest of this country by the Arabs, has been nearly the same as it is at present in its influence upon the manners and customs and character of the inhabitants; and I therefore do not deem an historical retrospect necessary to the illustration of this work. It should, however, be mentioned that the people of Egypt are not now allowed to indulge in that excessive fanatical rudeness with which they formerly treated unbelievers; and hence European travellers have one great cause for gratitude to Mohammad ’Alee. Restraint may, at first, increase, but will probably, in the course of time, materially diminish the feeling of fanatical intolerance. Footnote 210: “Khideewee” is a relative adjective formed from the Turkish “Khideev,” which signifies “a prince.” Footnote 211: Thus pronounced in Egypt, but more properly “Kyáhya,” or “Ketkhud′a.” Footnote 212: A very arbitrary power is often exercised in this and similar courts, and the proceedings are conducted with little decorum. Many Turkish officers, even of the highest rank, make use of language far too disgusting for me to mention, towards persons brought before them for judgment, and towards those who appeal to them for justice. Footnote 213: He used to arrive in Cairo in the beginning of Ramadán; but the beginning of the first month, Moharram, has of late been fixed upon, instead of the former period. Footnote 214: The Egyptian piaster is now equivalent to the fifth part of a shilling, or 2¼_d._ Footnote 215: This law is borrowed from the Jews. See Deut. xix. 15.—A man may refuse to give his testimony. Footnote 216: A purse is the sum of five hundred piasters, and was then equivalent to nearly seven pounds sterling, but is now equal to only five pounds. Footnote 217: