Aleppo, May 12, 1810.

With the present I transmit to you in duplicate a short sketch of the recent history of Aleppo, and some notices concerning the Turkmans Rihanli, which I collected during a visit to them in the beginning of March last. They are a tribe of Nomade Turkmans, who encamp in winter time at one day’s journey from Aleppo. I got myself introduced to one of their chiefs as a physician in search of medicinal herbs, and spent a fortnight amongst them.

I am now so far advanced in the knowledge of Arabic, that I understand almost every thing that is said in common conversation, and am able to make myself understood on most subjects, although sometimes with difficulty. I have made acquaintance with some Shikhs, and some of the first literati amongst the Turks of Aleppo, who from time to time visit me. I owe this favour principally to Mr. Wilkins’s Arabic and Persian Dictionary. The common manuscript dictionaries, or Kamus, being generally very defective, the learned Turks are often very glad to consult Wilkins, and never do it without exclaiming “How wonderful that a Frank should know more of our language than our first Ulemas.” Learning at Aleppo is in a very low state; no science, the Turkish law excepted, is properly cultivated; not even that of Arabic grammar, which is so necessary to the interpretation of the Koran. I am assured by the best authority, that there are now in this town only three men, (two Turks and a Christian) who know this language grammatically. The chief quality of a literary man is that of getting by heart a great number of verses made upon different occasions, and of knowing the proper opportunity of reciting them; to this must be added, a knowledge of the different learned significations of one and the same word, and of the words which express the same idea. For example, the word Adjuz, which in common language means a decrepid old man, has in the learned language about sixty other different significations; and there are in Arabian poetry about one hundred and fifty different words for wine. But to interpret passages of difficult grammatical construction, or rationally to amend errors, or even to compose prose or verse free from grammatical blunders, is a task much above the capacity of an Aleppine Ulema.

Two Persian Dervishes arrived here about two months ago, who had lived upwards of two years at the Wahabi court of Derayeh. I got acquainted with one of them, a young man of twenty-two; the other has gone to Mosul, from whence his companion shortly expects his return. The latter has been in the habit, singular enough for a Mohammedan traveller, of keeping a regular journal of his travels, describing whatever struck his inquisitive mind, and abounding, as I understand, with geographical notices.

Another traveller of a singular description passed here two years ago. He called himself Aly Bey, and professed to be born of Tunisian parents in Spain, and to have received his education in that country. Spanish appears to be his native language, besides which he spoke French, a little Italian, and the Moggrebyn dialect of Arabic, but badly. He came to Aleppo by the way of Cairo, Yaffa, and Damascus, with the strongest letters of recommendation from the Spanish Government to all its agents, and an open credit upon them. He seemed to be a particular friend of the Prince of the Peace, for whom he was collecting antiques; and from the manner in which it was known that he was afterwards received by the Spanish ambassador at his arrival in Constantinople, he must have been a man of distinction. The description of his figure, and what he related of his travels, called to my recollection the Spaniard Badia and his miniature in your library.[3] He was a man of middling size, long thin head, black eyes, large nose, long black beard, and feet that indicated the former wearing of tight shoes. He professed to have travelled in Barbary, to have crossed the Lybian Desert between Barbary and Egypt, and from Cairo to have gone to Mekka, and back. He travelled with Eastern magnificence, but here he was rather shy of shewing himself out of doors; he never walked out but on Fridays to the prayers of noon, in the great mosque. One of the beforementioned Dervishes told me that there had been a great deal of talking about this Aly Bey, at Damascus and Hama; they suspected him of being a Christian, but his great liberality and the pressing letters which he brought to all the people of consequence, stopped all further enquiry. He was busily employed in arranging and putting in order his journal during the two months of his stay at Aleppo.

Aleppo, 2nd July, 1810.

My long stay in Syria having been determined upon, in consequence of the absolute necessity of my familiarising myself with the idiom of these countries, I shall deem it my duty to send you from time to time some vouchers of my application to Arabic literature. I have for some time past been engaged in an Arabic exercise, which has proved of great utility to me; it is the metamorphosis of the well known novel of Robinson Crusoe into an Arabian tale, adapted to Eastern taste and manners. A young Frank born at Aleppo, who speaks Arabic like a native, but who neither reads nor writes it, has been my assistant in the undertaking. I take the liberty of sending you here inclosed a copy of this travestied Robinson, or as I call the book in Arabic, Dur el Bahur, the Pearl of the Seas. Of the merits or defects of the translation I can claim at most forty per cent.; the handwriting excepted, which is my own.

I am on the eve of leaving Aleppo for an excursion into the Desert, and shall probably set out the day after to-morrow. My good luck conducted some days ago an Arab Shikh to town, who is the mightiest chief of all the Arabs between Aleppo, Damascus, and Bagdad. He came for the purpose of receiving in person the passage duties upon certain goods which are shortly to be sent by means of a great caravan to Bagdad. He belongs to the wide extended tribe of the Aenezy, who have all become Wahabi; his own very powerful tribe is called the Tedhan, and his name is Duehy Ibn Ryeiben. I easily got acquainted with him; we ate and drank together, and I succeeded in making an agreement with him, that he should take me by way of Tedmor or Palmyra home to his family and tents, which he says are not far from Damascus in the plain of Haouran; he himself came to Aleppo accompanied only by a few people upon dromedaries. He is to shew me his tents and horses, of which latter I told him the English Consul here might be perhaps induced to buy some upon my recommendation; and he is then to set me down at Damascus.

