In the months of May and June great numbers of a bird, called by the natives kata (which are also to be met with at all seasons, though not in so great plenty), are brought to market, and much ate by them; but their flesh is so black, hard, and dry, that the Europeans never touch them. As this bird has not as yet been described, a figure and description of it are annexed⁠[355]. Other game in the neighbourhood are, the bustard⁠[356] of two kinds; red-legg’d partridge⁠[357]; frankolin⁠[358], the flesh of which is delicious, but this bird is not to be met with at less than a day’s journey from the city; common sky-lark⁠[359], wood-lark⁠[360], crested lark⁠[361], calandra⁠[362]; hortulanes⁠[363], and citrils⁠[364], chiefly ate by the French; snipe⁠[365], gird or jack snipe⁠[366], song-thrush⁠[367], wind-thrush⁠[368], turtle-dove⁠[369]; a brown-coloured dove, which builds in the windows, &c. of the houses in the city; and another much like it, only speckled on the neck and pinions, which is very common when the corn is ripe, but disappears as soon as that is reaped; wild pigeon, wood pigeon⁠[370]. They have also variety of tame pigeons, and particularly the carrier⁠[371], formerly made use of by the Europeans for conveying expeditiously the news of a ship’s arrival at Scanderoon; but this practice has been disused for many years. The pigeon thus employed was one that had young at Aleppo. Upon enquiring into their method of training them, some asserted, that they were sent down to Scanderoon in an open cage, and, as soon as let go there, would fly directly to Aleppo. But I am more apt to believe what others affirmed, that the bird was brought to this by first letting it return from shorter distances on the Scanderoon road. All agree, that if the pigeon had been a fortnight at Scanderoon, it was not afterwards to be trusted to fly back, lest it should have forgot its young, and consequently not be so eager to get home. A small piece of paper, with the ship’s name, day of arrival, and what else material could be contained in a very narrow compass, was fixed so as to be under the wing, to prevent its being destroyed by wet. They also used to bathe their feet in vinegar, with a view to keeping them cool, so as they might not settle to drink or wash themselves, which would have destroyed the paper. And I have heard an English gentleman, who remembered that practice, say, that he has known them arrive in two hours and an half.

Shooting, as a sport, is rarely followed by any of the natives, though many practise it to gain a livelihood; but the diversions of coursing and hawking are in great esteem among the people of fashion. They have both in great perfection; but the latter exceeds any thing of the kind that I have ever met with. The falcons bred for taking hares and antelopes are the Baraban and Sefy, both large falcons; and, though caught wild, they train them in a few days to fly at their prey.

For antelope-hawking, they chuse such of these hawks as they find to be fierce, and eager to seize their prey; and they are taught to fix upon the cheek of the animal, which retards its motion, so that the greyhounds come in.

Though the falcons used for hare-hawking will sometimes, when very hungry, strike the hare dead at once; yet for this sport they prefer such as are not disposed to fix upon the animal, but who, by repeated buffetting on the head with their pounces (rising in the air between each blow), retard the hare, till an ordinary greyhound can come up and seize it.

For bird-hawking, they use a large falcon, with long legs, somewhat like the goshawk, which they call espeer; and two smaller falcons, stiled the one zanous, and the other shaheen. This latter must be taken out of the nest, for when old they cannot be trained, and is so fierce that it will fly at any thing. If there were not several gentlemen now in England who can attest it, I should scarce venture to mention, that with the shaheen, which is about the size of a pigeon, they often take the largest eagles, of which in this country there are plenty. They formerly were trained to seize the eagle under the wing: and so depriving him of the use of that part, they fell to the ground together: but their present method, as I am informed, is to seize him on the back between the two wings, which has the same effect, but brings him down more slowly, and so gives the falconer time to come in to his hawk’s assistance; in which if he is not very expeditious, the hawk is in either case speedily destroyed.

They have also a small hawk, which they train to fly at quails; it much resembles the spar-hawk.

