Jordan or El Ghor, the table- land of Judæa, the mountainous region of the Belhaa, the Hasbeiya, the Wadi-el-Adjem or S plain of D., the Bahr-es-Shamie, or N plain of D., and the Belad-Hauran. Going S from Antioch, we enter on the pash. of D. at Marrah, a frontier-town, under an independent aga, but a place of no political consequence nor commerce. Proceeding up the valley of the Upper Orontes, which descends from the highest summits of Lebanon, between the Anzairie mountains on the W, and the Jebel-Rieha on the E, we first meet with Howaish and then with Kalaat-el-Medyk, the ancient Apamea, built at the S extremity of the lake Ain-Taka, on a peninsula formed by the Orontes and the lake. It is now an insignificant place.-Farther to the SE is the Bahr-el-Kades, a lake 6 m. long by 3 m. broad, and abounding in excellent fish.-Still farther S, on the Orontes, is the celebrated city of Hamah, the Hamath of Scripture, situated in a fertile vale on both sides of the Orontes. This city still contains 30,000 people. Their principal commerce is with the Bedouins, whom they supply with woollen abbas, and tent furniture.-About 20 m. to the S of Hamah, is Höms, the ancient Emesa, a place of 3,000 or 4,000 inhabitants. At a distance of about 90 m. SE are the ruins of Palmyra, 190 m. S by E of Aleppo; and 4 days' journey S of Homs is the venerable and celebrated city of Damascus, the cap. of the pash. The districts to the S and SE of D. comprehend the Auranitis, Trachonitis, Gaulonitis, Iturea, Batanea, and Galaaditis of the ancients.-The Hauran is a vast

j the E of the Dead sea by the mountains of Moab, and by the plateau of the Hauran as far as Jebel-esSheikh; and to the W by the line of the Ard-el-Ajlun through Palestine and Samaria. From the Dead sea to the Ard-el-Huleh it is peopled by Mussulmans and by Bedouins of the Zohamy tribe, subjugated and miserable, though on plains among the most fertile the sun shines on. It is under a feudal tenure; in the S held by Moslem, Druse, and Arab chiefs; in its middle portion, called the Bekaa, by Druse and Maronite families, and by Effendis or old Moslem families of D.; and in the N by Moslems principally of Latachia. It is a feudalism varying in degree from absolute right of produce to right of contributions, and in all instances of military service. It dates from the time of those numerous castles whose remains we still see in all the mountain-confines of this territory. The following statistical table of this pash. was compiled by Mr. Consul Wood in 1843:

Districts.

Damascus,
Homs,
Hamah,
Nabulus,
Hasbeiya,
Rasheiya,
Kaneithra,
Huleh,

Karamun,
Wadi Barada,

Merj-el-Ghutah,
Wadi-el-Ajam,
Kabon,

Maarat-en-Naaman,
Baalbec,
Bekaa,
Jeidur,

Hauran,
Jebel-Hauran,
Ardh-el-Ajlun,

9

7,500

3,000

1

60

8,000

20

72

11,000

1,500

65

10,300

3,300

46

11,000

85

In the above table the Bedouin tribes are not computed. Divided into religious classes, this pop. of 526,812 was composed of 387,068 Orthodox Mahommedans, 78,262 Christians, 5,500 Jews, 18,020 Druses, 19,870 Mutualis, and 14,500 Nasairiyah and Ansairiyah.