He is known to all the principal Bagdad merchants of this town, and my agreement with him has been made in writing, signed by the most respectable of these merchants, as witnesses; I am so far in perfect tranquillity as to the security of my person under his protection. He is indeed a famous robber, but the Shikhs of the Desert have never been known to withdraw their protection from those to whom they have promised it.

Damascus, August 15, 1810.

The Arab Shikh mentioned in my last kept true to his engagements only during the two first days of our journey. Instead of conducting me, on the third day, in person, to Hamah, he gave me one of his men as a guide. Returning the next day towards the watering place seven hours east of Hamah, where we had left the Shikh, we were attacked and stript by a party of Mawáli Arabs, who, unfortunately for me, happened to be engaged in a quarrel with the Aenezy tribe of the Shikh. A watch and compass were the only articles I regretted to have lost; as to cash, I had not a single farthing in my pocket. We returned to the town, to refit ourselves as well as possible, and then set out again the next night, to rejoin our chief. The latter had however in the interval left the watering-place; we were obliged to run after him in the Desert for thirty-six hours, and finding him at last at another watering-place he declared to me that he could not possibly conduct me himself any further, because his people had very much pressed his return, afraid as they were of the approaching Wahabi. In reply to my remonstrances, he offered me another guide to take me to Tedmor, and from thence to the Haouran. With this guide I reached Tedmor after a march of thirty hours, and contemplated the wonders of the Palm city for nearly two days. The Shikh of Tedmor, in consideration of my empty purse, contented himself with taking my saddle from me. Leaving Tedmor we reached by a forced march Kariatein in one day, and from thence Yerud, a village about twelve hours to the N. E. of Damascus. Duehy, the Arab chief, had passed there a few days before, and knowing that my guide would likewise take that route, he had left at the village-Shikh’s house, an open letter to my address, in which he peremptorily told me not to proceed any farther in my journey towards the Haouran, but to go direct to Damascus, because he was determined to fly with his tribe away from the Wahabi. The fact was, that he did not wish to feed me under his tents for two months, according to our contract. Convinced that the whole was but a trick, I insisted upon proceeding in the original direction. My guide, however, refused to accompany me; he even left me in the evening; there were no other trusty people present to guide my steps through the Desert, I was therefore at last obliged to follow Duehy’s advice, and came to this place with a salt caravan from Tedmor, which I had found at Yerud. Two days after my arrival Duehy likewise made his appearance, and there being nobody present to take up my cause against him, I was obliged strictly to fulfil the stipulations of our contract, which he on his side had thus shamefully eluded.

Notwithstanding these disappointments, which often occur to travellers in these countries, my tour to Tedmor has given me much satisfaction. Besides the pleasure of seeing those interesting ruins, I have had some good opportunities of observing the Bedouins under their own tents; we alighted every day at different encampments, and were every where received with hospitality and kindness.

I should have put my project of visiting the Haouran in execution, even before now, had not the recent changes in the government of this city, and the state of suspense which it naturally occasions, in the districts depending upon it, rendered the roads insecure, and the inhabitants more than usually suspicious of strangers, until the new Pasha shall have had time firmly to establish himself in his newly acquired territory. A few days after my arrival at Damascus, Yussef Pasha, who had governed the town and its territory for the last four years, was turned out, and his place occupied by Soleiman Pasha of Akke (Acre.) This change being connected with the interruption of the pilgrim caravan to Mekka, and with the late Wahabi affairs, some details concerning it may perhaps be thought acceptable. As to the state of the Wahabi power in the southern parts of Arabia, I must confess that I am in perfect ignorance of it. Without being an eye witness, or meeting by chance with a credible eye witness, it is impossible to guide oneself through the labyrinth of false reports, which policy, fanaticism, and party spirit spread on their account. To mention but one instance: at my leaving Aleppo the general voice was, that the Wahabi were at the gates of Damascus.