Besides those already mentioned for food and sport, the country produces the black vulture⁠[372], some few pelicans⁠[373], the kestrel⁠[374], white stork⁠[375], black stork⁠[376], great eagle-owl⁠[377], several other kinds of smaller owls, the crane⁠[378]; another beautiful sort of crane⁠[379], called by the natives querky, which they have often tame in their houses or court-yards; the common heron⁠[380], the flamingo⁠[381] at some seasons, the cormorant⁠[382], the stone curlew⁠[383], the raven⁠[384], the Royston crow⁠[385], the common or carrion crow⁠[386], the jackdaw⁠[387], the magpye⁠[388], the night raven⁠[389], the starling⁠[390], the common blackbird⁠[391]; a kind of jay, whose feathers are beautifully variegated with blue, green, and a sort of brown; as also in the summer the locust bird⁠[392].

The black caps⁠[393], a sort of gull, are in great numbers about the city all the winter, and so tame that the women call them from the terraces, throwing up pieces of bread, which these birds catch in the air. The house-swallow⁠[394], martin⁠[395], and swift⁠[396], of which, besides the common, there is one with a white belly, come about the end of February; and having hatched their young, disappear about the end of July. The swallow returns again the beginning of October, but stays not above a fortnight. The hopooe⁠[397] and bee-eater⁠[398] come in the spring, and remain all the summer and autumn.

Of small birds the following are what I have observed. The house-sparrow⁠[399], the chaffinch⁠[400], the goldfinch⁠[401], the common linnet⁠[402], the field-fare⁠[403], the white water-wagtail⁠[404], the cuckow⁠[405], the king-fisher⁠[406], the greater spotted wood-pecker⁠[407], the stone-chatter⁠[408], the wren⁠[409], a Brasilian bird a-kin to the king-fisher⁠[410], green plover⁠[411], grey plover⁠[412]; and abundance of nightingales⁠[413], which not only afford much pleasure by their song in the gardens, but are also kept tame in the houses, and let out at a small rate to divert such as chuse it in the city; so that no entertainments are made in the spring without a concert of these birds.

There are also several other birds, which I could not determine from any books I had, and my occasions did not allow me to preserve; besides which I doubt not there are many others which escaped my searches: so that I can only add a remarkable sort of bittern⁠[414], and a bird somewhat like a lapwing⁠[415], with a remarkable spur in its pinnion: the figure and description of both which are annexed.

From the Euphrates and Orontes in the winter, particularly the Lent of the Christians, are brought a sufficient quantity of fish for their consumption; but the Turks seldom eat any: and indeed most of them taste so muddy, that they are disagreeable.

The different kinds that I have observed are carp⁠[416], Mystus Niloticus Bellonii⁠[417], barbel⁠[418], nasus⁠[419], tœnia cornuta Schonfeldii⁠[420], eel⁠[421]; and there are likewise some other sorts that I had not an opportunity of examining; but none are in such abundance as what are called the black fish, with which the markets are plentifully supplied from the entrance of the winter till the beginning of March; when they are esteemed out of season. As this fish, to the best of my knowledge, is of a genus not yet described, a figure and description of it are inserted⁠[422].

Besides the fish which we have mentioned, most of those that are found in the Aleppo river, are likewise brought from abroad, and known in town by the same names.

The sheat fish⁠[423] is also sometimes to be met with, and is caught in a lake near Marash.

I did not imagine, from the appearance of the river Coic, or indeed from what is commonly met with at the tables of the inhabitants, that our list of fish caught there would have swelled to any thing worth mentioning; and yet, upon examination, they were found to amount to no less than seventeen, and even some of these not yet described. They are in general very small, occasioned in part by the assiduous industry of the fishermen; for at Hylan, and the Fountain of Fish, where they remain unmolested, they grow to larger sizes, though very rarely so large as in other parts of the world.

The loche⁠[424] is the most common; the barbel is less than those brought from abroad. The bleak⁠[425] is known by two names; that is, there are two sorts of fish that appear to agree in every characteristic with the bleak, which nevertheless are esteemed different; the first called mirmeed, seven or eight inches long; the second, tiftaf, is not above one and a half or two inches, and, they say, never exceeds. Chub⁠[426] are plenty; roches⁠[427] seldom large; gudgeons⁠[428] of three sorts; the first is much spotted on the back, and called tuckle; the second, kureety, has fewer spots; the third, kalloor, scarce any, and is smaller than the other two. The mugilis⁠[429] I am less certain of than the rest, but yet it agrees tolerably well with the description; dace⁠[430], carassius⁠[431], the phoxinus⁠[432]; also a fish called by the natives simak il inglese⁠[433], from a corruption, I suppose, of anguilla, as it has been commonly imagined to be a kind of eel; though, upon examination, it is found to be a genus hitherto undescribed; and two species of mystus⁠[434]⁠[435]: of which three, as I have met with nothing like them in other authors, I have given descriptions and drawings. There are also, on the banks of the river, crabs in abundance, which are much eat by the native Christians, and which often furnish the tables of the Europeans with a delicate dish.

