of Egypt.  On surrendering Tarsus and Adana to Bayazid, Kait Bey was suffered to end his days in peace in A.D. 1495.  After many dissensions, the brave and learned El-Ghuri ascended the throne, and Selim I., the Turkish sultan, soon found a pretext for an attack upon the Mamluk power.  A long and sanguinary battle was fought near Aleppo, in which El-Ghuri was finally defeated through treachery.  He was trampled to death by his own cavalry in their attempt to escape from the pursuing Ottomans.  With his death, in A.D. 1516, Egypt lost her independence.  Tuman Bey, a nephew of the deceased, fiercely contested the advance of the Ottomans, but was defeated and treacherously killed by the Turks.

[Illustration:  076.jpg wadi FEIRAN, in the Sinai peninsula]

A long period of Turkish misrule now opened for the ill-fated country, though some semblance of conciliation was attempted by Selim’s appointment of twenty-four Mamluk beys as subordinate rulers over twenty-four military provinces of Egypt.  These beys were under the control of a Turkish pasha, whose council was formed of seven Turkish chiefs, while one of the Mamluk beys held the post of Sheikh el-Beled or Governor of the Metropolis.

[Illustration:  077.jpg mausoleum of el-Ghuri]

For nearly two centuries the Turkish pashas were generally obeyed in Egypt, although there were frequent intrigues and quarrels on the part of competing Mamluk beys to secure possession of the coveted post of Sheikh el-Beled.  Towards the middle of the eighteenth century the authority of the Turkish pashas had become merely nominal, while that of the beys had increased to such an extent that the government of Egypt became a military oligarchy.  The weakness of the Turks left the way open for the rise of any adventurer of ability and ambition who might aspire to lead the Mamluks to overthrow the sovereignty of the Porte.

In the year 1768 the celebrated Ali Bey headed a revolt against the Turks, which he maintained for several years with complete success.  A period of good but vigorous government lasted Curing the years in which he successfully resisted the Ottoman power.  Ali’s generals also gained for him considerable influence beyond the borders of Egypt.  Muhammed Abu Dhahab was sent by him to Arabia and entered the sacred city of Mecca, where the sherif was deposed.  Ali also despatched an expedition to the eastern shores of the Red Sea, and Muhammed Bey, after his successes in Arabia, invaded Syria and wrested that province from the power of the sultan.  The victorious soldier, however, now plotted against his master and took the lead in a military revolt.  As a result of this, Ali Bey fell into an ambuscade set by his own rebellious subjects, and died from poisoning m 1786.  Thus terminated the career of the famous Mamluk, a man whose energy, talents, and ambition bear a strong resemblance to those of the later Mehe-met Ali.