and fertile plain, producing the finest wheat in Syria. It is inhabited by Turks, Druses, and agricultural Arabs; and is visited also in spring and summer by several Bedouin tribes. The resident pop. of this plain is calculated at 60,000 by Burckhardt, of whom 7,000 are Druses, and 3,000 Christians. Both the Turks and Christians of the Hauran, in their customs and manners, 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.-The rocky desert called El-Ledja and the Jebel-Hauran comprehends all the uneven tract along the E side of the plain of Hauran, In this large extent of country, the soil and profrom near Damascus to Bosrah. It is the Trachoni-ductions are extremely various. The plains of the tis of Strabo and Ptolemy, and answers to the two- Hauran, and the banks of the Orontes, are the most fold division of that region, the cap. of which was fertile, and produce wheat, barley, doura, sesamum, Missena. On the E slope of the Jebel - Hauran, and cotton. The districts around the city of D., and Burckhardt states that there are more than 200 in the Upper Bekaa, are of a reddish gravelly soil, ruined villages, all built of black porous basalt, at a better adapted for fruits and tobacco than for the quarter or half-an-hour's distance from each other. production of grain; and richly clothed with walnut, This range of mountains is the Mons Alsadamus fig, pomegranate, plum, apricot, citron, and other of Ptolemy. It is through the plain of Hauran fruit-bearing trees. The mountainous districts are that the Hadji route to Mecca passes in its way from appropriated to olives, mulberry, and other fruit-trees, D. The termination of the Hadji route through the and in some places to vines, from which the Greeks Hauran is at the castle of Zerka, 5 days' journey S make wine, and the Mahommedans dried raisins. of D.: beyond this point commences Arabia.-To the NW of D. is the Belad - Baalbec, between the Libanus and the Antilibanus; and to the S of this lie the districts of Rasheiya and Hasbeiya, with the Ard-el-Huleh.-A strip of plain, the Ghor or 'hollow' of Syria, extends from the Dead sea to Baalbec. This valley in reality commences from Akaba, on the Red sea, whence its course is NE to the Dead sea, afterwards passing through Lake Tiberias and Lake Huleh to the two Lebanons. Thence from Baalbec one mountain - barrier falls off eastward, bounding the plain until it is lost in the Great desert, extending to the Euphrates; while the W barrier commences from the fountains of the Orontes and extends to the lat. of Antioch. The Ghor-uni- | formly from 10 to 15 m. in width from the Dead sea to the Lebanon-is everywhere abruptly walled; to

The office of pasha of D., since the decline of the Turkish empire, is in a great measure hereditary; and the person who holds that office is usually invested with absolute power. His public revenue was calculated by Browne to amount to 10,000 purses; and by Ali Bey at 4,000 purses. It arises chiefly from a duty upon lands, and the capitation tax paid by Christians. But he possesses other sources of emolument, particularly fines and arbitrary exactions; profits upon loans to merchants and farmers, frequently at 15 or 20 per cent.; and he is heir to all pilgrims who die on their journey to Mecca. His military establishment, in Browne's time, consisted of 600 or 700 Janissaries, the same number of Barbary Arabs, and about 900 dellibashas or horsemen. These troops were employed, in the first instance, in collecting the miri, or land-tax; and every year, three