The inhabitants of Aleppo, though of different religions, yet seem to be much the same people. I wish I could say that those who profess Christianity were better than their neighbours. The number of souls in the city and suburbs is computed at about 235,000, of whom 200,000 are Turks, 30,000 Christians, and 5000 Jews⁠[436]. Of the Christians, the greater number, are Greeks; next to them the Armenians, then the Syrians, and lastly the Maronites; each of whom have a church in the suburbs called Judida; in which quarter, and parts adjacent, most of them reside. The language generally spoke is vulgar Arabic. The Turks of condition use the Turkish. Most of the Armenians can speak Armenian, some few Syrians understand Syriac, and many of the Jews Hebrew; but scarce one of the Greeks understand a word of Greek, either ancient or modern.

The people in general are of a middle stature, rather lean than fat, indifferently well made, but not either vigorous or active. Those of the city are of a fair complexion; but the peasants, and such as are obliged to be much abroad in the sun, are swarthy. Their hair is commonly black, or of a dark chesnut-colour; and it is very rare to see any other than black eyes amongst them. Both sexes are tolerably handsome when young; but the beard soon disfigures the men; and the women, as they come early to maturity⁠[437], fade also as soon, and in general look old by the time they reach thirty. The greater part of the women are married from the age of fourteen to eighteen, and often sooner. The tender passion of love can have very little share in promoting matrimony among them, for the young folks never see one another till the ceremony is performed. A slender waist, far from being admired, is, on the contrary, rather looked on as a deformity in the ladies of this country; so that they do all they can to make themselves plump and lusty.

The men are girt very tight round the middle with a sash. The womens girdles are not only very slight and narrow, but loosely put on; which, with the warmth of the climate, and frequent use of the bagnio, is probably one principal reason why their labours are much easier than those in Britain; the most delicate being seldom confined above ten or twelve days, and those of the villages are rarely hindered from going about their usual employments the next day. Women of all conditions suckle their own children, and seldom wean them, till either the mother is again with child, or they arrive at the age of three, and sometimes four years.

The people of distinction in Aleppo may justly be esteemed courteous and polite, if allowance is made for that superiority which the Mohammedan religion teaches those who profess it to assume over all who are of another faith. And as this prejudice is observed to encrease among the people in proportion to their vicinity to Mecha, the natives of Aleppo have still a much greater proportion than those of Constantinople, Smyrna, and other parts at a greater distance; though, even here, it has greatly declined within these few years, insomuch that several bashaws have conferred many public honours and civilities on the Europeans, that formerly would have caused great popular discontent. As to the common people, an affected gravity, with some share of dissimulation, is too much their characteristic. And though few in the world are more given to harsh language and quarrelling, yet none are less guilty of fighting. One can seldom pass a few yards in the street without being witness to some noisy broil; yet in many years you may perhaps never see one blow struck, except the person who gives it is very well assured that it will not be returned. But though they are so prone to anger upon the most trifling occasions, yet no people in the universe can be more calm when it is their interest so to be. This, I am sorry to say, is but too generally a true representation: but it would be very ungrateful, as well as unjust in me, not to acknowledge that there are many amongst them of all sects who deserve a much better character, and whom I know, from repeated experience, to be persons of the utmost honour and integrity.

Their usual bread is of wheat flour, not well fermented, made into thin flat cakes ill-baked, and for the most part ate soon after it comes out of the oven. The better sort have small loaves of a finer flour, well fermented, and well baked. Besides these, there are a variety of rusks and biscuits, most of which are either strowed on the top with the seeds of sesamum or fennel-flower. The Europeans have very good bread, baked in the French manner.