It is now the sixth year since the Damascus pilgrim caravan, which included the Hadjis of the greatest part of the Turkish dominions, has not been able to reach Mekka. In 1805, Abdallah Pasha, then Pasha of Damascus, set out at the head of a caravan; having arrived in the neighbourhood of Medineh, the Wahabi governor of that city, by orders of Ibn el Saoud the great Wahabi chief, refused entrance to the caravan. The Hadjis were obliged to pass on the outside of the walls, and thus continued their way towards the Kaaba. They were yet three days journey from it, when they found themselves surrounded by the innumerable host of Saoud’s army. The two parties came to a parley, when Saoud declared to the Pasha, that he should thenceforward suffer no Turkish army to march through his territory, and that the army must therefore immediately return; but that those Hadjis who were determined to complete their pilgrimage might continue their way in safety, on condition that they should go unarmed, and promise to stay only three days at the holy city. None of the pilgrims were tempted to accept the offer of a free passage. Abdallah himself, frightened by the Wahabi numbers, made Saoud conceive hopes that he would be a convert to the new religion. Before he returned, it was stipulated that in case of any caravan taking its departure the following year, there should be neither Pasha nor army to convoy it; that all the Hadjis should be unarmed and without ammunition; that there should be no Mahmal (the camel which carries the new carpet for the decoration of the Kaaba); and that arrived at the same place where they then were, Saoud should have the right of selecting the individuals who were to proceed, while the others should wait there for the speedy return of their brethren. It is said that Abdallah Pasha was obliged by his officers to give his consent to these shameful articles. He insisted upon their attesting with their signatures that he had declared his determination to appeal to the sword, but that he was prevented from doing so, by their unanimous opinion that it was better not to shed blood. The Hadj returned to Damascus and Constantinople, and Abdallah sent the attestation of his officers to Constantinople, to excuse his retreat. Instead of recruiting and strengthening his forces, and protecting the next year the caravan with an army capable of forcing its way through the Wahabi tribes, Abdallah set out in 1806, with a corps not exceeding 8000 men, and a very small caravan of Hadjis. They were met, at three days journey from Mekka, by the Sherif of Mekka, who is a subject of the Wahabi. He told them that he had positive orders to refuse to any armed force the entrance into the holy city; but he again offered to let the unarmed Hadjis complete their pilgrimage. It is said that Abdallah had beforehand entered into some secret negociations with the Sherif, and that the latter had declared his wish to join the Pasha, with the Mekka people, against the Wahabi; thinking, of course, that the Pasha would not hazard the Hadj, without being accompanied by a considerable force; but that when he saw the small number of the troops and the mutinous spirit which reigned amongst them, he remained true to his former engagements with Ibn Saoud.

Abdallah returned to Damascus a second time, without having been able to accomplish the pilgrimage, which he had formerly led fifteen times to Mekka and back to Damascus. He soon afterwards fell into disgrace with the Grand Signor, when Yussef Aga, an upstart, who from the rank of a simple soldier, had raised himself to the first dignities in the town, was named Pasha of Damascus. His military temper and courage were known, and he had promised to conduct the Hadj. It may be necessary to explain here the policy of the Pasha of Damascus and of the Porte respecting the Hadj. The Miri, or land tax, of the Pashaliks of Damascus and Tripoli, which, according to the original assessment amounted to about 3500 purses, (it is now worth more than triple that sum,) has been abandoned to the Pasha of Damascus for the necessary expense of the Hadj; and to the Pasha of Tripoli for the expense of the Djerde, or caravan of provisions, which meets the Hadjis on their return. Besides these 3500 purses, the Pasha of Damascus contributes at least 1000 more, out of his own treasury, because the expenses, particularly the tribute paid to the Arab tribes on the pilgrim route, are yearly increasing. Abdallah Pasha, who had already given apparent proofs of his zeal for the Hadj, seeing the power of the Porte daily decreasing, and knowing the terror which the Wahabi name had inspired, thought that the time was come, when, without inculpating himself, he might at last put a stop to the Hadj, and add its expenses to the revenue of the Pashalik. For this reason, he neglected to recruit the forces, which were to accompany the pilgrims, as he might have done, if it had been his real intention to favour the Hadj, and he returned the second year to prove to the country that if he himself, who had so often led the Hadj to Mekka, was no longer able to do so, certainly any other person who should attempt it, would be equally unsuccessful. The Porte however prevented his design; before the conclusion of 1806, Yussef Pasha was named to the command of Damascus, and Abdallah Pasha, who was much disliked in the town, peacefully retired to Aleppo, where he lives now as a private grandee. Yussef Pasha governed the territory of Damascus and Tripoli for four years, without once conducting the caravan. What Abdallah had projected his successor executed; the Miri, instead of defraying the expenses of the Hadj, or being accounted for to the Porte, entered into the Pasha’s chests. In the present degenerate and tottering state of the empire, the Porte has forgot that the religious and fanatical spirit which is diffused over its subjects by the visitors of the Kaaba, is perhaps the last supporter of its political existence. She thinks no longer of the religious importance of the pilgrimage; her troubles and cares are all for money; as if money alone would uphold an empire.

Yussef Pasha was the best Pasha Damascus ever had; his firmness and justice kept the turbulent Damascenes in order; he never committed avanies upon the inhabitants, and was respected and even liked by every honest man. He had one vice however which the Porte never forgives in its officers, that of avarice. Instead of transmitting the greater part of the Miri to the Porte, who had a claim to it all, as not being employed in the expense of the Hadj, the sums carried by his yearly envoys to Constantinople, every thing included, did not amount to more than fifteen hundred purses; he thought himself sure of the attachment of his troops and the country people; and slighted the Porte’s remonstrances.

