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class of subjects so long that the mind of his reader is likely to be fatigued, let him pass to some other and contrive to keep awake the attention by all the fit resources which he commands. These observations are not wholly inapplicable to Mr. Parsons, who, although an observing traveller, does not possess a mind which moulds the materials it receives into the most beautiful shape possible.

We shall introduce Mr. Parsons to our readers in the words of the Editor.

"Mr. Abraham Parsons was originally bred to the navy, in which his father was a captain. In the earlier part of his life he commanded different vessels in the merchants' service, during which period he visited several parts of the globe; a pursuit particularly adapt ed to the turn of a mind naturally fond of novelty, and remarkably inquisitive. When he quitted the sea he carried on considerable commerce as a merchant in Bristol, which, not being attended with the desired success, after some years, he was obliged to relinquish. After this he was, in the year 1767, appointed by the Turkey Company, consul and factor marine at Scanderoon, in Asiatic Turkey; a situation which, after a residence of six years, he was obliged, from the unhealthiness of the country, to resign, when he commenced a voyage of commercial speculation; the narrative of which is contained in the following pages. Soon after the conclusion of this tour he retired to Leghorn, where he died in the year 1785."

CHAP. I. Description of Scanderoon. Scanderoon, or Alexandretta or little Alexandria, is a small town of Syria, containing a population of about eight hundred persons, chiefly Greeks, partly Turks. It is remarkable as the spot where the merchandize which is brought by the ships of Europe and the caravans of Asia minor, is interchanged. It stands upon a plain about 20 miles long and two miles broad, and is a few miles distant from the

lofty mountains of Bylan. During the rainy season, which begins in October, this plain is almost wholly inundated, and intermittent fevers become greatly prevalent. marshy effluvia which contains the The noxious matter, producing these fevers, is heavier than the atmosphere, and consequently sinks into the low grounds, so that those people escape the disease who remove to the elevated situations in the mountains of Bylan. same in Italy, where the people It is the regularly abandon the low grounds at the commencement of the rainy season, for fear of the agues which are produced by the marsh effluvia. It is even said that the higher stories of the houses are more healthy than the lower. The mountains in the neighbourhood of Scanderoon, are as celebrated for their mutton

as

the mountains of Wales and Scotland, which produce far more delicate flesh than that which is the growth of our carefully tended sheep walks in the low grounds. In the pasture land of England, the sheep as soon as they have nibbled the grass level with the ground, are turned into other fields where the to return to the former fields until grass is long, and are not suffered the grass has grown up again to its former height; hence they always live upon long grass. In the mountains of Wales, and Scotland, and Bylan, the sheep feed where they like; short grass is the sweetest, the sheep are led to it by choice, and thus live upon a more those of the low lands. Some of agreeable and nutricious food than our experimental farmers in Suffolk have confined sheep to one piece of pasture land, and find that when the grass has been bitten down to the ground, there is still plenty of nourishment, for the faster the sheep nibble, the faster the grass is found grow.

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The plain around Scanderoon, which in the winter is almost entirely inundated, is in many parts dry during the months of June and July. The thermometer at this time of the year stands at about 92°. 6'. The day is much cooler than the night, because of the sea breeze which ceases to blow in the evening. The sea appears to be receding from this part of the coast of the mediterranean. During the last 200 years, the land has gained at the rate of four feet and a half yearly.

CHAP. II. Describes the country which lies between the towns of Scanderoon and Bylan, the passes from Asia Minor into Syria, which lie through the Bylan mountain, and the town of Bylan and Karamut. Nothing here occurs which allows to be compressed or admits to be extracted.

Chap. III. describes a journey which our author took from Bylan to Aleppo, through the ancient Seleucia, the ancient Laodicea, and back again to Scanderoon. The following may be interesting to our antiquarian readers.

