On getting possession of Syria, Mahomet Ali began there the same system that he had been pursuing in Egypt, but without having properly weighed the difference in the native character. He first laid heavy exactions on the purses of the inhabitants, who indeed had little to spare, the country producing scarcely more than enough for their own support. This they bore, though with grumbling: tax after tax was laid, and with difficulty raised; and a general dissatisfaction was the consequence. At length he demanded their sons for his army and navy, and at once, the whole infuriated populace rose into rebellion. “Take our purses,” they cried, “if it must be so; we can part with them; but our children we will not give.” Jerusalem, where the Egyptian garrison was strongest, was in a few days invested by a force of 20,000 men, fierce and lawless people, and now maddened into phrenzy. This was eleven weeks previous to our visit. The rebels were badly provided with ammunition, and had no cannon, but spread themselves over the hills around, hoping, perhaps, to starve the garrison into terms, or succeed by stratagem; or more probably, scarcely knowing themselves what they wanted, or whither to direct their efforts. It seems to have been a sudden and universal outburst of indignant feeling, almost without aim and without hope. The reader, to form a conception of the scene, must fancy a people, in color, costume, and disposition, very much like the Indian tribes bordering on our white settlements; for such, in a striking degree, are the appearance and character of the country population of Palestine. I have selected for this comparison the Indians dwelling on our borders, as their debased character and squalid appearance bring them nearer to the Arabs of Palestine than are their brethren further back; and except that the Arab lacks the broad face and high cheek bone of the Indian, I could almost have fancied the wild looking beings whom I have seen stalking into Jerusalem, to be a portion of the same wretched people we often meet in the streets of our frontier towns. Their dress consists of a _hyck_, a species of long blanket wrapped around them, in the manner that the blanket is used by our Indians; and, as with them, under garments are sometimes employed, and sometimes the _hyck_ is the only garment; over the head a handkerchief is thrown so as to leave the face exposed, and falls over the neck and shoulders, and this is kept in its place by a small fillet drawn tight over the temples. From beneath the handkerchief peep out dark elfin locks and black uneasy eyes, while the expression of the face is any thing but gentle or attractive. A large part of them are indeed robbers by profession, and plunder without scruple whenever any one more helpless than themselves may happen to fall in their way.