only second to Rome itself in wealth and population, successively visited by earthquakes and captured by contending armies, was finally ruined, in 1269, by the Mameluke Sultaun of Egypt. It is now but a small miserable place, if it exists at all, as it was also thrown down, in 1822, by the same earthquake which overthrew Aleppo. Previous to that event, it still contained a conjectured population of from 9,000 to 10,000 souls, chiefly employed in cultivating silk.—About 15 miles below this ruined city was Seleucis, the ancient port of Antioch, now also a miserable place, called Suedia, containing four or five hovels, and the house of the Turkish aga.— Scanderoon, the port of Aleppo, has nothing to recommend it. Its climate is deadly to Europeans.

Cyrrhestica.] The plain of the Cyrrhus, the ancient Cyrrbestica, N. of Antioch, is separated from the upper course of the Kowaik, or river of Aleppo, by a range of mountains on the E. and by another on the N. This vast and fertile plain, sufficient, in Kinnier's opinion, to support all Syria with grain, is now pastured by nomadic Turkoman hordes, who neither acknowledge a sultan nor a pasha, and will not suffer this plain to be cultivated. It is well-watered by the Aswad, the Yagra, and the Ifria, all which run S. to the lake of Ifrin, which is thirty-six miles in circumference.

CHAP. IV.-PASHALIC OF DAMASCUS.

As this district lies directly S. of the pashalic of Aleppo, it comes naturally to be next described. It occupies the largest and most populous part of Syria. It comprehends, according to Burkchardt, almost the whole western part of Syria, extending from Marrah to Hebron; and is bounded on the W. by the Anzairie mountains and the Antilibanus, and on the E. by the Euphrates and the desert. It contains the cities of Hama, Hems, Damascus, Baalbec, Jerusalem, and the now tenantless solitude of the once famed Palmyra.

Marrah.] Going S. from Antioch, we enter on this pashalic at Marrah, the frontier town, under an independent aga, a place of no political consequence nor commerce.

Apamea.] Proceeding up the valley of the Upper Orontes, enclosed between the Anzairie mountains on the W. and the Jebal Rieha on the E. we first meet with Howaish, and then with Kalaat-el-Medyk, the ancient Apamea, built at the southern extremity of the lake Ain Taka, in a peninsula formed by the Orontes and the lake. It is now an insignificant place.-Farther S. is the Bahar-el-Kadesh, a lake 6 miles long by 3 broad, and abounding in excellent fish.

Hamah.] Still farther S. on the Orontes is the celebrated city of Hamah, the Hamath of scripture, situated in a most fertile vale on both sides of the Orontes. The city still contains 30,000 people. Their principal commerce is with the Bedouins, whom they supply with woollen abbas and tent furniture. Hamah was the birth-place of Abulfeda, that most distinguished of Oriental geographers and annalists.

Palmyra.] At a direct distance of about 90 British miles nearly due E. are the ruins of the celebrated Palmyra, 190 miles S.E. of Aleppo, and 180 N.E. of Damascus. These interesting remains have been successively visited by European travellers since the latter end of the 17th century, and most recently by captains Mangles and Irby in 1818.

These travellers, who had visited the massy and majestic ruins of Thebes, and those of the temple of the sun at Baalbec, did not think the ruins of Palmyra at all equal to them. We subjoin their description in a note.87 This city corresponds to the Tadmor of the Desert, built by Solomon; and as it enjoyed the benefit of the transit commerce between the Persian gulf and the Mediterranean sea, it rose to great wealth and importance. But the imprudent ambition of its female sovereign, the famed Zenobia, who presumed to contend with imperial Rome for the empire of the East, caused its political destruction; and from that time it continued to decline as a city, both in opulence and commerce, till it finally ceased to exist.