It was under these circumstances that in May last the news spread over the country, that Ibn Saoud, the chief of the Wahabi, had left his head quarters at Derayeh at the head of an immense army, with hostile intentions against Syria. Their arrival spread general terror; the rich caravans which were expected from Bagdad at Aleppo and Damascus were immediately countermanded; and although there was no certain intelligence of the intended route of the Wahabi, it was supposed that their first attempt would be upon Damascus. Others, and perhaps better informed people, were of opinion, that Saoud came to punish the Aenezy, who, divided into more than one hundred and fifty different tribes, people the desert as far as ten journeys to the east of Aleppo, Hamah, Homs, and Damascus. The Aenezy had long ago been converted to the Wahabi faith, but had for the last three years neglected to pay the fifth or tribute, which Saoud exacts from all his followers.[4] At the same time, there were still several tribes of Arabs, inhabiting the plains and mountains on both sides of the Hadj route, as far as the eighth stage from Damascus, who were not yet Wahabi, and their conversion might likewise enter into Saoud’s plan. The Pasha of Damascus was glad to see fresh obstacles arise to prevent the pilgrims from proceeding, and have a new excuse to the Porte, for not transmitting the Miri, which he might now be supposed to employ for his preparations against the approaching enemy. The month of June passed away, and nothing sure was yet known of the direction which Saoud had taken. In the beginning of July, intelligence reached the town from Mezerib, a castle on the third stage of the pilgrims route, that the Aga commanding in the place had been attacked by swarms of Wahabi. Yussef Pasha immediately left the town at the head of above 5000 men. Arrived at Mezerib he found that his officer had already repulsed the attack, and that twelve of the enemy had been killed; their heads were forthwith dispatched to Constantinople, and this insignificant skirmish blazoned forth as an important victory. A person who was at that time with the Pasha at Mezerib has assured me, that the corps of Arabs which attacked the castle consisted of about 800 men, mounted upon camels and armed with lances. Saoud, it was said, had fixed his head-quarters, with the great body of his army, at about two days journey from Damascus, amongst the encampments of a Wahabi tribe called Shammar. The Pasha of Acre was now required to send troops in aid of Yussef Pasha; the Emir Beshir, or chief of the Druses, was addressed to the same effect, and Yussef Pasha remained from the 9th of July till the 26th at Mezerib without so much as seeing an enemy; but he had the mortification to hear that Saoud’s vanguard had plundered and entirely destroyed seventeen of the best villages of the Haouran, and massacred all the inhabitants. Soleiman Pasha of Acre had meanwhile encamped with about three thousand men at Tabaria, and the Emir Beshir had joined him there with as many more Druses. The town of Damascus was in perfect tranquillity, the fear of the Wahabis having already subsided, when on the 25th a civil officer came to town with a letter from Soleiman Pasha, addressed to the Kadi, Ulemas, and Grandees of Damascus, including the copy of a Firman from the Porte, by which Yussef Pasha was deposed, and Soleiman Pasha named Pasha of Damascus. Soleiman had obtained his Firman by transmitting considerable sums of money to Constantinople, by promising to conduct the Hadj, or in case it should be absolutely impossible, to remit the Miri, and at all events to send Yussef’s accumulated treasures to the Grand Signor. Nothing was done in his favour at Damascus but to deposit, as usual, a copy of the Firman in the registers of the Mehkemeh, or court of justice. Yussef Pasha, by forced marches, arrived three days after with his army, and ordered several heads to be struck off. Soleiman Pasha with the Emir Beshir likewise advanced, and the town was in expectation of some great event. Luckily for its inhabitants Yussef Pasha’s avarice prevented a civil war; instead of liberally distributing his treasures amongst his troops, he only paid them a part of their arrears, upon which the emissaries of Soleiman fomented the dissatisfaction which began to break out, the principal officers were bought over, and in a little skirmish that happened on the 31st, the troops of Yussef loudly expressed their disinclination to fight their master’s rival. By the sacrifice of his treasures Yussef Pasha might perhaps have been able to sustain his cause. Being informed that Soleiman was in possession of a second Firman which demanded his head, he determined suddenly to fly. He was preparing to leave his Seraglio in the night of the 1st of August, accompanied by about eight-hundred chosen horsemen, with his treasure loaded upon seventy mules, when his Arnauts, who were to have been left behind, fell upon the loaded mules, part of which had already nearly gained the town-gates, forced open the money chests and pillaged the whole. The guard of eight hundred men, seeing there was now nothing more to be gained in the Pasha’s service, deserted him, and the broken hearted Pasha, who during four years had been the benefactor of Damascus, was lucky in securing his retreat, with six or seven of his suite, amongst a friendly tribe of Arabs in the neighbourhood of the city. Soleiman made his solemn entrance into Damascus on the 5th of August, and is now joint Pasha of three Pashaliks: Damascus, Acre, and Tripoli, that is to say, he is in possession of almost the whole of Syria, from Gaza to the vicinity of Aleppo and Antioch. Soleiman Pasha is by birth a Georgian Christian; he was brought up by Djezzar as a Turkish slave, and was much liked by his master, who elevated him to the first situations, in his Pashalik of Acre. After the death of Djezzar, Soleiman made himself master of Acre, by expelling Ismael Pasha, who had succeeded Djezzar, and the Porte soon after recognised him. He bears a good character, at least as good as any Pasha can sustain without being made a fool of. His principal favourite and counsellor is a rich Jew, named Haym, whose talents had already been acknowledged by Djezzar. After having cut off his nose and ears, and torn out one of his eyes, that monster kept him for ten years a prisoner in his Seraglio, obliging him during the whole time to conduct all his most important affairs. Under Soleiman Pasha, Haym has governed Acre, and it is worthy of remark, that at the very same time, the principal men of business of Soleiman’s rival Yussef, were the two brothers and the cousin of Haym, who are supposed to be the richest house in Damascus. Now that Soleiman is Pasha of both places, the whole fraternity is here, and the Jews of Syria may flatter themselves (as the Christians here say) that Israel reigns again in his ancient limits.