"After taking a repast, I went out with my host, my janisary, and a servant, and endeavoured to find something worth noticing, having with me Dr. Pococke's account of the place, but could only find the gate which the doctor calls Antioch gate, on the east part, far distant from any building, or even ruin. It is yet in such a state, that barring earthquakes, it may stand many ages, if not pulled down for the sake of the large stones with which it is built. Here I sat down and enjoyed the cool of the evening, and as it was a rising ground, I could see every winding of the Orontes as far as Antioch, in an eastern direction, Mount Cassius towards the south of the mouth of the river, where it falls into the sea, about five or six miles distant in the south-west. The nearest part of the plain, between me and the Orontes, was about four miles broad, it's greatest width being about six miles; the foot of Mount

Cassius on the other side of the Orontes was about ten miles distant, the city of Antioch about twenty; the present port, called Soldee, five miles to the south, and the old port about four miles towards the south-east. The mountains between that of Antioch and Mount Cassius are patches of earth in most of the chasms, all very high and rugged with several which are cultivated; there are some small plains, near to each of which, on a rising ground, is attached a village, I thought the view so beautiful, that having my port-folio with me, I took a sketch of the whole, to the great amazement of my host, who recounting it to his wife, her curiosity occasioned a desire to see it; on my shewing it, she made a pish, and walked away.

"I cannot with any certainty say how large this city was when in its glory. Doctor Pococke has published a plan of it, and lays down and describes the wall, the bason, the piers, double walls, with their turrets, towers, and casties. The doctor by his own account was here in 1739; things must have altered greatly in thirty-three years, since I cannot dis cover a fourth part of what he mentions to have then seen, and I very narrowly examined every thing worth notice, except measuring the subterranean passage, and the remains of the two piers; my remarks are as follows:

"On the south west part of the ancient city there are two piers, much shattered and decayed by time, though built of massy stones, from twelve to eighteen feet long, and of proportionable width and thickness: they seem to have been formerly clamped together with iron; the holes where it was let in are easily discerned at present. The northern pier seems to be much longer than the other, but they are both so broken, and in some places sunk under water, that no man at present can go on them so far as to measure the length of either: they seem to be near forty feet wide, and were no doubt intended to shelter ships from boisterous winds, between the south and west and north and west points; at present they are of little service, being nearly choaked up. I cannot discern any kind of opening on the land, which the doctor says leads from the bason into the sea, between the piers;

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nor can I find the walls which he mentions were built round the bason, nor the bason itself; if such there were, there is no such thing now: it is true there are many fragments of walls dipersed, some of them very lofty, near the piers, but there are such breaks between, and they are so mouldered away by time, that there is no judging, at present, what they formerly were. As to castles, it is likewise true there are some fragments of very large buildings, which very probably might have been castles, situated near the piers, but, on inquiry, the oldest man now living does not remember them to have had any other appearance than what they now have. When I mentioned that there had formerly been a bason to receive ships on the spot where are now corn fields, gardens, and orchards, they demanded with a sneer where I obtained my knowledge; then pointing to the old port, they said their fore-fathers had left it on record, that that was the port of Antioch when it was a great city; which seems very probable, as it is only four miles distant, at the end of a fine plain, secure from all winds, and only three miles from the sea, or rather from the mouth of the Orontes, at which place there was a large town, with a castle for it's defence: yet when a man reflects on the former grandeur of Seleucia, as mentioned in antient history, and examines the remains of the piers, it is very natural to conclude that the channel between the two piers led into a more spacious place for the security of ships, and that time or accidents by earthquakes, which are frequent in Syria, have choaked up the entrance, which is now become dry land.