Damascus.] Four days' journey S. of Hems is the venerable and celebrated Damascus. No place in the world, says Maundrell, looks so well at a distance as Damascus. It is situated in an even plain, so extensive, that you can but just discern the mountains which bound its further side. Whether it be approached on the W., or the S., or the N., the road is said to pass for hours successively through rich olive-groves and gardens, generally enclosed by walls of sun-burnt brick, and surrounded and irrigated by delightful streamlets, partly natural and partly artificial. Damascus and its environs have ever been a theme of praise, not only by natives, but by foreigners. The emperor Julian called it the city of Jupiter' and the eye of the East,' and says, in his letter to Serapion, that it excelled all others for the grandeur of its temples, the mildness of its climate, the excellence of its fountains, the multitude of its streams, and the fertility of its soil. So charming is the sight, say the Mussulmans, that the prophet Mohammed, when he viewed it from the mountain Salehiyah, 2 miles W. of the plain and 1000 feet above the city, was so delighted with the prospect, that he forbore coming into it, lest he should forget his proper business,

"On opening upon the ruins of Palmyra," says Mangles, "as seen from the Valley of the Tombs, we were much struck with the picturesque effect of the whole, presenting altogether the most imposing sight of the kind we had ever seen. It was rendered doubly interesting by our having travelled through a wilderness destitute of a single building, from which we suddenly opened upon these innumerable columns and other ruins, on a sandy plain on the skirts of the desert. Their snow-white appearance, contrasted with the yellow-sand, produced a very striking effect." Great, however, he proceeds to say, was their disappointment, when, on a minute examination, they found that there was not a single column, pediment, architrave, portal, frieze, or other architectural remnant worthy of admiration. None of the columns exceed forty feet in height, or four feet in diameter: those of the boasted avenue have little more than thirty feet of altitude. Whereas the columns of Baalbec have nearly sixty feet in height, and seven in diameter, supporting a most rich and beautifully wrought epistylium of twenty feet more; and the pillars are constructed of only three pieces of stone, while the smallest columns at Palmyra are formed of six, seven, and even eight parts. In the centre of the avenue, however, are four granite columns, each of one single stone, about thirty feet high: one only is still standing. "Take any part of the ruins separately," says this traveller, "and they excite but little interest; and altogether, we judged the visit to Palmyra hardly worthy of the time, expense, anxiety, and fatiguing journey through the wilderness, which we had undergone to visit it. The projecting pedestals in the centre of the columns of the great avenue have a very unsightly appearance. There is also a great sameness in the architecture, all the capitals being Corinthian, excepting those which surround the temple of the sun. These last were fluted, and, when decorated with their brazen Ionic capitals, were doubtless very handsome; but the latter being now deficient, the beauty of the edifice is entirely destroyed. The sculpture, as well of the capitals of the columns as of the other ornamental parts of the doorways and buildings, is very coarse and bad. The three arches at the end of the avenue, so beautiful in the designs of Wood and Dawkins, are excessively insignificant: the decorated frieze is badly wrought, and even the devices are not striking. They are not to be compared to the common portals of Thebes, although the Egyptians were unacquainted with the arch. Every thing here is built of a very perishable stone: if it deserves the name of marble, it is very inferior even to that of Baalbec; and we are inclined to think, the ruins of the latter place are much more worthy the traveller's notice than those of Palmyra."

and make it his paradise. Dr Richardson, however, who visited it in 1818, is by no means so lavish in his encomiums on this city as some of his predecessors, and thinks that its beauties have been much over-rated. Respecting the view from Salehiyah above-mentioned, he says that the streams of water irrigating its plain are not perceptible from it; nor does the plain itself exhibit that rich and luxuriant vegetation that adorns the banks of the Jordan and the Nile. It is only in the immediate vicinity of the city that this is so enchanting. The effect of the view from Salehiyah is derived from the verdure of foliage varying from the deepest shade to the slightest tint of green, together with the bright sun and cloudless sky that illuminate the scenery of an Eastern world; and so long as the verdure of the fields remains unchanged, diffuse throughout the landscape a charm unknown in countries where a dense and hazy atmosphere prevails. With all the advantages of a cloudless sky, the environs of Damascus, in point of natural scenery, extent, and cultivation, are not, in Richardson's opinion, to be named in comparison with the environs of London, any more than a stream 30 yards wide is to be compared to the majestic Thames; or a continuous and almost uninhabited wood, of 5 or 6 miles in extent, is to be compared to the beautiful and populous environs of the English metropolis. Damascus is a city of the highest antiquity, being at least as ancient as the days of Abraham, if not still more so, and has been more fortunate in this respect than most of its contemporaries, as Nineveh, Babylon, or the Egyptian Thebes, and many others, all of which have disappeared, whilst it still survives as a populous, respectable, and wealthy city. Though from the time of David it has been successively transferred, in the destructive game of war, from one political hand to another, it always survived every catastrophe, and twice rose to be the capital of a powerful state,-as in the time of the Ommiade khalifs, and in that of the renowned Noureddin. It lies 136 miles N. of Jerusalem, 195 S. of Antioch, and 276 S.S.W. of Diarbekir; long. 36° 30′ E. of Greenwich, and lat. 33° 20′ N. The city contains no certain objects of antiquarian interest; and, in point of architecture, the houses are much the same with those of other Turkish cities. It however greatly surpasses Grand Cairo in cleanliness and comfort. It is encompassed with ramparts, now in a ruinous state. According to Niebuhr, the walls are something less than a league and a half in circumference. The city is said to contain above 500 large and magnificent houses entitled to the name of palaces; but all their beauty and magnificence is confined to the interior, as in all eastern cities. The mosques and chapels are very numerous; but the great mosque, the ancient cathedral, is the one most worthy of attention. The population, as usual, is variously estimated. Mr Brown estimated it at 200,000 souls. The Christians are computed at 12,000 by Dr Richardson, and at 20,000 by the Rev. Mr Connor, and the Jews at 2500. The Greek patriarch of Antioch resides here, and has under him 42 archbishops and bishops. The bazaars of Damascus are numerous and larger than those of Aleppo; and each class of mechanics and merchants has its own bazaar. They are more elegant and airy, and better lighted than those of Cairo and Constantinople. The streets are narrow and irregular, and consequently well-shaded from the sun.38 The chief manufactures are:

