Orientals of the higher orders repair to their homes, there, under the protection of their own sacred Penates, they in-, dulge in all the luxury of eastern climes, as well in their splendid attire as in all the other appliances of Oriental indulgence.

The gentlemen present on the occasion of our visit were more elegantly dressed (according to the peculiar style of the country) than any I had before seen in the East. The servants and slaves were alike attired in their gala costume. The pipes and coffee stands were of the most costly descrip. tion, and the carpets spread for us were of the richest Persian manufacture.

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It doubtless would require some little effort of imagination to fancy this divan of Orientals as bearing some resemblance to a council of seers at the court of Sardanapalus or Solo. mon; yet I have no hesitation in saying, that if true por traits of those ancient heads had been transmitted down to our day, they would be found complete prototypes of the present race of Damascene sages.

After a short conversation and one pipe, we were conducted into the ladies' apartments. These we found not to vary materially from those described to you before in the Turkish hareem. Here, however, the number of ladies far exceeded that in the former instance, and included repre sentatives of all countries, from the snowy peaks of Cauca. sus to the black alluvial plains of Darfur and Fezzan. Some of the older ones were as ugly as were some of the younger Georgians remarkably beautiful. But

"The light of the hareem, the young Nourmahal,"

was in this instance represented by one of the daughters of Ham, whose complexion vied in depth of colour and brill. iancy of polish with the ebony of her own native forests on the borders of Lake Tschad.

She had but lately been installed in the high office of queen

AN ORIENTAL HAREEM.

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of the hareem, and was decked with as many jewels as the former sovereign of her country, the Queen of Sheba, when she came greeting to King Solomon. If orient pearls are becoming to the snowy complexions of the daughters of Japhet, I assure you they lose nothing by being thus set in jet.

One peculiarity which attaches to this plural system in domestic economy (as far as my observation has gone), is that seniority gives precedence to minority. Although the matron who reigned twenty years ago is not absolutely subservient in all respects to her who has been enthroned but twenty days, yet the latter, presuming upon her unrivalled power, treats all her predecessors with the most supercilious hauteur and unbounded arrogance, which they frequently resent, and hence those intestine broils which shake this imperium in imperio to its very centre, resulting in broken heads, broken mirrors, tattered shawls, and rent robes, all swimming in rivers of essences from shattered bottles and overturned vases.

A quietus is generally given to all this tintamarre by the lord of the manor deputing a platoon of bamboos to quell the rioters.

In the present instance, all the fair inmates of the mansion were upon their good behaviour, and our reception was extremely cordial. My Frank dress amused them as much as theirs did me. One of the Georgians insisted that we should exchange costumes for a while, which I acceded to for the amusement of all. Every sort of refreshment peculiar to the country was served by female slaves, all pre pared by the ladies themselves; among which were confections prepared from rose leaves; a white, transparent, semisolid jelly, made of the juice of grapes; apricots dried and pressed, with cakes and sorbets. The liquids were cooled with snow brought from Mount Hermon.

After the refreshments were disposed of, we were desired

to walk into a small inner garden, or, as the ancient Romans would call it, the Xystus of the mansion, where the ladies take exercise and cultivate a few flowers. The Oriental ladies are extremely fond of flowers and flowering shrubs. The dahlia has just been introduced from England by Mrs. F., and all Damascus is in ecstasies with it. She gave some of the plants to the moulah, who has undertaken to trans. port them in pots, on the back of a camel, all the way to Mesched, on the Caspian Sea. Apropos of the moulah, I saw the departure of his caravan from Damascus.

The manner in which he transported his two pairs of wives was curious enough. Two large Bactrian camels had cach a pair of great panniers hung one on either side; in each of these he popped one of the ladies, who sitting down à la Turc, only her head was to be seen above the wicker basket, just as I have seen sheep and calves going to market in the donkey's panniers of the Swiss.

To return to our ladies of the hareem. After some time passed in the parterre, we again repaired to the apartments, where they appeared to take great pleasure in showing and explaining to me all the arrangements of their ménage. They brought out all their superb dresses and jewels, which I took care not to admire over-much, for fear of having some of the useless things presented to me, a compliment I should have been obliged to respond to by divers presents in return, which the now exhausted state of my stores would not enable me to offer.

Let us now bid adieu for ever to "El Sham," the city of Shem.

My last letter left me hurriedly chasing my stray traps into my portmanteaux and boxes, to be ready for an early start on the morrow. We afterward took leave of our very kind and obliging friends, and retired early, in order to rise with the dawn; but what good issue our matinal exertion resulted in, we shall see.

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PLAGUES OF A CARAVAN.

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In making a caravan expedition, where one has so many persons and animals to do with, it is impossible to make an early start (after a few days' repose), do what one may the day previous to ensure it.

When making a start from any city, we have heretofore found that we could not get beyond the walls until afternoon. The stupid moukres forget what packages went together before; and then there is such a weighing, measuring and pairing, loading and unloading, that the sumpter mules are not ready until near ten o'clock. Besides, there being several owners to the different animals, and all the various animals of unequal strength, and in better or worse condition, loud and fierce quarrels ensue among the many mas. ters, until Giovanni, with his bamboo, settles the matter to the satisfaction of all parties; the latter, by this time, having just got back to camp from a foray among the bazars in search of a private stock of aqua vita, tobacco, &c.; also, some trifles for his fair acquaintances in Stamboul.

François and the young urchin Selim were so full of speculations that they did not make their appearance until noon. By this time, all things being ready, we started; but, before we arrived at the city gates, a few old shoes were knocked from off the feet of the mules, so we all brought up again at the farrier's shop. Two hours more were lost in this way, at the end of which time not a moukre was to be seen. They had disappeared, no one knew where. The gentlemen ordered a general battue among the kaffijees' and kiebobjees' shops, where the delinquents were all found feasting and smoking.

At last we cleared the walls, and another hour served to place us in the open desert beyond the gardens.

We soon began to ascend the first spur of the Anti-Le. banon, and attained the point whence Mohammed viewed the terrestrial paradise which I have before described to you. The valley of the Pharpar opens upon the plain to

the north of where we ascended the spur. Our road then descended to the border of the river, and, by the time we reached it, the sun had set, and we encamped for the night beside the Pharpar, the river of Damascus. The Abana takes its rise still farther north.

We were informed that we should have a long ride the next day if we desired to reach Balbec. This time we suc ceeded in making an early start, and followed up the valley of the Pharpar to its source.

An incident occurred on starting that morning, which came near proving fatal to one or all three of us.

Among our arms is a double-barrelled fowling-piece. This is always kept charged; one barrel with shot, for birds; the other with ball, for gazelles or other animals. It is always under the care of Giovanni. After he had mounted, he had some arrangements to make about his saddle gear, and for the moment placed the gun in the hands of one of the moukres, who was on foot. The latter, thinking that one of the sumpter mules could carry it better than himself, shoved it, muzzle first, under the cord by which the loading is secured to the animal's saddle. The act of running the gun under the cord placed the lock in such a position that the least jar would discharge one or both barrels.

We had remained behind in order to urge on the last lin. gerers about our camp-fires; and, when that was accom. plished, we rode along the line towards the front (all caravans travel “Indian-file"). We had passed all the mules except the leader, on which was the gun; and were just about resuming the path in front of the line, when, by the mule stumbling, one of the barrels was discharged. The ball took off the ear of the mule, passed above the head of the boy who was leading him, and would have passed through the bodies of any two or three persons who might have been in front.

The latter would have been our case had the gun been