"I now come to speak of the passage through the mountain, a stupendous work, which must have taken many years to compleat. Doctor Pococke says, it is eight hundred and eighty feet in length, from fourteen to eighteen feet wide, and about forty feet in height. I know nothing of it's dimensions, as no person would go into it with me, and I was strongly advised not to attempt it, as many serpents are frequently seen about the entrance, which are of an immense size. The opening of this passage to the sea is about a quarter of a mile to the northward of the piers. inquiry among the present inhabitants, I

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cannot learn that they have any account handed down from their fore-fathers of the intended use of the passage. The aga (chief or governor) and other of the better sort of inhabitants, think it to have been designed as a retreat to the sea, when the city should chance to be besieged by land, or to introduce forces, ammunition, and provisions, during a siege. They assert that is the opinion of all strangers who visit it, which seems the more probable, because the mountain through which it is cut is so very high and steep, reaching four or five miles to the north of the city towards the sea, that it cannot be ascended, which is a great security to the city by sea; with the assistance of this cut, if the enemy were masters of the entrance of the Orontes, and every avenue to the city by land, the inhabitants might soon be starved into a surrender. It appears to me, that the contriver of this cut must have been the same person who built those immense piers, as one or more castles built on, and between these piers and the passage through the mountain, could easily secure a free intercourse in spite of any effort of an enemy to prevent it ; another observation which confirms me in my belief is, as the length of the mountain extends from four or five miles northward of the passage, beside their being so high and steep as to be inaccessible, there seems to be no fear of an enemy stopping a free communication in that quarter, nor any reason for building a castle to the north-ward to defend the passage, as it would not avail them to land; there is no shelter to prevent their being soon overwhelmed with stones from the heights. The entrance on the land side seems to be about twenty feet wide, but rubbish fills up the one half of it at present. I cannot give a guess how wide the entrance by sea is, as I could not go nearer to it than the pier, on which I could venture safely far enough to discern the entrance, but not to guess at its dimensions. Near the entrance are many sepulchral grottos with inscriptions, but in what language the inhabi tants are ignorant: they are not wrote in Hebrew, Greek, Arabic, or Turkish, as those four languages are not only understood, but generally spoken in this town at present. Some Jews of the town ald me the writing was Persian,

others that it was Syriac: there are many remains of aqueducts interspersed about the hills over the town, but I cannot trace out the old walls, of which doctor Pococke has given a plan, although I spent half a day entirely for that purpose: it is true there are many fragments of old walls from thirty to seventy feet long in some places, and between such fragments are fields, gardens, orchards, and waste ground; all these remains are at a great distance from the present town, and are from eight to ten, twelve, and even fifteen feet thick, some entirely stone, and some of stones and bricks mixed.

"I endeavoured, with the assistance of two of the towns-people, to find the sepulchral grotto, over the entrance of which is cut in relief, on the rock, a woman sitting in a chair, leaning her head on her right hand, with a child before her, probably her daughter, (as the doctor remarks;) but after searching until I was tired, I was so unlucky as not to find it either there were no such figures and the doctor took it from hear. say, or, perhaps, the Turks might have demolished them since he was here, which is a very common practice with them when they meet with statuary.

"Yet I cannot help thinking that the doctor has taken many things at this place from report, since, according to his own account, his time must have been too short to have examined things very narrowly: for example, he says that he left Aleppo on the 19th of September on his journey to Antioch, which he describes; from thence, that he went to Bylan, Scanderoon, and Byass, from which place he returns to Scanderoon a second time, from whence he travels to Arsous (near to Cape Porcas, thirty-six miles from Scanderoon,) and from thence to this place, where he arrived on the 29th of the same month, making in all ten days, a time little more than sufficient to perform merely the journey, especially in such a hot month as September, as four-fifths of his journey lay over burning plains. In short, any observing man who has travelled this country, must know, that however true the doctor's accounts may be (and indeed really are) in many things, yet in many others, he must have trusted too much to the report

of the inhabitants, who are in general ig norant of what passed even ten years since.

"The situation of Seleucia, is most delightful; the greatest part lies on a hill of easy ascent, with a beautiful plain, and as beautiful a river beneath, with an extensive land and sea prospect: it is defended by hills from the bleak winds in the north-eastern quarter, and has a fine port, only four miles distant, at the extremity of the plain; it has much the advantage of Antioch, whose port was more than twenty miles distant, nor has Antioch any sea prospect; but in lieu of this, a lake in front of many miles extent, which, in summer, is almost as noxious as the stagnated waters in the plain of Scanderoon."