The street called Straight in Acts ix. 11, still exists under that appellation, as it leads direct from the gate to the palace of the pasha. Here the credulous will find abundant food to satisfy their faith. They will be shown the place where Adam was created, and the red earth of the plain of which his body was composed,-the spot

a kind of stuff made of silk mixed with cotton, with which all Syria is supplied, cutlery-ware of steel and gold, shoes and boots, military accoutrements, and damasks. Next to Jerusalem itself, Damascus is venerated both by Christians and Moslems, all around it being hallowed ground.— Respecting the famed Abana and Pharpar, the latter is recognized in the Chrysorrhoas, or 'golden river' of the Greeks and Romans, and in the modern Barrady; but of the Abana no mention is now made, and it is impossible to say which of the other streams correspond to it. But all the streams, natural and artificial, which water the plain of Damascus, terminate in the Bahr-el-Marjee, or 'lake of the meadows,' 4 hours' journey E. of the city.

The districts to the S. and S.E. of Damascus are 14 in number, and comprehend the Auranitis, Trachonitis, Gaulonitis, Iturea, Batanea, and Galaaditis of the ancients.

The Hauran.] The Hauran is a vast and fertile plain, producing the finest wheat in Syria. It is inhabited by Turks, Druses, and agricultural Arabs. It is visited also in spring and summer by several Bedouin tribes. The resident population of this plain is calculated at 60,000 souls by Burckhardt, of whom 7000 are Druses, and 3000 are Christians. Both the Turks and Christians, in their customs and manners, very nearly resemble the Arabs, and speak the Bedouin dialect of the Arabic. In the matter of religion, Turks, Druses, and Christians are mutually tolerant; and the only religious animosities which Burckhardt witnessed were between the Greek and Catholic Christians. In no place is hospitality carried to a greater height than in the Hauran. In every village there is an inn or medhafe appointed for the use of strangers, where all such of decent appearance are lodged and maintained. "It is the duty of the sheikh," says Burckhardt, to maintain this medhafe, which is like a tavern, with this difference, that the host himself pays the bill. The sheikh has a public allowance to pay these expenses."

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The Ledja.] The rocky desert called the Ledja and the Djebal-Hauran, comprehends all the uneven tract along the eastern side of the plain of Hauran, from near Damascus to Bosra. It is the Trachonitis of Strabo and Ptolemy, and answers to the two-fold division of that region, the capital of which was Missena, the ruins of which are three miles in circuit. On the eastern slope of the Djebal-Hauran, Burckhardt states that there are more than 200 ruined villages, all built of black porous basalt, at a quarter or half an hour's distance from each other. This range of mountains is the Mons Alsadamus of Ptolemy. It is through the plain of Hauran that the Hajjee route to Mecca passes in its way from Damascus. The approach to Damascus on this side is very grand, being formed by a road above 150 paces wide, bordered on each side by groves of trees, and continued in a straight line for upwards of an hour. The termination of the Hajjee route through the Hauran is at the castle of Zerka, five days' journey S. of Damascus. Beyond this point commences Arabia.