Coffee made very strong, and without either sugar or milk, is a refreshment in very high esteem with every body; and a dish of it, preceded by a little wet sweet-meat (commonly conserve of red roses, acidulated with lemon-juice), and a pipe of tobacco, is the usual entertainment at a visit. If they have a mind to use less ceremony, the sweet-meat is omitted; and, if they would shew an extraordinary degree of respect, they add sherbet, (some syrup, chiefly that of lemons, mixed with water) a sprinkling of rose or other sweet-scented water, and the perfume, with aloes-wood, which is brought last, and serves as a sign that it is time for the stranger to take his leave. This is looked upon as an entertainment sufficient for the greatest men in the country, only that such have a piece of embroidered or flowered silk thrown over their knee when they drink the coffee and sherbet: and if it is a visit of ceremony from a bashaw, or other person in power, a fine horse, sometimes with furniture, or some such valuable present, is made him at his departure. People of inferior rank (or even others, if they have any favour to ask) commonly bring a small present (a flower is frequently thought sufficient) when they visit.

Tobacco is smoked to excess by all the men, and many of the women. Even the labourers or handicraft-tradesmen have constantly a pipe in their mouths, if they can afford it. Those pipes are made of the twig of a rose-bush, cherry-tree, &c. bored for that purpose: those of the better sort are five or six feet long, and adorned with silver. The bole is of clay, and often changed; but the pipes themselves last for years. Many who are in easy circumstances have lately adopted the Persian manner of smoking the nargeery⁠[438]; which is an instrument so constructed, that the smoke of the tobacco passes through the water before it comes into the mouth. The method of drawing it is different from that of a pipe; and a good part of the smoke seems to descend some way into the breast. The Persian tobacco is what they use in this instrument, which has an agreeable flavour; attended with this further advantage, that, when smoked in this way, neither the taste or smell of it remain after washing the mouth.

The vulgar, in imitation of their superiors, have at the coffee-houses an ordinary instrument of the same construction: in this they use the common tobacco, wetted a little with dibbs and water, or an infusion of raisins, adding at times sheera⁠[439], to make it intoxicating; and they will draw in such vast quantities of smoke, that when they throw it out again at the mouth and nostrils, it appears surprising where they found room to contain it.

Opium is not of so high esteem with the inhabitants of Aleppo as at Constantinople, and some other places; nor could I ever find the taking it so general a practice in Turky as is commonly apprehended, being chiefly practised only by debauchees. They who take it to excess are commonly stiled teriaky; and the Theriac. Andromach. is called in Turkish teriack, which perhaps may countenance a conjecture that this was the original form they used it in. At present they not only use it in that form, but have various other electuaries or confections wherein it is mixed with aromatics. Some few use it pure; and the greatest quantity I ever knew taken was three drachms in twenty-four hours. The immediate effects that I observed it to have upon such as were addicted to it was, that their spirits were exhilarated, and, from a dosing, depressed state which they fell into after passing the usual time of taking their dose, they became quite alert. The consequences of a long use of it are, that they soon look old and besotted, like such as in Europe have ruined their constitutions by hard drinking. And it may be considered as point of fact, that they but seldom live to a good old age: though they are rarely carried off by dropsies, or such other diseases, the usual consequences of hard drinking amongst us; but rather having first lost their memory, and most of their intellectual faculties, they decline, in all appearance, in the same way as those who sink under the weight of years.

In Aleppo there are a number of public bagnios, which are frequented by people of all sects and conditions, except those of a very high rank, who have mostly baths in their own houses. The first entrance in the public bagnio is a large, lofty room; in the middle of which is a fountain, with a bason, which serves for washing the linen, that hangs upon lines at a considerable height all over the room. In this first apartment are broad benches, where they dress and undress; and the air is here not at all influenced by the heat of the bath, except it be just at the door, by which you pass into a small room, which is pretty warm, and from thence into a larger very hot. About the sides of these two rooms are placed round stone-basons, of about two feet and a half diameter, with two cocks, one of hot, and the other of cold water; so that you may temper it according to your own pleasure, and there are copper-bowls for you to lave it upon your body. In the corners of the inner room there are small retiring-chambers; in one of which there is frequently a cistern of warm water, about four feet deep, and large enough for bathing the whole body. All these rooms are surmounted by cupolas; and the inner receive their light from small openings in their domes, which are covered with glasses. The outer room receives its light, not only from the lanthorn of its dome, but also from windows. Some few bagnios are solely for the men, others are appropriated to the women only; yet the generality of them admit both sexes, though at different times; that is, the men in the forenoon, and women in the afternoon.

