always sing; and their airs are not destitute of melody.  The burthen of the song, upon the present occasion, was literally translated by Dr. Price, and was as follows:—­“The golden glory shines forth like the round sun; the royal kingdom, the country and its affairs, are the most pleasant.”  If this verse be in unison with the feelings of the people, (and I have no doubt it is,) they are, at least, satisfied with their own condition, whatever it may appear to others.”

Boat-racing, taming wild elephants, and boxing-matches, are said to be the chief amusements of the king and the people.  Mr. Crawfurd saw all these, and he tells us that in the last of them the populace formed a ring with as much regularity as if they had been true-born Englishmen, and preserved it with much greater regularity than is usually witnessed here—­thanks to the assistance of the constables with their long staves.  While these official persons were duly exercising their authority, the same good-natured monarch, who roasted his prime minister in the sun, frequently called out, “Don’t hurt them—­don’t prevent them from looking on.”

* * * * *

OPIUM EATING.

Mr. Madden, in his recent Travels in Turkey, having determined to experience the effects of that pestilent practice of eating opium, which is so common in Turkey, he repaired to the market of Theriaki Tchachissy, where he seated himself among the persons who were in the habit of resorting thither for the purpose of enjoying (?) this fatal pleasure.  His description of those victims to sensuality is very striking, and is enough to cure any man of common sense of wishing to become an opium eater.

“Their gestures were frightful; those who were completely under the influence of the opium talked incoherently, their features were flushed, their eyes had an unnatural brilliancy, and the general expression of their countenances was horribly wild.  The effect is usually produced in two hours, and lasts four or five; the dose varies from three grains to a drachm.  I saw one old man take four pills, of six grains each, in the course of two hours; I was told he had been using opium for five-and-twenty years; but this is a very rare example of an opium eater passing thirty years of age, if he commence the practice early.  The debility, both moral and physical, attendant on its excitement, is terrible; the appetite is soon destroyed, every fibre in the body trembles, the nerves of the neck become affected, and the muscles get rigid; several of these I have seen, in this place, at various times, who had wry necks and contracted fingers; but still they cannot abandon the custom; they are miserable till the hour arrives for taking their daily dose; and when its delightful influence begins, they are all fire and animation.  Some of them compose excellent verses, and others addressed the bystanders in the most eloquent discourses, imagining