Our author arrives at Aleppothis city stands in a spacious plain, and is about eight miles in circumference. It contains no fewer than thirty-seven bazars or over-arched markets, in which the different trades are arranged separately. These bazars are used only as places where the merchandize is exposed for sale, as the shopkeepers retire at night to their dwelling-houses in a different part of the city. The roofs of the houses are covered over by a terrace, and surrounded by a paraterrace, and surrounded by a parapet wall, and are used in the summer for walking during the evening, and for sleeping during the night.

The buildings are of stone,and contain no other wood than what is used for the window frames. On the outside of the houses nothing is to be seen but bare walls and small latticed windows, and on the inside no other furniture but carpets, cushions, matresses, and quilts. You enter by a porch which admits you which is a fountain surrounded by into a square yard, in the middle of flowers and green plants, and at the extremity the dwelling-house. The number of the mosques, with their domes, their columns, and their minarets, is countless. In the middle of the city on a high hill stands the castle, surrounded by a ditch

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Chap. V. Description of Bagdad. This city stands on the river Tigris, which may be said to pass through the town, and to divide it into two unequal portions, which communicate by a bridge of boats. The smaller part is chiefly inhabited by the lower classes, and the men of business, the larger by the higher orders, and men of rank. The population is uncertain, but that it is considerable appears clearly from the number of coffee-houses, which amount to 955 inhabited, and 490 which were untenanted at the time of our author's visit.

"During the months' of June, July, and August, there have been four officers, and twenty-seven privates of the corps of janissaries put to death, which is done by decapitation at the arsenal, and always two hours after the sun setting. The public know nothing about it until the moment their heads are struck off, which is announced by the firing of a cannon at the arsenal, if a private man, but if an officer two cannon are fired at his death. People are not at all surprised when such things happen, it being so common: nor do any trouble themselves so far as to enquire the cause of their

death.”

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It happened during my residence at Bagdad, that one of the great officers, upon some disgust, omitted his usual attendance at the seraglio, under pretence of indisposition, (he being then ninety five years old), although a very strong, robust, and handsome man. This man, through his largess and bounty to those in want, had always been and still continued to be the darling of the people, and so great was his popularity, that upon the death of the late pasha, he was by universal consent desired to accept the dignity, which he modestly declined on account of his advanced time of life, (as he was then upwards of eighty). He was

then told that they would invest his son with the dignity, if he would give his consent; he declined that honour also, judging him not to be a fit person.

"The present pasha, named Hamet, had been left an orphan under the care of this good old man, and was bred up by him with the tenderness of a father: he chose to embrace a military life, and arrived in that profession to the first honours in the state, unenvied. Him, the old man recommended (in the national assembly convened for the purpose of chusing a pasha); and such was the respect paid to his recommendation, that he was appointed about fifteen years since. The pasha was always good and to his council, shutting himself up in the humane, but latterly neglected coming ladies' apartments, where few (except the favourite eunuchs) could get access to him; of consequence things not going on so well as formerly, the old man be came disgusted. The pasha finding himself abandoned by his father, (for so he always called him), complained to his favourite courtiers, who had long wished the old man dead, from his possessing

more than all of them united. These wretched sycophants told the pasha that they wondered he could not see things in the same light with themselves, but since he did not, it was their duty to acquaint him with what they had hitherto been afraid to mention, which was, that his father intended to dethrone him, and place another in his stead, and that if he had any regard for his own life, he must dispatch the old gentleman and his sons. The pasha, through fear, consented, and invited them to court; they came, and were stabbed by those courtiers, on September the 17th, 1774."

Chap. VI. Journey from Bagdad to Helah, and voyage from thence down the Euphrates to Bussora. Chap. VII.

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Description of Bus

Chap. VIII. arrived at Bussora, which was on the When our author 15th of January, 1775, he found the inhabitants in apprehension of a Persian army which was said to be on their march towards Bussora, with intent to lay siege to the town.

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