The court of Meer Ali Moorad, which furnished Captain Langley with a title for his narrative, is a very small affair, but it is not the less worthy of observation. It is an Asiatic court in miniature, presenting all the characteristics of oriental royalty in a small compass, just as the royalty of Europe figures at a small principality in Germany. There are all the forms, with but little of the splendour of state, and a constant embarrassment in the exchequer. This is especially the case with Meer Ali Moorad, who is one of those worthies who can never make both ends meet. No matter how his revenue may expand, the end of the year always exhibits a deficit, which even an Austrian financer would be puzzled how to cover. Naturally, therefore, the task is quite beyond Meer Ali Moorad, and it appears to occupy very little of his attention, though occasionally exasperated creditors bring him to grief. But his prodigality is more severely felt by his subjects, and is reflected in the miserable aspect of Khyrpoor, the capital of Upper Scindh. It was night when Captain Langley arrived at this town, but a full moon shed its radiance on the beggarly houses, and too clearly revealed their shortcomings. Our author alighted at a ruinous old house, where no preparations had been made for his reception, and he had a prospect of passing the night under circumstances that would have tried the endurance of Mark Tapley. But, in this extremity, his good stars brought him in the way of an Englishwoman, who had settled down in the Meer's service, having-there is no accounting for the freaks of the sex-married a Mussulman, and assumed the rather uncommon designation of Mrs. Gholacum Husseyn. Through the instrumentality of this eccentric lady the posture of affairs was soon changed; a good supper was provided, and the Captain obtained a supply of wadded quilts and blankets, which enabled him to pass a very comfortable night.

Meer Ali Moorad's poverty is sufficiently explained by his extravagant habits, and his desire to possess everything he sees and do everything he fancies. But the root of the evil lies in the direction common with Oriental princes, from the days of Solomon downwards, and what we may behold on a large scale at Constantinople, is seen in smaller proportions at Khyrpoor. In short, Meer Ali Moorad is an admirer of the sex. This dwarf prince has four wives, the youngest of whom is sixteen, and the oldest of an age we are afraid to conjecture, and which Captain Langley has the gallantry not to divulge, but it may be delicately hinted that she is the stem of three, if not four generations. The youngest wife, though said to be a great beauty, finds so little favour with her lord, that he has never seen her since the morning after the bridal, and it is reported that she gave him mortal offence on the nuptial night. But her disgrace is more likely owing to the ascendancy of the second wife, whose charms appear to be more to her husband's taste, and are certainly on a grander scale, as it is said that, from her enormous size, she could hardly be carried by a camel. Whether on this account, or because the doors of the palace will not permit of her egress, she is obliged to put up with the life of the queen bee, and always remains at home. She bears her captivity very cheerfully;

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for, though monotonous, the routine of the zenana does not appear to pall. The ladies evidently do not find the day too long, and are an apt illustration of the truth of our English adage, that a good contriver is better than an early riser;" for they are up with the dawn, and yet do nothing the whole day. Their proceedings commence, of course, with ablutions, which we hope are conscientiously performed, but on this point we have misgivings: then come prayers, and a chapter in the Koran or some other good book, such works as the "Arabian Nights," or French or English novels being, we presume, prohibited. But if a book to be good needs only to be dull, we think the interdict on English novels of the present day ought to be removed, and we trust Captain Langley will use his influence at the court of the Meer with this view, by which he will, if successful, be at once rendering a service to English literature, and contributing to the edification of the Meer's harem. Washing, prayers, and Koran disposed of, the ladies engage in a game at puchees, and this is followed by a repast, when the viands are of a nature that fully accounts for the aldermanic proportions of the Meer's second wife. Imagine a small party of ladies sitting down to a breakfast of roasted partridges, kabobs of the Espatcha, a delicate kind of venison, and savoury and sweet pilaos; and winding up with a smoke! Could anything be more fattening? The chine of beef and gallon of small ale, allowed for the breakfast of Queen Elizabeth's maids of honour, sink into insignificance beside this spread. The next transaction is a walk in the garden, under "some fine shady trees," as Captain Langley does not forget to tell us, quite aware that our mouth must be watering at his descriptions, particularly of the breakfast and the smoking. It is no surprise to hear that, after their promenade, the ladies resume their hookahs, while they amuse themselves with another game at puchees, and precisely at eleven o'clock, they are attended by slave girls, some of whom set themselves to getting up a breeze with fans, while others rub and pat the soles of their feet, and so coax, or, to speak more correctly, tittilate them to sleep. At two in the afternoon they arise like giants refreshed, take a bath, and enter on the real business of the day, which we need hardly say is their toilette. Three hours are allotted to the task, the fatigues of which are lightened by handmaidens, who take delight in their vocation, and are versed in its mysteries. The luxuriant tresses of the royal dames are parted with combs of sandal wood, saturated with oil of mustard seed, and finally perfumed with musk. The toilette is completed with jewels, including one for the nose, which is sometimes so heavy that, to prevent the cartilage giving way, a lock of hair is twined down from the forehead to hold it up. Thus got up the princesses receive visits from their relations, or go out in a curtained plalanquin, closely veiled from the eyes of the polite as well as from those of the vulgar. Evening prayer follows, and about an hour after sunset they take their evening meal, when pipes, jokes, and songs are the order of the day. An establishment of such a character cannot be maintained for a trifle, and it is a heavy drag on Meer Ali Moorad.

