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BAZARS, KHANS, MOSQUES.

magnificence of which I have had occasion to remark, belong to Christians possessing fortunes of not more than a hundred thousand crowns. Those of the Turks, who are more wealthy, far surpass them in grandeur and beauty. To these I could not obtain an introduction: excepting extraordinary cases, none but Mussulmans are admitted into them.

The most considerable of the private buildings are the palaces of the agas. The citadel is a fortress, the extent of which exhibits the appearance of a second town. Its walls are out of repair. The five towers which defend it, though very ancient, are in good condition: the stones are remarkable for being cut facet-wise.

The bazars and the khans of Damascus are very numerous, and most of them very handsome. Some of them are exclusively appropriated to a particular branch of industry or commerce; but, in all of them you find in store, or on sale, not only the productions of the country, but also the most costly stuffs of India, and almost all the commodities of Europe. The new bazars are the most magnificent: they are of the most elegant construction, and lighted by dormer-windows. That which appeared to me the most extensive, and the most striking of these edifices, is the khan of Assad Pacha: it reminded me, by its external form, of the Halle-au-Blé at Paris.

Of all the edifices, those most worthy of attention, both for their number and their architecture, are the mosques. They amount to, at least, two hundred; some of which are very handsome. But wo to the profane wight who should dare to approach one! still greater wo if he presumes to enter! he would atone with his life for the crime

MOSQUE OF ST. JOHN BAPTIST.

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of having polluted it by his presence. Whoever is not a Mussulman must not look at it but from a distance. The most remarkable is the mosque which bore the name of St. John Baptist, when it was a Christian church. According to the Damasquins, the head of the saint is still preserved there in a gold dish. There, too, they say, he is buried. The head, according to them, is now shut up in a grotto within the mosque; and if it is never shown to any one, it is only from a feeling of profound respect.

Till the commencement of the present century, nothing was known concerning the interior of this mosque. The accounts of travellers had stated that it was of Corinthian architecture, surmounted by several domes, the principal of which was called dome of Aliat, and that at the entrance there was a spacious court, surrounded by a piazza. Some pretended that they had been so bold as to observe it from without, on days when the great doors were opened, and asserted that they had seen several columns supporting the vault, and numerous gilt ornaments. In 1803, the Spaniard Badia y Leblich, since so celebrated by the name of Ali Bey, a man profoundly versed in the Arabic language, and thoroughly acquainted with Mussulman usages, set out for the East, charged with a secret mission by Charles IV., and succeeded in passing himself off for a descendant of the Abassides sovereigns. By means of this falsehood, he lulled all suspicion, and was everywhere received with marked distinction. He visited the Mahometan temples, studied in detail the least known points of the religious worship, and, on his return to Europe, published his travels. He had seen the great mosque at Damascus. According to him, it is divided

into three parts, four hundred feet long, the arches of which rest on forty-four columns in each row; in the centre, the edifice is surmounted by an immense cupola, supported by four prodigious pillars. At the farther end are two small low galleries, with large korans for the readers; and above, the choir for the chanter. The floor is covered with the most beautiful carpets. On the left of the centre partition, or nave, is a small wooden lodge, with mouldings and ornaments of gold, and arabesque paintings: this is the tomb of John Baptist.

Damascus is every year the rendezvous of the pilgrims from the north of Asia, who there form themselves into caravans to travel to Mecca. They amount sometimes to thirty or forty thousand. Most of them bring with them commodities, which they sell or exchange for those of other countries; hence, for some time before the general departure, there is a bustle, an extraordinary activity, of which our most celebrated fairs in Europe can scarcely convey an idea. The greater part lodge at the great khan, an immense and magnificent edifice, before which there is a spacious court, paved with marble, and in external appearance resembling a monastery. Christians are forbidden to enter it. Formerly, when the caravans set out, they were always headed by the pacha of Damascus, who assumed the title of conductor of the sacred caravan, or emir hadjee, prince pilgrim. Nowa-days a much less exalted personage is frequently its leader.

The population of the city amounts to about one hundred and forty thousand souls, among whom it is computed that there are fifteen thousand catholics or Ma

FANATIC POPULATION.

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ronites, five or six thousand schismatic Greeks, and two thousand Jews, who have three synagogues.

The people of Damascus are accounted the most malignant, the most fanatic, and the most intolerant in the Turkish empire. This disposition of mind is attributed to their intercourse with the pilgrims. It was not without extreme vexation that they saw the late revolution effected by Ibrahim. When the pacha appeared before the city, all rushed forth furiously to meet him, armed to the teeth, with sleeves tucked up, setting up horrid yells, talking of nothing but vengeance and cutting off heads, and sharing the booty among them beforehand : you would have thought that they were going to destroy all before them. The first cannon-shot fired at them put them to the rout: they fled with such precipitation, that, unable to get into the city all at once, they stifled one another at the gates. Their rage is still far from appeased. What most irritates them against Ibrahim, is the equal protection which he grants to the Christians. Happy the latter, to be able to breathe a little more freely, after having been so long under the iron sceptre of their oppressors! But how much is it to be feared that they will some day atone in a cruel manner for the joy which they but too strongly manifested at their deliverance! Some of them, in the transports of their intoxication, went so far as to mimic in public masquerades the departure of the Turkish pilgrims for Mecca. Should the Egyptians not retain their conquest, this indiscretion will be fatal to the Christians: it will cost them tears of blood. God help them in their tribulation!

In telling you about my entry into Damascus, and the

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DEPARTURE FROM DAMASCUS.

Turkish dress which I was obliged to assume, I said that no stranger is seen here attired in the European fashion: I was wrong; I have at last seen one such. He is an Englishman, who distributes Protestant bibles, whether people will have them or not, and who even pays them to buy the books of him.

Farewell, my dear Charles. In two days I shall return to Beyrout, where I intend to embark for the island of Cyprus, and thence proceed to Egypt. I did purpose, first, to have gone to the ruins of Palmyra; but the execution of this plan, which I had much at heart, depended not on myself: I have met with invincible obstacles. Ibrahim Pacha, having cut off the heads of some of the sheiks of the Maouli tribes, bordering upon those celebrated ruins, there is none who will at this moment undertake to conduct strangers thither. A sheik, who in general accompanies them, sent me word that he would not engage to take me for thirty thousand piastres. The Bedouins are so exasperated that they breathe nothing but blood and vengeance.

LETTER XLV.

DEPARTURE FROM DAMASCUS - ACCIDENT IN THE VALLEY of the BEKAA RETURN TO BEYROUT-EMBARKATION FOR CYPRUS-LARNACA -M. DE BOUTENIEPP DEPARTURE FROM CYPRUS LIMASSOL COAST OF EGYPT-FORT OF ALEXANDRIA VIEW OF THE CITYCHEVALIER ACERBI, CONSUL-GENERAL OF AUSTRIA-MONASTERY OF ST. CATHERINE - POMPEY'S PILLAR - CLEOPATRA'S NEEDLES-HISTORY OF ALEXANDRIA ASSES ENVIRONS - HARBOUR-WRECKS MEHEMET ALI - AUDIENCE-BOGOS-JOUSSOUFFIRMAN OF THE VICEROY, AND LETTER OF RECOMMENDATION TO THE GOVERNOR OF CAIRO.

Alexandria, December 18, 1832.

On the 7th of October, I quitted Damascus, leaving, with regret, the two French priests, from whom I had