SYRIA, a beautiful and extensive country of Asia, extending along the shore of the Mediterranean, is estimated to be 200 miles in length, and 100 in breadth. It is bounded on the west by the Mediterranean, and is divided from Asia Minor on the north by Mount Taurus and its branches; while on the east it has a vast and trackless desert, which stretches northwards from Arabia, and which separates it, though not by any distinct boundary, from the countries of Kurdistan and Irak Arabi. On the south it is bounded by Palestine. In ancient history the boundaries of Syria were never accurately defined. They have frequently extended so far south as to comprehend Palestine; while towards the east also, they were made to range indefinitely over the desert, or as far as the Euphrates. The stricter geography of modem times has assigned more definite and narrower limits to this country. The geographical features of Syria are chiefly formed by the great mountain chain of Lebanon or Libanus, and the minor chain of Anti-Libanus, which, branching off from Mount Taurus, on the frontier of Asia Minor, stretch southward along the whole length of the country in an irregular line, and interlock with the mountains of Judaea. The great chain of Libanus rises to its height at the distance generally of 60 or 70 miles from the shore of the Mediterranean; the intervening country consisting of luxuriant and fertile valleys, diversified with lower ranges of hills; the land rising, however, gradually, until it reaches its height. The ascent is extremely rugged; the road narrow, and often over craggy rocks; and the cold is intense, the mountains rising above the level of perpetual snow, which lies here to an unknown depth. Mr Buckingham found great difficulty in ascending the heights of Lebanon. The horses sunk deep in the snow, from which they could hardly be extricated. From the united effects of the constant glare of the snow, the lightness of the air, and the fatigue of the ascent, he experienced a giddiness as if he were intoxicated, and found it difficult to walk in a straight line. It occupied the party four hours from the cedars to the summit, and they were so fatigued that they were obliged to stretch themselves on the snow to recover breath. The prospect which the travellers enjoyed when they reached the top was grand and magnificent. On the west they had a view of the lower plain, and beyond, the boundless ocean; while to the east was seen the lower range of Anti-Libanus, still high, and covered with snow at its summit, which overlooks the Syrian desert. Burckhardt also mentions, that when he was near the summit he had an extensive view of the sea near Tripoli on the west; and to the east the Anti-Libanus range, with the intervening lakes. In this manner the country is everywhere diversified, in its interior, with mountains varying in their levels, situation, and appearance; and it may be divided into the higher and the lower regions, namely, those tracts which lie between the great mountain ranges of Libanus and Anti-Libanus; those, again, which lie eastward of this last interior range, extending southwards from Aleppo, and also from Damascus, and which are bounded to the eastward by other districts rocky and mountainous, and finally by the Syrian district; and, lastly, the lower tract, which descends from the mountains of Lebanon to the sea, which is still interspersed with lower ranges of hills.

The coast is generally low and flat; and where it is of any breadth between the Lebanon mountains and the Mediterranean, the country is blessed with extreme fertility. The valleys are productive, and yield abundantly the most valuable grains, as well as fruits, in great variety. The oranges of Tripoli, the figs of Beirout, and the pistachios of Aleppo, are held in particular esteem. The coast from Acre to Sidon, through which the road runs, presents a rich tract overgrown with thorns and thistles. The shore is abrupt, and the water deep; the villages thinly scattered, and the population apparently small, though this fine plain is capable of the highest fertility. The immediate neighbourhood of Sidon is a fine district; the plain at the foot of the hills, which is not above two miles wide, being entirely appropriated to extensive and shady groves and gardens, with lanes between them. The hills are also fruitful, and of a lower level than those farther to the south and to the east of the plains of Tyre. From Tripoli to Beirout the whole coast appears to be formed of sand accumulated by the prevailing westerly winds, and hardened into rocks, where, in order to form an artificial shelter, recourse must have been had to excavation. The plains in the vicinity of most of the towns along the coast have a pleasing and picturesque aspect, being generally covered with olive groves, and fine gardens filled with fruit-trees. This lower country is also well watered, numerous streams flowing down from the mountains, and supplying the means of irrigation, and of fertilizing the ground.