When a man goes into the hot room, the first thing he does is to apply the dewa⁠[440], (or medicine for taking off the hair), to the pubis and armpits. This is suffered to remain till the hair is quite loose, and then must be immediately washed clean away with great care. After this, one of the servants of the bagnio begins with chaffing, or kneading violently, first the tops of the shoulders, and then by degrees the whole body. When he comes to the hand, he pulls the joints of the fingers, so as to make each crack separately; then laying the person on his back, with his arms across his breast, he raises him forcibly by the back part of the neck, so as to make the greatest part of the vertebræ crack. He then chaffs the back a little more, and, throwing a quantity of warm water over the whole body, rubs him hard with a bag made of a fort of coarse camelot, which is drawn over the servant’s hand, for some time. He is next rubbed over with a soap-lather; and the whole being washed clean off, he puts one towel round his middle, another round his head, and perhaps a third over his shoulders; in which manner he goes out to the great room, where he generally smokes a pipe, drinks coffee, and perhaps eats some fruit, before he dresses.

The women having the additional trouble of combing and washing, as well as unplaiting and plaiting their hair, besides very frequently that of a number of children to wash, remain generally in the hot room for a considerable time; but refresh themselves at intervals, by going out into the other rooms, where they smoke, converse, and drink coffee, with one or other of the various parties that are commonly there. Every company of two or three are attended by an old woman, whose business it is to rub and wash them; but do not chaff and crack their joints as the men, and their bag for rubbing is much finer. They also use the dewa.

Each company, generally speaking, has its collation, which they eat in the middle room before dressing: and as the bagnio is the principal place where they have an opportunity of showing their fine cloaths, seeing a number of company, or enjoying the freedom of conversation, though with their own sex only, it is not to be wondered that they are very fond of it, though their entertainment may not be so elegant as Europeans might expect.

The first time a woman of the country (whether Christian, Turk, or Jew) goes to the bagnio after child-bearing, she must have what they call the shdood; which is thus performed. She is set down in one of the washing-places of the inner room, and the midwife rubs her over with a composition of ginger, pepper, nutmegs, and other spices, made into a sort of ointment, or rather electuary, with honey. In this manner she sits for some time, the other women in the mean while singing and warbling with their voices in a particular tone, which is their usual way of rejoicing in this country. After this the lady is washed clean, and the ceremony finished. This they imagine strengthens them, and prevents a great many disorders that would otherwise ensue after delivery; and they use it also after recovery from any very severe fit of sickness.

The people here have no notion of the benefit of exercise, either for the preservation of health, or curing diseases; and it is with reluctance that they use much, either for business or pleasure. To walk or ride to the gardens once or twice a-week at the proper seasons, is as much as most of them do for the last mentioned purpose; and the other is different, according to the nature of their employments.

The people of condition, and their dependents, should however be excepted in some instances, they being commonly very active on horseback, and in sporting, or the jareed⁠[441], using very violent exercise. This however is but seldom, and hardly compensates for the time they spend in that indolent indulgence, of lolling on their divans, which is the way the generality pass much the greatest part of their time.

As they have no coaches, persons of condition ride on horseback in the city, with a number of servants walking before them, according to their rank; which, though it may not be so convenient in bad weather, has certainly a more manly, if not a grander appearance, than our coaches. The ladies, even of the greatest figure, are obliged to walk on foot, both in the city, and when they go to any garden, if it is but at a moderate distance. In longer journies, the women of rank are carried by mules in a litter, close covered up; and those of inferior condition on these occasions are commonly stowed one on each side of a mule, in a sort of covered cradles.