Nothing farther has transpired of the Wahabi; but it is easy to foresee that Soleiman Pasha will soon raise again the Wahabi war-cry.

Having had frequent occasions during my stay at Aleppo to observe the deplorable state of the whole country round it, it has been a very gratifying sight to me to witness the comparative ease and I might even say wealth of the inhabitants of the territory of Damascus. The neighbourhood of the city in particular is in a very prosperous state, owing partly to the richness of the ground, which is no where equalled in Syria, partly to the effect of Yussef Pasha’s government, who during his whole reign never extorted any extraordinary contributions from the peasant, and protected him against the oppressions of minor tyrants. It is the misfortune of the Turkish government, at least in its present decayed state, that popular virtues in the persons of its governors are quite incompatible with the Porte’s own views. The Porte demands supplies, and nothing but supplies; and the Pasha, to satisfy her, must press upon the industry of his subjects. He who is the well-wisher of his people, who contents himself with the ordinary revenue, and who lets justice preside in his councils, will undoubtedly incur his sovereign’s displeasure, not because he is just, but because his justice prevents him from plundering and transmitting a portion of the acquired plunder to the Diwan. To save his existence he has nothing left but silently to resign his unhappy subjects to the rod of a succeeding despot, or to declare himself a rebel and to contend with his rival until the Porte, convinced of the difficulty of deposing him, patiently waits for a more favourable opportunity of effecting her purposes. These principles are applicable to all persons in office, from the Pasha down to the Shikh of the smallest village; and it is to them that the rapid decay of Turkey is chiefly to be ascribed. It requires but one year’s reign of a man like Djezzar to destroy the benefits of the four years government of a Yussef. The rapidity however, with which ease and wealth are seen to reflow into the reopened channels of industry, prove that Syria, on the downfall of the Turkish empire, would soon regain its former lustre.

My last letter, of the 4th of July, from Aleppo, was accompanied by an Arabic imitation of the well known novel of Robinson Crusoe, arranged so as to suit the Arabian taste. I was desirous of giving some proof of my application to the study of that language. I can conscientiously say, that I have done, and still do, every thing in my power to make myself master of it, but I must confess that I find its difficulties out of proportion to the time which has been allotted to me, to surmount them. I have no other motives in this confession than the sincerest zeal to succeed in my travels to the fullest expectations of the African Association. A two years residence in Syria was thought sufficient to enable me to speak with fluency. After one year’s stay, I think I may be allowed to be able to calculate what remains yet to be done, and I conclude that a twelve month more of study and practice is not sufficient for the remaining task. I therefore take the liberty to entreat the Committee to allow me six months more, over the already granted two years, before I proceed to Egypt. If the Committee is persuaded of the truth of what I advance, a delay of six months and the expense accompanying it, will not be thought an object, nor will it, I trust, be believed, that after the expiration of the prolonged term, I shall again demand a farther delay. The additional six months, however, is of the greatest importance to me, because I know from experience that when once tolerably conversant with a language, a short practice has a more rapid effect than triple the time employed in getting over the first difficulties. In case no distinct answer to this application should arrive before next July, I shall look upon my proposition as rejected, and strictly follow the tenour of my former instructions.

Aleppo, January 6th, 1811.