months before the departure of the caravan to Mecca, | the pasha made the circuit of his territories, raising contributions from the towns and villages; but there are numerous districts within the nominal limits of his government from which he obtains "neither revenue nor reverence." The most honourable office of the pasha of D., and the regular occupation of his soldiers, is to protect the sacred caravan of Mecca from the Arabs of the Desert. He enjoys the title of Emir-el-Haji, or chief of the caravan;' and so important is this charge reckoned by every Mahommedan, that when a pasha has acquitted himself well as conductor of the pilgrims, his person is supposed to become inviolable even by the sultan. It is said, however, that, without departing from the strict letter of the law, the Divan sometimes extended its vengeance even to those who were protected by this privilege, by ordering them to be smothered in a sack, or pounded in a mortar! The pasha of D. is not only charged with the duty of conducting the caravan, but also with the burden of its expenses, which are calculated at 5,000 or 6,000 purses; besides 1,000 required for his own use on the journey. The advances for the caravan consist in the hire of camels for the pilgrims, the purchase of provisions in barley, corn, rice, &c., and the payment of certain sums to the Arab tribes who dwell near the route, in order to secure a safe passage. Some of the more enter-places are well constructed, and adorned with a rich prising pashas have been known to conduct the caravan, sabre in hand, without paying a piastre to these plunderers. When the caravan sets out, the pasha receives from the governor of the castle the sonjiak sherifi, or ensign of the prophet, for which he gives a receipt in writing before witnesses, and which he solemnly pledges himself to bring back in safety. As soon as he arrives near the city of D., on his return, a messenger is despatched to Constantinople, who is obliged to perform the journey in 25 days, and who carries with him water from the well Zem-zem, near Mecca, and some dates from Medina, to be presented to the sultan on his visit to the mosque. Before the conquest of Syria by Mehemet Ali, pasha of Egypt, this pash. was in a most disorderly state. Selim Pasha had been put to death by the lawless and fanatic rabble of his own cap., and the gov. of the city had fallen into the hands of Sheikh Tafetini, one of the elders of the town, whose government was altogether anarchical. He fled before the advance of the Egyptian troops. After the treaty of Kutaiya, in 1833, Sheriff Pasha was nominated civil-governor of Syria by Mehemet Ali, and appointed to reside at Damascus, while the other governors were placed under his orders. Since the authority of the Porte was re-established in Syria, Safetty Pasha, a bigotted moslem, has been appointed pasha of D.

DAMASCUS, DAMAS, or EL SHAM, the cap. of the above pash., anciently the cap. of Syria, and justly accounted one of the most venerable places in the world for its antiquity, delightfully situated, in N lat. 33° 27', E long. 36° 25', 136 m. N by W of Jerusalem, 180 m. S by W of Aleppo, and about 45 m. from the sea, or due E of Sidon, at an alt. of 2,344 ft. above sea-level [Berghaus], in a very fertile and extensive plain watered by the numerous branches of a river which the Greeks called Chrysorrhoas, or 'Golden river,' but which is now known by the name of Barrada or Barrady, and closely flanked on the WNW by the high range of Anti-Libanus. D. is called by the Orientals a pearl surrounded by emeralds;' and nothing can be more beautiful than its position, whether approached from the side of Mount Lebanon, from the Desert to the E,-or by the high road from the N from Aleppo and Hamah. For many miles the city is girdled by fertile fields or gardens as they are called, which are watered by rivers and

6

sparkling streams, giving to the vegetation, consisting principally of olive-trees, a remarkable freshness and beauty. It is nearly 2 m. in length from NE to NW; but of inconsiderable breadth, especially near the middle of its extent. It is 6 m. in circumf., and surrounded by a double brick wall on three sides, and on the fourth side has a small square citadel flanked with towers. Its suburbs are very extensive and irregular. The streets are narrow, but clean, and tolerably paved with basalt. Much of the farfamed magnificence of D., however, is, like the beauty of Eastern women, hidden from the public gaze under an ungainly envelop. The houses, especially those which front the streets, are very indifferently built, presenting to the street a dead wall, chiefly of mud bricks dried in the sun; but those towards the gardens, and in the squares, present a handsome appearance. In these mud buildings, however, the gates and doors are often adorned with marble portals. carved and inlaid with great beauty; and the interior of the principal habitations is generally a large square court ornamented with fragrant trees and mar ble fountains, and surrounded with splendid apartments furnished and painted in the highest style of luxury. It is said that 200,000 piastres, or £2,000, have been expended on the decoration of a single apartment in some of these palaces.-The marketcolonnade of variegated marble. The bazaars of D. are numerous, and larger than those of Aleppo; and more elegant and airy, and better lighted than those of Cairo and Constantinople. Each class of mechanics and merchants has its own bazaar. Some of them are very extensive; such as those of the shoemakers, the goldsmiths, the druggists, the garmentsellers, the hardware dealers, the traders in cotton stuffs, and the pipemakers. They are generally kept in good order, and abundantly supplied with goods. European goods are mostly bought on credit from the importer, but the ordinary sales in the bazaars to the consumer are for ready money. When the transactions are on a large scale with the caravanmerchants, the payments are usually made on their return the following year. There are a considerable number of merchants from Persia, Mesopotamia, and the regions to the E, who find no difficulty in obtaining credit at D. to a large amount, and many of them are extremely regular in their payments.-The great khan of D. is a superb building, vast in extent, filled with various commodities, and frequented by merchants from remote lands. Adjacent to the great khan is one of smaller size, taking its name from a large granite column in the centre. Around the khans the sellers of goods have their counting-houses, and they deposit their merchandise in various parts of the khans. Many of the khans are of great antiquity, and even in their present state give, no doubt, a tolerably accurate idea of the manner in which business was carried on in very remote periods. [Bowring.] A splendid mosque 650 ft. in length, by 150 ft. wide, is the chief architectural ornament of the city. There are several other mosques of great beauty, also 4 Jewish synagogues, and Greek, Maronite, Syrian, and Armenian churches. The pasha's palace is a large fortified building in the centre of the city. The city is divided into districts, each under a separate magistrate; and the different quarters are divided by means of gates which are locked at sunset. The pop. was estimated by Volney, in 1786, at 80,000; by Browne, in 1792, at 200,000; by Buckingham at about 150,000; and by others at 180,000. Of these, about 15,000 are Christians, and 5,000 Jews; and the greater part of the remainder Arabs and Turks. The people of D. are generally described by the inhabitants of the surrounding coun

