Orontes to Hamah; but being late, and seeing a caravan on our left, we branched out in that direction, joined it, and found that they were in the straight road to Hamah, and that they were bound to that place and Damascus; we therefore continued with them. About ten we passed a ruined square Turkish fortress enclosing a village. Many of these places, on the skirts of the desert, are walled in, as one would suppose to afford them protection against the Arabs. Shortly after we met a very extensive caravan, being part of the hadj or pilgrimage to Mecca on their return from Damascus-an interesting sight; they had the green flag, the prophet's banner, flying (1). There were few camels, the animals being mostly horses and mules, and having all bells attached to them, they made a merry, ringing noise (16). There were amongst them several tackterwans, the only species of vehicle in the east, which supplies the place of four wheel carriages; we had seen one of them in the great Morocco hadj, which arrived at Cario in September last; it resembled a sedan chair, supported before and behind, with horses instead of men; but those which we saw this day differed from it, one being a species of tent-bed placed crossway on the back of a mule, and the other resembling two childs' cradles, fitted like panniers on the back of a camel. These tackterwans are enclosed

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with curtains, and are generally used by women or sick people. Nearly the whole of this and the next day, we passed divisions of the hadj; all the animals were laden with some private venture of the pilgrims, as they always make a commerce of this expedition; if you read Volney you will see in what estimation even the Turks hold the man who has made a hadj. They have an old adage among them to this purport, "Beware of thy neighbour if he has made a hadj; but if he has made two, quickly prepare to leave thy house" the keenness with which all the peasants, near the khans bargain for every thing they sell seems to agree with this remark. We saw this day some few Roman ruins, and sarcophagi formed of the stone of the country, apparently of the lower empire. At two P. M. we stopped for the night at Marah, and slept in a very good khan. The ensuing morning we proceeded as before. Leba- · non, now a mass of snow, lay before us; and Mount Cassius was shut in by the northern extremity of the Ansarian mountains. We passed several sites of ancient towns, tanks, sarcophagi, &c. every thing much dilapidated and uninteresting, excepting that they served to shew that the neighbourhood was better peopled in former times than it is at present. The country was still nothing but open plains, without a single

tree, being inhabited by numerous gazelles, partridges, hares, bustards, &c. We passed the night at Khan Shekune situated near an artificial hill, several of which we had seen during the day; they resembled those on Salisbury Plain, and other parts of England. We found the khan good, but very full of people, occasioned by the return of the hadj already mentioned.

January 7. Our road was still through open plains partially cultivated, parallel with the range of the Ansarian mountains; Lebanon and AntiLebanon in sight before us; about three in the afternoon we arrived at Hamah. The approach for the last hour was pretty enough, descending into a vale through which the Orontes takes a winding course, the banks of which are cultivated, wooded, and laid out occasionally in gardens on one side, with perpendicular chalky cliffs in some parts on the other. Here are immense wheels or sackeys turned by the stream of the river, to raise the water for the irrigation of the soil. Hamah is the Epiphania of the Greeks and Romans, though it is, no doubt, the site of the ancient Hamath mentioned in various parts of scripture ("), together with Damascus, Lebanon, and other contiguous places, it took its name from the sons of Canaan, fourth son of Ham, the son of Noah, which makes it of very high

antiquity. Hamah is delightfully situated in a hollow, between and on the sides of two hills, near the west bank of the Orontes, but in itself presents nothing worthy of notice at this day. We took up our quarters in a khan, and as these buildings in the towns differ considerably from those on the road side, I will give you a description of the former. Like the latter, they surround an open square, but are differently constructed, being meant for travellers and merchants to lodge in during the time they remain in the towns to dispose of their merchandise, or settle any private affairs they may have to transact; whereas the khans on the road side are only intended for a night's lodging, and security for the traveller and his animals. In these the squares are formed in open piazzas in which men and animals indiscriminately take up their abode, there being no division into apartments, cells, or any detached chamber whatever; for this accommodation no payment is required. The khans in the towns, instead of the open piazzas, are furnished all round with two stories of small apartments, each chamber, or rather cell, being about twelve feet square, with a door (the key of which is given you), and an iron-barred window with wooden shutters but no glass. I suspect they were originally intended as a gratuitous lodging for tra

vellers, the same as those on the high-roads and in the villages, but as they have only one small entrance, and are thereby the most secure places in the towns, the lower rooms are generally filled with merchandize of the different resident proprietors. In front of these are arched piazzas for the horses, mules, &c. &c. and also a balcony or terrace, with wooden railing, fronting the upper row of cells, which are all totally unfurnished, being nothing but bare walls; and for a mat to lie on, cooking utensils, fuel, &c. these must be the care of the occupier. There is a porter who generally rents the khan, and in the day time. attends the gate, which is locked up at night; he makes his profit by the fees from travellers, and also by the merchandize which is lodged within. We paid two piastres (1s. 5d.) for admittance, or as it is termed for the key of our room, four paras (one penny English) per day for the lodging, and one para per day for each horse. As for provision we always got that from the market, and cooked in our own room, making excellent soup, roast, &c. Our principal meat was mutton, as the Turks do not eat much beef, and therefore it is never good. While at Hamah we received a letter from Mr. Barker by an express messenger from Aleppo, together with a firman from the grand Seignior, which Mr. B. had written for to