I had the honour of writing to you from Damascus on the 15th of August, 1810; soon after my arrival in that city from Palmyra. The unsettled state of the government of Damascus obliged me to prolong my stay there for upwards of six weeks. I again left it in the middle of September to visit Baalbec and the Libanus. My route lay through Zahle, a small but prosperous town on the western side of the valley Bekaa, the ancient Coelosyria, and from thence to Baalbec, where I remained three days; then to the top of the Libanus, the Cedars and Kannobin, from whence following the highest summits of the mountain, I returned to Zahle by the villages called Akoura and Afka. Descending the Bekaa I proceeded to the Druse territory of Hasbeya; this village is at the foot of Djebel el Shikh, or Mount Hermon, and is famous for its wells of bitumen judaicum and for the cinnabar found near it; from thence I went to Banias, the ancient Cæsarea Philippi, where I saw some ruins, and copied some inscriptions. At an hour’s distance from it is the source of the river El Dhan (Jordan), in the plain of the Houle, or lake Samachonitis. Three hours from it, upon the top of a mountain, are the ruins of the ancient city of Boustra, mentioned in the holy scriptures. I returned to Damascus over the chain of mountains called Djebel Heish, which under the different names of Djebel Adjoulan and Djebel Belkaa continues southerly along the eastern borders of the Dead Sea. I remained this time only a fortnight at Damascus; it was preparatory to an excursion into a region which till a few years ago had never been visited by European travellers; I mean the country called Haouran, the patrimony of Abraham, of which Dr. Seetzen, the German traveller, had seen a part four years ago, previous to his memorable tour round the Dead Sea. During a fatiguing journey of twenty-six days I explored this country as far as a five days journey to the south and south-east of Damascus; I went over the whole of the Djebel Haouran, or mountain of the Druses, who have in these parts a settlement of about twenty villages; I passed Bosz ra (بُصره), a place likewise mentioned in the books of Moses, and not to be confounded with Boustra, (بُستره); I then entered the desert to the south-east of it, and returned afterwards to Damascus through the rocky district on the foot of the Djebel Haouran, called El Ledja. At every step I found vestiges of ancient cities, saw the remains of many temples, public edifices, and Greek churches, met at Shohbe with a well-preserved amphitheatre, at other places with numbers of still standing columns, and had opportunities of copying many Greek inscriptions which may serve to throw some light upon the history of this almost forgotten corner. The inscriptions are for the greater part of the Lower Empire, but some of the most elegant ruins have their inscriptions dated from the reigns of Trajan and M. Aurelius. The Haouran with its adjacent districts is the spring and summer rendezvous of most of the Arab tribes who inhabit in winter-time the great Syrian desert called by them El Hammad (الحماد). They approach the cultivated lands in search of grass, water, and corn, of which last they buy up in the Haouran their yearly provision.

In my last letter from Damascus, I gave you some details concerning the invasion of the Wahabi in July last, observing at the same time that many people at Damascus were still in doubt whether it was really a Wahabi corps, which had penetrated so near to the principal seat of the Turkish power in Syria. My inquiries upon the spots where they passed, place it beyond any doubt that Ibn Saoud himself, the Wahabi chief, accompanied by the Sherif of Mekka, headed the expedition, which consisted of about six thousand men, mounted upon camels, together with about four hundred horsemen. The camels were all females, whose milk afforded drink to men and horses during their march from the Djof (an assemblage of Wahabi villages, twelve days journey from Boszra) to the Haouran, at a time of the year when no water is met with in the desert. Ibn Saoud executed his plans in the true Arab style. He remained only two days and a half in the cultivated districts of the Haouran, over-ran in that short time a space of at least one hundred and twenty miles, burnt and plundered near thirty villages, and returned flying, loaded with booty, into the heart of his dominions. The terror of his name was so great, that Yussef, the Pasha of Damascus, did not dare to attack him while he defiled with his loaded camels before the Pasha’s troops; but contented himself with aukwardly firing off his field artillery. Many of the Wahabi were armed with musquets. It is probable that Ibn Saoud will return next year; an expedition conducted as the former was, will always be successful, if no other means of defence are employed; the Haouran people entertain great apprehensions of his return; a few successful attacks will render the eastern borders of Syria deserted, and the great Desert, which already daily gains ground upon the inhabited districts, will soon swallow up the remaining parts of the eastern plain.

After a short excursion to the Djebel el Shikh to the west of Damascus, I returned from thence by Homs and Hamah to Aleppo, where I arrived on the new year’s day.

During this six months journey I have gained some experience in acting as well as in speaking. This indeed was the motive which principally induced me to it, and although disappointed on my first outset, yet I have no reason to be dissatisfied with the remaining part of the journey. I am now occupied in working up my journal, of which I shall send you the first part by the next opportunity for Malta. It will contain my observations among the Arabs, and the classification of about one hundred and fifty of their tribes. The journal of my Haouran tour shall follow as soon as possible.

I am at last under the disagreeable necessity of telling you that notwithstanding every economy in expense I have spent my last farthing. I performed my travels throughout in the garb of a pauper, (the Haouran tour for instance only cost me four pounds sterling), yet some expense in feeding myself and my horse, together with some occasional presents were unavoidable. I should less regret the want of remittances if it was not for the consideration that my stay in Syria might have afforded me opportunities of laying out whatever I might have spared of my appointments in manuscripts or objects of antiquity, an opportunity which if lost now, may be lost for ever. I have lived for nineteen months, since my leaving Malta, upon £170. the remainder of my credit upon Mr. Lee, and I shall now be obliged to accept Mr. Barker’s kind offers, gradually to advance me the sums necessary for my livelihood, until I may be enabled to reimburse him by the receipt of my salary from the Committee.

Aleppo, May 3, 1811.

I am sincerely obliged to the Committee for having granted me a six months prolongation of my stay in Syria.