But the Meer has, besides, a little coterie of Ali Sirkars, and if any

one wants to know what Ali Sirkars are, it will be sufficient to remark that they are by no means such favourites with the Meer's wives as they are with himself. Indeed, there appears to be some real ground of complaint; for the Meer, on his return from England, inundated the Ali Sirkars with musical boxes and stereoscopes, and gave none, or, at any rate, very few to his lawful wives. It is true, his principal wife, the old lady beforementioned, is allowed a hundred servants, but does this compensate for the husband's preference for Ali Sirkars, who have blooming cheeks and bright eyes, and, unkindest cut of all, can entertain him with their musical boxes! So there is discord in this happy valley, as in that of Abyssinia: and it does not add to the felicity of Meer Ali Moorad.

We would gladly linger longer over these pleasant volumes, which gives us such a charming picture of Oriental life in all its aspects and phases, but the limits assigned to us are already overstepped, and we must only pause to express our admiration of the manner in which the author has executed his task, and the spirit he has thrown into the narrative. Our brief outline affords a very imperfect idea of the character and varied contents of the work. It abounds with anecdote and adventure, and especially brings Scindh before us in such a manner, that when we lay down the book, we can almost believe we have been there, and certainly we now know more about it than many who have. S. W. F.

THE RECENT TRIALS OF JONES'S ANGULATED PLATES FOR SHIPS OF WAR.

It is barely seven years since the period when the first steam fleet was a novelty so attractive as to draw thousands of visitors from all parts of England to Portsmouth. We all remember that grand demonstration under Sir Charles Napier at Spithead, previous to the outbreak of the Russian war. Since then great changes have taken place in the construction of our steam fleet, as well as in gunnery. In ships we have been gradually passing through a transition state from canvas to steam, while in artillery the novelty of to-day so rapidly eclipses that of yesterday, that it is a safe prophecy to predict that to-morrow's discovery will supersede all. So determined, however, are the people of this country to have no mistake about who is to "Rule the Waves" that they allow no costly apprenticeship to damp their ardour in attaining their object. And although we may be obliged to grope our way through all sorts of experiments, from gun boats to iron-plated ships, from Enfield's rifle to Whitworth's arms of precision, and even to wade through hosts of difficult experiments on iron plate armour, yet the money to pay for all these trials is willingly voted by the House of Commons with a determination to succeed, that exhibits the extent of the national purse as well as the national will.

Much as this heavy outlay is to be regretted, in some respects it is

however very necessary. For since we have become familiar with the "Screw" and the great changes effected by it, there has been less faith placed in our line-of-battle ships, frigates, and corvettes, than once existed, and more attention has been directed to "Rams" and ironcased ships of war.

Our faithful ally, the Emperor Napoleon the third, has for some time past been particularly active in his dockyards in constructing and arming his frègates blindèes, and which his press has been permitted to describe from time to time as the most terrible engines of destruction ever launched from the Imperial arsenals. Nor have we been idle in this novel branch of naval architecture in England. We also have been trying our hands at building monster ships, that are expected to be not only shot proof and fire proof, but they are to be also the strongest and swiftest men of war in the world.

