DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4372#0047
31
casion to observe that they are not apt to be struck by the
relation of any extraordinary phenomenon in Nature, unless it
be absolutely impossible; nor are they surprised at the magnifi-
cent structures of the anticnts, which prove the perfection of
many practical sciences at a period so far beyond the; limits of
our historical knowledge: they readily give credit to the narration
of wonders, if they are but attributed to former times, or to
distant countries ; while those facts only astonish them, which re-
quire the intervention of miracles or magic.
Our conversations with the Bey were carried on by the assist-
ance of a Greek, high in his confidence and service, known there
by the name of Ibrahim Kiachef: he was one of three brothers,
natives of Zante, Braziers by trade, who came to Egypt as adven-
turers ; and being naturally endowed with the quickness and spirit
of Zantiotes, they soon gained the confidence of Murat Be}', to
whose family they attached themselves. One of them, now known
by the name of Hussein Bey, attained the highest honours in the
Mamaluke aristocracy, though he has never been invested with
the pellise by the Pasha of Egypt, a necessary ceremony for the
establishment of his rank. Ibrahim, being probably the best
Brazier of the three, became Chief Engineer, and Master of lite
Ordnance to Murat Bey. The third brother, more enterprising
than the others,—having attached to his person a considerable
number of dependents, amassed some wealth, and made a power-
ful party among the Beys,—took advantage of a moment of con-
fusion and revolution in the kingdom of Darfour, and marched
thither with some thousand armed horsemen, and with the
means of levying a large body of the natives : by the assist-
ance of the Greek artisans and mechanics he took with him,
he fouuded four pieces of cannon, and waged a successful
war for some time against the king of Darfour. At the time of
the
casion to observe that they are not apt to be struck by the
relation of any extraordinary phenomenon in Nature, unless it
be absolutely impossible; nor are they surprised at the magnifi-
cent structures of the anticnts, which prove the perfection of
many practical sciences at a period so far beyond the; limits of
our historical knowledge: they readily give credit to the narration
of wonders, if they are but attributed to former times, or to
distant countries ; while those facts only astonish them, which re-
quire the intervention of miracles or magic.
Our conversations with the Bey were carried on by the assist-
ance of a Greek, high in his confidence and service, known there
by the name of Ibrahim Kiachef: he was one of three brothers,
natives of Zante, Braziers by trade, who came to Egypt as adven-
turers ; and being naturally endowed with the quickness and spirit
of Zantiotes, they soon gained the confidence of Murat Be}', to
whose family they attached themselves. One of them, now known
by the name of Hussein Bey, attained the highest honours in the
Mamaluke aristocracy, though he has never been invested with
the pellise by the Pasha of Egypt, a necessary ceremony for the
establishment of his rank. Ibrahim, being probably the best
Brazier of the three, became Chief Engineer, and Master of lite
Ordnance to Murat Bey. The third brother, more enterprising
than the others,—having attached to his person a considerable
number of dependents, amassed some wealth, and made a power-
ful party among the Beys,—took advantage of a moment of con-
fusion and revolution in the kingdom of Darfour, and marched
thither with some thousand armed horsemen, and with the
means of levying a large body of the natives : by the assist-
ance of the Greek artisans and mechanics he took with him,
he fouuded four pieces of cannon, and waged a successful
war for some time against the king of Darfour. At the time of
the