66

bend to the hilt without breaking, while the edge was so keen as to divide the firmest coat of mail; and which were supposed to have been constructed, by a process now lost, of alternate layers of iron and steel. Tamerlane, when he took the city in 1400, is said to have carried into Persia their best artists in steel; but Brocquiere speaks of the inhabitants of D. in 1432 as still excelling in these manufactures. "The D. blades," he says, "are the handsomest and best of all Syria; and it is curious to observe their manner of burnishing them. They have for this purpose a small piece of wood, in which is fixed an iron, which they rub up and down the blade, and thus clean off all inequalities, as a plane does to wood; they then temper and polish it. This polish is so highly finished, that when any one wants to arrange his turban, he uses his sword for a looking-glass. There are made at D.," he adds, "and in the adjoining country, mirrors of steel that magnify objects like burning-glasses. I have seen some, that, when exposed to the sun, have reflected the heat so strongly, as to set fire to a plank 15 or 16 ft. distant." Mr. Wilkinson, in a paper recently read before the Royal Asiatic society, after alluding to the ancient renown of the Damascenes in the manufacture of swords, and the general belief that the conquest of D. by Timur, in the 14th cent., and consequent dispersion of the workmen, had caused the secret to be lost, observed, that, in the remote times when this celebrity was obtained, all Eastern countries were greatly superior

tries as peculiarly mischievous and wicked. They long had the reputation of being intolerant towards Christians; so much so, that it was scarcely possible to appear in the streets in an European dress. Dr. Browne observes, that their pride in this respect was considerably abated, and that he found little difference between them and other Oriental citizens; but Addison, who visited D. in 1836, is of opinion that it❘ would hardly be prudent for Franks to exhibit themselves freely in the streets at the period of the assembling of the great Mecca caravan. Yet three Latin convents have long existed in this city. "The Damascenes," says a recent writer, "cultivate their physical nature with great success. Provisions are abundant and excellent. The houses of the rich areinternally-palaces. The poor and the mediocre are better lodged than the corresponding classes in any town of Europe; the baths are admirably constructed, and D. is said to be the best-dressed town in the world; but the cultivation of the intellectual nature seems never to be dreamt of. One day I said to a shrewd Arab, 'How stands the intelligence of the Damascenes?' 'El ghanom fee'l bostan'—'The ox in the orchard,'-answered he, alluding to the material richness of the environs and the intellectual poverty of the inhabitants. There are 71 mosques at which khutbet or litany takes place, and 248 mosques for prayers only. Medresehs or colleges there are in abundance, with extensive entailed property to support them, but the revenues have fallen into the hands of the principal families. At the Djamah-in arts to those of Europe; and that the excellency Beni-Amaya, or Grand mosque of the Franks, 300 pupils are taught theology, jurisprudence, and Arabic; but there is no school at D. at which the young can acquire the rudiments of what constitutes the humblest European education; and the names of Abou-l-Feder, Makreezi, and other Arabic writers on Syria and Egypt, with whose productions European travellers are quite familiar, are nearly unknown to the sheikhs of D. Some children of the wealthier Christians have lately been sent to the college of Antourah. Medical science is at a very low ebb in D. There are several Moslem physicians who prescribe for diseases by astrology."