It is not our intention to question the utility of coating ships of war with massive plates of iron or steel, as the subject has already been slowly filtered through the various phases of doubt, suspense, belief, and certainty during the various trials that have taken place at Portsmouth and elsewhere during the last eighteen months. These trials and experiments have fully tested the relative qualities of all sorts of scrap and puddled iron and steel plates, and had reference to the coating of the different rams and iron frigates, and other vessels ordered to be constructed by the Board of Admiralty, and for which a vote of £680,824 has been granted by the House of Commons.

At the present moment, when the power of resistance of iron plates to shot and shell is a subject of so much interest, the first effect upon the public mind-if the public mind ever visits our dockyards and arsenals-must be a state of wonderment, on seeing how diverse are the opinions of the Board of Admiralty with respect to the sort of ships best adapted for future warfare. However, it 'is not fair to blame the "Board" for a fault that is shared by naval men in general ; for we believe it is now fairly admitted that there is no settled opinion as to the comparative importance in future naval campaigns of lineof-battle ships, frigates, gunboats, or iron-cased ships.

And, perhaps, taking past events into consideration, this difference of opinion is not to be very much wondered at. For it is in the memory of the youngest among us, being barely six years since that we commenced a war with Russia, with a fleet of huge screw lines of battle that did nothing, but which war was, in a couple of years afterwards, brought to a conclusion, as far as the naval arm was concerned, with gun-boats and floating batteries. With our Mosquito fleet we nearly destroyed Sweaborg, while with our floating batteries we actually destroyed Kinburn.

But in estimating the value of each class of vessel in future wars, we have two more past wars to assist us with their experience in coming to conclusions. We have had a war in India and one in China; and although these wars are exceptional, yet such as they were, it was the small craft that did all the work, and added fresh laurels to the wreath of the Navy of Great Britain, and again established its pre-eminence and supported its ancient renown.

Recent as these events are, yet they are so distant, that since the

period we have been alluding to, arms of precision of enormous range and terrible accuracy of fire, and throwing shot and shell of a very destructive kind have been invented, and these weapons, together with the ease and rapidity with which molten iron can be thrown have multiplied the objections that existed against very large wooden ships, more particularly against huge lines of battle, with their concentra tion of guns and human beings, making a lofty target of the most extensive description, and cramming into a limited space a thousand valuable seamen, whose exertions, many suppose, could be better employed if scattered about in smaller vessels. But if we add that shells filled with molten iron are now reckoned amongst the formidable weapons of destruction employed in naval warfare, we have by no means exhausted the catalogue of projectiles of an incendiary character that we expect to see used against wooden ships in a future war.

If we

This being the case, it is difficult to suppose that a nation like Great Britain, whose fate depends upon maintaining her supremacy upon the ocean, can remain very long deliberating upon the best description of vessel or vessels for carrying on a future war. do not take the initiative and act, some one else will profit by our inactivity. For us, there is no standing still-the law of the game is, that we must make a move. We must remember the old motto, "Calamity never allows time for deliberation."

The subject, however, at present, appears to be unmanageable, tough, stubborn, and hard to deal with; and notwithstanding the necessity of adopting some method for our guidance, it is, nevertheless, difficult to predict what new measures may be the best to adopt to meet the momentous crisis that seems to be at hand. For as yet the nations of the earth are like ourselves, in a state of transition, and doubt whether to put their confidence in three-decked ships, frigates, gun-boats, or iron-cased ships. The subject, consequently, is of the most momentous gravity to us, and should engage us to bring every possible consideration to bear upon the means by which this great maritime nation may, at the outset in any future war, maintain her superiority at sea; for the fate of a nation may be cast in the die of one hostile collision.

Intimately connected with this subject are some recent experiments that have from time to time taken place in England and France upon casing ships of war with iron armour. To such an extent has this been practised in the navy of our faithful ally, that iron-sided ships, in the service of Napoleon III., have become a necessity; and we believe that we cannot do better than briefly sketch the general results of those experiments which have from time to time been carried on, with a view not only to test the efficiency of iron plates as a protection against the improved ordnance of Whitworth and Armstrong, but to show how far we have advanced towards any positive knowledge respecting the form of vessel best adapted for carrying the additional weight of iron armour intended to be put upon them.

The history of the experiments upon steel, wrought-iron, puddled and scrap-iron plates, as well as upon steel hurdles, &c., &c., may be U. S. MAG., No. 382., SEPT. 1860.

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