Baalbec.] To the N.W. of Damascus is the valley of Baalbec, between the Libanus and the Antilibanus. Baalbec, in Greek Heliopolis or' city of the sun,' was once a considerable place, particularly in the days of pagan idolatry, but is now a miserable village of 100 families, having been over

where Cain buried Abel,-the place where Abraham defeated the 4 kings,-that where Elisha anointed Hazael,-the hospital built for lepers by Naaman the Syrian,—the house of Ananias,-the cave of the Seven Sleepers,-the tomb of Noah, and many other wonderful spots, both antediluvian and postdiluvian.

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thrown by an earthquake in 1751, at which time it contained a population of 5000 persons. Though a place of no political or commercial importance, yet the magnificent ruins of its temple-which Abulfeda calls the wonder of Syria-still arrest the attention of every traveller who visits this region. They have been successively described by Maundrell, Volney, Pococke, Squire, Burckhardt, Irby and Mangles, and Richardson, not to speak of the splendid work in which these ruins are delineated by Dawkins and Wood. There is not any spot in the ruins of Palmyra so imposing as the interior view of the temple at Baalbec. The temple of the sun at Palmyra is upon a grander scale than the latter, but it is choked up with Arab houses, and the architecture is far inferior. Dr Richardson thinks that the building was originally Jewish and the work of Solomon, but that it was rebuilt in some after period, and that the second builders, while raising another structure upon the old foundations, in order that the whole might appear of one date, cut a new surface on the old stones. Whatever may be in this, the present temple was the work of Antoninus Pius, in the middle of the 2d century; the workmanship of the interior and the northern outside wall are evidently Roman and the style of architecture Corinthian. To the N. and S. of this stupendous pile are two others, one of which has not been finished; and half an hour's walk from the city are the ruins of another very fine temple. The workmanship of all these buildings is without any visible cement whatever, yet so closely are the stones joined together that the blade of a knife cannot be inserted between them. Notwithstanding the extraordinary magnificence of these ruins, the temple of Baalbec is scarcely mentioned in the Greek and Roman writers. The only writer who has mentioned the subject at all is John of Antioch, who in a fragment of his works has attributed the construction of this temple to Antoninus Pius.

CHAP. V.-PASHALIC OF TRIPOLI.

THIS district comprehends all the sea-coast from Latakia S. to the Nahr el-Kelb, which separates it from the pashalic of Acre. It is bounded on the E. by the chain of Lebanon which separates it from the valley of Baalbec and the valley of the Orontes; on the N. by Cape Ziarat, which divides it from the district of Antakia; and on the W. by the sea. By far the

39 What astonishes travellers above all at Baalbec, is the magnitude of the stones employed in building this edifice; so vast are they, that the ignorant natives attribute the erection to the devil. Three of these stones, according to Maundrell, who measured them, are one 63 feet long, and the other two 60 feet each, by 12 feet broad and as many thick; and in the quarry from whence these stones were taken there still remains one entirely hewn 68 feet long, 17.8 inches wide, and 13.10 inches thick. But the bottom of this enormous stone remained still attached to the rock. Dr Richardson measured two of the stones near the S. W. angle of the wall, and found the one to be 67 feet long by 14 broad and 9 thick, and the other 64 feet long, but he could not determine its breadth nor thickness. There was a third stone of apparently the same dimensions. Pococke says that in the N. wall there are also 7 very large stones, though not so colossal as the others. Dr Richardson noticed other stones in the S. W. wall 10 paces long, 10 feet broad, and 6 feet thick. Dr Richardson seems utterly amazed at their dimensions. They are, perhaps, says he, the most ponderous masses that human hands or human machinery ever moved into a wall, and here they are between 20 and 30 feet above the foundation. Indeed, I am not acquainted with any building except this where we can find stones the half of the above dimensions or even the fourth of it. In the pyramids of Egypt we saw one or two stones 18 feet long, and at Koum-Ombos measured one of 23 feet long. But these are mere occasional blocks, introduced for purposes of particular security. A whole wall or a whole building, of nearly 400 feet a-side, constructed of stones from 30 to 60 feet long, is something more than Cyclopean; the labours of a Hercules were but a joke to this!