of the swords of D. had been much exaggerated from this cause; but that the estimation accorded to them was not warranted by our present experience, as swords of better quality might be now manufactured at a twentieth of the price. The attempts at imitation of these swords had been almost all directed to the external appearance alone,-i. e. the watering, or jower,-which Mr. Wilkinson considered had never been successfully produced. From several years attention to the subject, he had reason to believe that the natives of the East were either totally ignorant of the cause of the desired appearance themselves, or that they made a mystery of that which D. is the centre of the commerce of Syria; and its was in fact none.-Though the trade of D. is very trade is rendered still more considerable by its form- considerable, it has no English establishment within ing the rendezvous of all the pilgrims from the N of its walls. More than one has existed, but it has not Asia to Mecca. Their number amounts every year been found to answer; and the trade that has been to 30,000 or 40,000; and many of them arrive in D. carried on for English account is done either by several months before the departure of the caravan. French, Italian, or native houses. Dr. Hogg thus The city then presents the appearance of an immense describes the advantages of opening a trade between fair, and every place is full of camels, horses, mules, Great Britain and the Syrian capital:-" From its and merchandise. Even in the year 1432, Brocquiere central position, little more than 40 m. from the sea, describes this assemblage of traders and devotees as this town is admirably adapted to become the entreremarkably numerous. "On the morrow of my ar- pot of an extensive commerce between England and rival I saw the caravan return from Mecca. It was Asiatic Mahommedan states. The annual resort of said to be composed of 3,000 camels; and in fact it pilgrims offers a ready channel for conducting such was two days and as many nights before they had all a traffic; and were British capital and enterprise dientered the town." Caravans proceed from D. also rected to this object, an important outlet might be to Bagdad and Grand Cairo. The principal im- established for many of our manufactures. As the ports by these various channels are broad-cloths and sacred season approaches, the pilgrims collect in the different metals, which come from the coasts of great numbers. All then is activity and movement. the Mediterranean; and shawls, muslins, and other They arrive loaded with commodities,―remain seveIndian stuffs, which are brought by way of Bagdad. ral weeks,-make large purchases and exchanges,— Its own manufactures consist chiefly of silk and cot- and some idea may be formed of the consequence of ton fabrics, highly-finished saddles and bridles, fine this assemblage as a medium of commerce, from the cabinet work, jewellery, gold and silver trimming, circumstance of their camels alone amounting to and excellent soap made of olive-oil, kali, and chalk. thirty or forty thousand. The vicinity of D. yields Unset precious stones, especially pearls and tur- silk of good quality, and in great abundance. Cotquoises, are to be met with here in the bazaars. ton might be grown to any extent, and the coffeeGreat quantities also of dried fruits and sweetmeats, tree is said to flourish luxuriantly, although its proof native produce, are exported from D. to Constan- duce hitherto has never been turned to advantage. tinople, to the annual value, it is said, of £40,000. | English earthenware, but of the commonest descripD. was formerly celebrated for the manufacture of tion, is already found here; and suitable articles in sabres, of such superior excellence, that they would | china and cut glass, coloured crapes, certain kinds of