Most of the natives go to bed in good time, and rise early in the morning. They sleep in their drawers, and at least one or two waistcoats, and some of them in winter in their furs. Their bed consists of a matrass laid on the floor, and over this a sheet (in winter a carpet, or some such woollen covering), the other sheet being sowed to the quilt. A divan-cushion often serves for a bolster and pillow; though some have a bolster and pillow as we have. When the time for repose draws nigh, they sit down on this matrass, and smoke their pipe, till they find themselves sleepy; then they lay themselves down, and leave their women or servants to cover them when asleep; and many of the people of fashion are lulled to rest by soft music, or stories told out of the Arabian Nights Entertainment, or some other book of the same kind, which their women are taught to repeat for this purpose. If they happen to wake in the night, they sit up, fill their pipe, have a dish of coffee made, and sometimes, especially in the long winter-nights, eat some of their sweet pastry, and so sit till they drop asleep again. In the summer their beds are made in their court-yard, or on the house-top; in the winter they chuse for their bed-chamber the smallest and lowest-roofed room on the ground-floor. There is always a lamp burning, and often one or two pans of charcoal; which sometimes proves of bad consequence even to them, and would certainly suffocate such as have not been accustomed to this bad practice.

The coffee-houses are only frequented by the vulgar. The masters of these houses have often, for the entertainment of their customers, a concert of music, a story-teller, and, in time of Ramadan particularly, an obscene, low kind of puppet-show, and sometimes tumblers and jugglers; and these, properly speaking, are all their public diversions.

Their amusements within doors are playing at chess, in which they are very expert, and a fort of backgammon, both borrowed from the Persians; draughts, mankala, tabuduk, and the play of the ring, as they call it, which is what the great men often amuse themselves with in the winter-evenings. It consists merely in guessing what coffee-cup, out of a number that are placed on a large salver, the ring is hid under. They have several engaged in the play on each side; and the parties that win have the privilege of blacking the faces of their antagonists, putting fools caps on their heads, and making them stand before them while they sing extempore songs in their own praise, and in derision of the losers. But it is only their servants, or ordinary people, that they treat in this manner; and some of these, especially if they have any turn to buffoonry, are always of the party on purpose.

Though some Christians have learned of the Europeans to play for money; yet these games are only used by the Turks for amusement, and chiefly to pass the long winter-evenings. Sometimes, ’tis true, they will go so far as to play for an entertainment.

Dancing is not, as in Europe, reckoned an accomplishment for people of fashion, and is scarce practised, even among the vulgar, but by such as make a trade of it. Their dexterity does not consist in agility, but chiefly in the motion of the arms and body, putting themselves in different attitudes, many of which (particularly of the women) are none of the most decent. Their manner is not ill described by Juvenal⁠[442].

At their festivals they have also wrestlers as a part of their entertainment. They have still a resemblance to the athletæ of the ancients, in anointing their naked bodies, having nothing on but a pair of breeches, and strut and vaunt so much at their entry as seems to promise great matters; but they make but very sorry figures in their performance.

I should not omit among their amusements to mention buffoons, who are the constant attendants at all merry-makings, and without whom their mirth and conversation would soon languish, or conclude.

The music of the country is of two sorts; one for the field, the other for the chamber. The first makes part of the retinue of the bashaws, and other great military officers, and is used also in their garrisons. It consists of a sort of hautboy⁠[443], shorter, but shriller than ours; trumpets⁠[444], cymbals⁠[445], large drums⁠[446], the upper head of which is beat upon with a heavy drum-stick, the lower with a small switch. A vizir-bashaw has nine of these large drums, while a bashaw of two tails has but eight, the distinction by which the music of one may be known from that of the other. Besides these, they have small drums⁠[447], beat after the manner of our kettle-drums. This music at a distance has a tolerable good effect.

Their chamber-music consists of a dulcimer⁠[448], guittar⁠[449], dervises flute⁠[450], blown in a very particular manner; Arab fiddle⁠[451], a couple of small drums, and the diff⁠[452], which serves chiefly to beat time to the voice, the worst of all their music; for they bellow so hideously, that it spoils what without it would be in some degree harmonious. This diff is a hoop, (sometimes with pieces of brass fixed in it to make a jingling) over which a piece of parchment is distended. It is beat with the fingers, and is the true tympanum of the ancients; as appears from its figure in several relievos, representing the orgies of Bacchus, and rites of Cybele. It is worth observing, that, according to Juvenal, the Romans had this instrument first from hence⁠[453]. They also have a kind of flute, like the ancient syrinx; but it is not much used among them, there being but few that can play upon it.

Besides the above mentioned instruments, they have likewise a sort of bagpipe, which numbers of idle fellows play upon round the skirts of the town, making it a pretence to ask a present of such as pass.