I have the honour to transmit to you a parcel of papers containing: 1. A classification of the principal Arab tribes near the confines of Syria. 2. A treatise on Bedouin customs and manners. 3. The journal of my tour into the Haouran. 4. The journal of my tour over part of the Syrian mountains. 5. Some geographical notices concerning the Desert. The geographical part of my journey to Palmyra is too insignificant to be laid before you, as I was deprived by the Arab robbers of the aid of my watch and compass; my observations made among the Bedouins on my way to and from Palmyra, you will find dispersed in my treatise on their manners; and any researches at Palmyra itself, must be superfluous after the excellent and most correct work of Wood and Dawkins. My tour into the country of the Haouran might have been interesting on account of its novelty, were it not for the account which the indefatigable German traveller, Dr. Seetzen, must ere now have published of his travels in these parts.[5] As I have had opportunities of copying, in the Haouran villages, many Greek inscriptions, it will be necessary to tell the reader of my journal that the author’s knowledge of Greek is very superficial. The excursion to Baalbec and over Mount Libanus towards the lake Houle, was undertaken rather to gratify my own curiosity, than in the hope of being able to gather new information in a country so often travelled over by Europeans. The investigation of Bedouin customs was a favourite object of mine, being convinced that their civil institutions are still very imperfectly known in Europe, although their social manners have often been described. In my treatise on Bedouin customs I thought it necessary, frequently, to subjoin the Arabic names, and sometimes, likewise the Bedouin phraseology; because both greatly differ from the Syrian language. If I had been in possession of some books descriptive of Arab manners before Mohammed, such as Pococke, Schultens, &c. I might have rendered my inquiries among the Arabs more useful, and might have drawn some interesting parallels. Not having met with any such works in Syria, I was contented faithfully to note down what I myself saw or what I heard related by competent witnesses.

Since the late change in the government of Damascus, Syria enjoys perfect tranquillity, the whole of the country, excepting only the territory of Aleppo, being now in the hands of Soleiman Pasha of Damascus. It is said, that he is determined to set out next winter with the Hadj, but I very much doubt whether he will be able to make good this promise to the Porte. The Wahabi chief has been for some time past embarrassed by domestic dissensions. Three of his sons have become rebels; in December last they plundered a part of their father’s treasures at Derayeh, while the latter was sacrificing upon Mount Arafat near Mekka, and they have now retired to the city of El Hassa, near the Persian gulf, where Ibn Saoud is preparing to besiege them. At Aleppo the power is still in the hands of the rebellious Janissaries. A few hundred of them set out last summer to join the grand Vizier’s army before Adrianople, but they returned at the approach of winter; these are the only troops which the Sultan has been able to draw from Syria.

Aleppo, Sept. 7, 1811.

The most untoward circumstances have prevented until now my long projected excursion into the desert towards the Euphrates. Since my last, I have been continually endeavouring to find means to re-enter the desert, with some degree of security, but the state of the country has always thrown insurmountable obstacles in my way. The neighbourhood of Aleppo has been infested since spring, until about a month ago, by great numbers of Aenezy Arabs, who had declared war against the towns people as well as against the Manali Arabs, who are looked upon as the hereditary friends of the Aleppo government. The Aenezy have ruined about forty villages, have eaten up the whole harvest of the open country, and have rendered the roads so insecure that nobody dares travel but in the company of a large caravan. I repeatedly tried to take some of the Aenezy for my guides, and had chosen one from each of the principal tribes who surrounded Aleppo, as the only means left to me to execute my design; but the exorbitant demands of these people greatly exceeded my powers, and I was moreover informed that the Aenezy had declared war upon the Arabs of the Zor, or valley of Euphrates, which was exactly the country I wished to visit; I was therefore obliged to wait till the Aenezy should have retired from this neighbourhood. It is now about a month since they returned into the interior of the desert, to meet the autumnal rains; and I am now on the point of setting out. A caravan arrived here a few days ago from Sokhne, a village in the desert, five days journey from hence on the Bagdad route. The people of that village, together with the inhabitants of Tedmor or Palmyra, bring to Aleppo once or twice every year alcali, which they collect in the desert. The day after tomorrow the caravan is to return to Sokhne, and I intend to proceed with it in order to visit from thence Deir, the ancient Thapsacus, and several ruined places which I have heard much spoken of. I intend to return if possible along the shores of the Euphrates, although I am afraid that the eternal quarrels of the Arabs of the Zor may put many obstacles in my stay. The Shikh of Sokhne, to whom I am strongly recommended, and to whom I carry some small presents, is a powerful man in those parts, and will certainly take care of my safe return to Aleppo; I shall then only remain as long in Aleppo as will be necessary to copy my Journal and put it in order, and proceed to Damascus, to trace my way from thence into Egypt round the Dead Sea. My present tour will take up about seven or eight weeks.[6]

My time at Aleppo has been exclusively taken up in endeavours to enlarge my knowledge of Arabic. I have completed the perusal of several of the best Arabic authors, prosaic writers as well as poets; I have read over the Koran twice, and have got by heart several of its chapters and many of its sentences; I am likewise nearly finishing a thorough course of the precepts of the Mohammedan religion, a learned Effendi having taken upon himself the task of explaining to me the book of Ibrahim Halebi on the religious laws of the Turks. This is the book upon which D’Ohsson has grounded his excellent work.

