Arabs were aware of our intention; or to take Turkish post-horses and an escort from Damascus, and go in spite of the Arabs; this last plan, however, would have been a very expensive one. But before I proceed further, I shall add a few remarks upon Aleppo. The city is pleasantly situated in a hollow surrounded by sloping hills, which are very uninteresting, having no trees, and the land having no inclosures. The houses of Aleppo are built of stone; the streets are narrow and ill paved, except the Bazars which are all roofed over with arches of the same construction as the houses, and are lighted from above. Thus you can walk all over the town on the terraces of the houses; the arches I have mentioned connecting the streets one with the other. The Franks avail themselves of this mode of communication to visit each other during the time of the plague; we made visits half a mile distant in this manner. The Franks and Christians have their separate quarters here, the same as in all Turkish towns. The city is surrounded with gardens, watered by small rivulets drawn from the main stream which supplies the town. We visited some Turkish houses, and were much struck with the beauty of the cielings of the apartments, which are decorated by Persian artists; they are very curiously gilded and

painted, but to describe them in writing would be difficult and uninteresting. The decorations in carve-work, on the doors and window-frames, are also extremely curious. We assisted Mr. Bankes in tracing some of them from copies on paper which were lent him. The neat private steam-baths and fountains are worthy of notice. The society of Aleppo is good: the men and women make separate parties to the baths, where they have coffee and refreshments, and pass the evening. The walls of the city resemble those at Antioch; Volney describes the castle and other particulars, and as a description of a town is at best but a dry subject, I shall refer you to him for further particulars. The neighbourhood of Aleppo abounds in game, and we were struck with admiration at the neat and cleanly appearance of the butcher's shops, which are equal to those of London.

January 3. We started for Hamah, our kind and estimable host, together with his brother, accompanying us on horseback for two hours outside the town. Such had been his solicitude in our behalf that he furnished us with letters to Selim, the governour's secretary at Hamah, and to Scander, the secretary to the motsellim of Homs; he likewise gave us a strong letter of recommendation to Hadgi Hassan, an elderly Turk

at Homs, who has great dealings with the Arabs. All these people were requested to render us every assistance in their power to get to Palmyra. We had besides other letters from Mr. Barker to the Saraffs of the pashaw of Damascus, urging them to assist us in getting post-horses, should we be obliged to go in that manner. In addition to these, he gave us letters to Acre, Cyprus, and Smyrna; to Sir Robert and Lady Liston, and to several other people at Constantinople. He lent us Maundrell's Travels in Syria, and a good map of Asia Minor and Greece, and furnished us with money.

At sun-set we stopped at the khan Touman, a spacious lodging, but which was filled to excess with the caravans for Damascus and Latachia. On the following morning we proceeded at daylight in company with them, our road lying over naked plains partly cultivated. About three in the afternoon we stopped at Sermein; there are several villages in this quarter, and a few clumps of olives, otherwise the country is destitute of wood. Mount Cassius, whose summit was by this time covered with snow, was in sight on our right.

January 5. We proceeded at sun-rise, intending to go with the Latachia caravan as far as Shogher, and thence follow up the banks of the

green

Orontes to Hamah; but being late, and seeing a caravan on our left, we branched out in that direction, joined it, and found that they were in the straight road to Hamah, and that they were bound to that place and Damascus; we therefore continued with them. About ten we passed a ruined square Turkish fortress enclosing a village. Many of these places, on the skirts of the desert, are walled in, as one would suppose to afford them protection against the Arabs. Shortly after we met a very extensive caravan, being part of the hadj or pilgrimage to Mecca on their return from Damascus-an interesting sight; they had the flag, the prophet's banner, flying ("). There were few camels, the animals being mostly horses and mules, and having all bells attached to them, they made a merry, ringing noise (16). There were amongst them several tackterwans, the only species of vehicle in the east, which supplies the place of four wheel carriages; we had seen one of them in the great Morocco hadj, which arrived at Cario in September last; it resembled a sedan chair, supported before and behind, with horses instead of men; but those which we saw this day differed from it, one being a species of tent-bed placed crossway on the back of a mule, and the other resembling two childs' cradles, fitted like panniers on the back of a camel. These tackterwans are enclosed

R

with curtains, and are generally used by women or sick people. Nearly the whole of this and the next day, we passed divisions of the hadj; all the animals were laden with some private venture of the pilgrims, as they always make a commerce of this expedition; if you read Volney you will see in what estimation even the Turks hold the man who has made a hadj. They have an old adage among them to this purport," Beware of thy neighbour if he has made a hadj; but if he has made two, quickly prepare to leave thy house" the keenness with which all the peasants, near the khans bargain for every thing they sell seems to agree with this remark. We saw this day some few Roman ruins, and sarcophagi formed of the stone of the country, apparently of the lower empire. At two P. M. we stopped for the night at Marah, and slept in a very good khan. The ensuing morning we proceeded as before. Lebanon, now a mass of snow, lay before us; and Mount Cassius was shut in by the northern extremity of the Ansarian mountains. We passed several sites of ancient towns, tanks, sarcophagi, &c. every thing much dilapidated and uninteresting, excepting that they served to shew that the neighbourhood was better peopled in former times than it is at present. The country was still nothing but open plains, without a single