There is no kind of political news in these parts. It is a long time since we have heard of the Wahabi. Aleppo continues in the hands of the Janissaries, but it is said that Gharib Pasha, whom the Porte has lately named Pasha of Aleppo, is collecting in Anatolia a considerable force to subdue these rebels. Damascus, Tripoli, and Acre, are completely under the dominion of Soleiman Pasha, but it is known that Mohammed Aly, Pasha of Egypt, spares neither intrigues nor money to dispossess Soleiman at least of one of his Pashaliks. The pilgrimage from Damascus to Mecca is again put off for another year. There is a great scarcity all over Syria; wheat has risen to an exorbitant price, and the two last years having been remarkably dry, almost every kind of vegetable has failed. The same quantity of wheat which at the time of my arrival at Aleppo sold for six piastres and a half, is now worth twenty-seven. Such scarcity makes travelling much less pleasant, and the natives much less inclined to forward the stranger’s purposes.

Damascus, May 30, 1812.

The last, which I had the honour to address you, was from Aleppo. It was accompanied by a large chest of Arabic manuscripts. Incessant rains delayed my departure from Aleppo, until the 14th of February. I arrived on the 3d of March at Tripoli, and on the 22d at Damascus. Being very desirous of visiting the Haouran once more before I should leave Syria, in order to examine those parts which I had not been able to see during my first tour through that country, I set out with this object, as soon as I was satisfied of the tranquil state of the Pashalik. I left this city on the 21st April, and returned to it on the 9th May. One of the packets of papers herewith inclosed contains my notes on this journey through the Haouran, and part of the ancient Decapolis; the second consists of my observations during the previous journey from Aleppo to Damascus. The third paper contains corrections and annotations to the description of Bedouin manners, which I hope has long since reached you.

I intend to set out from hence in a few days. It is my wish to proceed along the eastern borders of the Dead Sea into Arabia Petræa, to visit there if possible, some unknown districts, and to make my way from thence straight to Cairo.

Although my arrival in Egypt will thus be still further delayed, I trust that the Committee will not be displeased at this delay. The countries I have seen, and am now about to visit, are of difficult access, and not without interest to literature; and without going to great expense, or knowing the language and manners of the country, European travellers cannot expect to be able to explore them. Thinking myself in some measure qualified for the journey, I perform it, as a general would take possession of any strong post on his way, even without any express commands to that purpose. Such, indeed, have been my only motives for undertaking these journies, which are sufficiently laborious and hazardous, not to be mistaken for tours of pleasure. That which I am now entering upon is certainly subjected to almost as many difficulties as any African travels can be. In performing it, I hope to complete my preliminary exercises, and at the same time to obtain some information upon the geography of an unknown region. The Committee will decide whether I do right or wrong. Their disapproval indeed would far outweigh any satisfaction I may derive from the success of the journey.

I cannot quit Syria without repeating that the kind services and most friendly treatment of Mr. Barker, the British Consul at Aleppo, have put me under everlasting obligations to him. He is a most worthy man and of very superior talents. Being at present the only Englishman established in these countries, the important care of the English interests in Syria is exclusively confided to him; and the reputation which he has acquired in every part of the country by his prudent and generous conduct proves him fully equal to the charge.

Syria still enjoys perfect tranquillity, although the governors of the country are continually changing. A new Pasha has been named for Aleppo, who is at present intriguing there to get the better of the Janissaries. The day before my arrival at this place, the news had reached the town of the dismissal of Soleiman Pasha from the Pashalik of Damascus; but he has been permitted to keep his seat at Acre. There are some reports, of its being the intention of Mohammed Aly Pasha to invade Syria. His ill success against the Wahabi may have hitherto prevented him, but if he lives, and is successful in Arabia, he may still execute his designs, for he is a man of vast ambition, and great energy of character.

There is no news from the desert; the Wahabi, being fully occupied in opposing the forces of Mohammed Aly, have been obliged to give up for the present their plundering expeditions against Syria. The hopes of re-establishing the pilgrim caravan to Mekka is entertained only by those fanatic Turks, who, from the discontinuance of it, prognosticate the fall of the empire. The important English coffee trade, opened within the last twelve months, between Malta and the Levant, considerably lessens the desire of the Hadj in the minds of all those who were in the habit of performing the pilgrimage merely in order to buy up Mocha coffee at Mekka, which they sold with great profits at Damascus, Aleppo, and Constantinople. The greater half of the pilgrims were merchants of coffee and India goods. At present American coffee has entirely supplanted that of Yemen all over Syria and the Syrian desert.

7th of June. I have tarried so long at Damascus principally in order to get a letter of recommendation for Kerek, from a Damascene, who was out of town. Kerek is a considerable village to the east of the Dead Sea, where I shall probably stay a few days, for it is from thence that I must look for a conveyance to Suez. I hope to be at Cairo about the 20th of July.