In ascending the eloping sides of Lebanon, all the varieties of European climate are experienced; and it is remarkable how successfully the industry of the inhabitants has triumphed over the inequalities of the ground, and other natural difficulties. Burckhardt mentions, that at Bshirrai, which is on a very elevated situation on Mount Lebanon, not far from its summit, and where nature seems to afford nothing for the sustenance of the inhabitants, numerous villages flourish, and every inch of ground is cultivated.^[1. Burckhardt’s Travels in Syria and the Holy Land, p. 20. ] l The town is surrounded with fruit trees, mulberry plantations, vineyards, fields of dhourra and other grain, though there is scarcely a natural plain twenty feet square. But the inhabitants meet this difficulty by building terraces, and thus, with singular industry, securing a portion of level ground to prevent the earth from being swept down by the winter rains, and retaining at the same time the water requisite for the irrigation of their crops. Water is abundant, and streams from numerous springs descend on all parts of the mountain country, and refresh the ground. Volney concurs in the same description. “By dint of skill and labour,” he observes, “they have compelled a rocky soil to become fertile. Sometimes, to avail themselves of the waters, they have made a channel for them by means of a thousand windings on the declivities, or have arrested them in the valleys by embankments. At other times they have propt up the earth that was ready to roll down, by terraces and walls;” so that the mountains present the appearance of a staircase, or of an amphitheatre, each tier of which is a row of vines or mulberry trees, of which Volney mentions that he had counted from 100 to 120 tiers from the bottom of the valley to the top of the hill. This elevated and craggy region also presents singular appearances,[7:21:60] and is often the scene of fatal accidents. Here a rock pierced by a torrent forms a natural cascade; another assumes the appearance of a natural wall; ledges of stones washed down by the waters resemble some of the fine ruins which abound in the country. In other places, the waters, undermining the rocks, have formed caverns or subterranean channels. At other times, rocks loosened, or thrown off their equilibrium, have been known to fall on the adjacent dwellings, and to crush the inhabitants. Such dangers, however, which are common to Alpine countries, do not deter the inhabitants from their elevated residences; the comparative security which they enjoy from Turkish oppression being accounted a compensation for these evils.

The higher Libanus presents a steep and barren ascent, on which the traveller toils for two hours till be reaches the summit. The lower Libanus is a more wooded country, fit for cultivation. The far-famed cedars are visible from the top, standing at the foot of the steep declivities of the higher division of the mountain. They form a small wood, which stands on the uneven ground of the mountain. Burckhardt mentions that he counted nearly 400 trees of all descriptions. Of the oldest and best-looking trees there are about eleven or twelve, distinguished by having the foliage and small branches at the top only, and by four, five, and even seven trunks springing from one base. They were covered with the names of travellers, one of which was dated in the seventeenth century. The trunks of the oldest trees were apparently dead. There were twenty-five large trees, about fifty middling ones, and 300 smaller and young trees.

The country that lies between the two ranges of Libanus and Anti-Libanus is inhabited by an industrious race of cultivators; and throughout its whole extent are scattered small towns, with from 100 to 200 houses, and everywhere the most splendid remains of antiquity, which have drawn to this unfrequented region a numerous concourse of European travellers. It is a plain, which is divided into the territory of Bekaa (signifying a mulberry tree, from the number of those trees which grow on it, and which form the wealth of the natives), and the territory of Baalbec. On the eastern side it comprises the mountain of Anti-Libanus to its top, and on the western side the Libanus range, also to its summit. Northward the valley widens considerably, as the range of Anti-Libanus takes an eastern direction, where it terminates. This valley is fertile; and Burckhardt mentions that, twelve years before his arrival, the plain and a part of the mountain were covered, to the distance of half a league from the town, with grape plantations; but, owing to the oppressions of the government, they are now destroyed, and the inhabitants, in place of eating their own grapes, are obliged to import them from other parts.^[2. Burckhardt’s Travels in Syria and the Holy Land, p. 10. ] Wherever they are treated with ordinary humanity and justice, which is the case in some parts, they are industrious, and, though not rich, independent. They live in houses of mud, supported with beams of pine-wood and earth, with which the flat roofs of the houses are covered, but which are so feeble, that deep snow, which falls in winter, would break through, if it were not carefully removed by the inhabitants every morning. They generally depend for subsistence on the cultivation of their vineyards and a few mulberry plantations, or on their fields, in which grain is produced; and partly on a trade which they carry on in Kourdine sheep; also on their shops, and on some trifling manufactures in cotton cloths, which they use as shirts, or as gowns when dyed blue. They likewise fabricate woollen mantles. This hilly district is abundantly watered by rivulets: almost every village has its spring, all of which descend into the valley, where they generally lose themselves, or join the

Liettani, between Baalbec and Zahle, which is one of the most considerable towns in this territory, containing about 5000 Catholic Greeks, with a few Turkish families. There are several other towns scattered over the country; and to these the oppressed inhabitants sometimes fly from the exactions of the pacha of Damascus, or other petty tyrants who have at different times ruled over most parts of Syria.

The land in this valley of Bekaa, between the two great mountain ranges of Libanus and Anti-Libanus, is not so well cultivated as on the opposite or western declivity of the mountain, probably because the industrious cultivator is not so sure to reap what he may industriously sow. About one sixth of the land only is cultivated, the remainder being left for pasture to the wild Arabs. The proprietors of the soil are mostly noble families of Damascus, which lies about sixty or a hundred miles to the east, or of the Druse mountains, by whose exorbitant demands the peasant cultivators are scarcely left a bare subsistence. The whole of this valley, with occasional rocky spots, is fertile and productive. The inhabitants consist of various races; the majority are Turks; one fifth are Catholic Christians, with an intermixture of Arabs, who migrate along with the season, in order to find pasture for their flocks; and also of Druses and others. In other districts, the greater part of these mountaineers are Christians. In Bshir-rai, near the northern termination of the range, they are all Christians; and in other parts three fourths are Christians, mostly of the Greek church. The Arabs generally pass the winter months on the sea-shore about Tripoli, Jebail, and Tartous, though they have no fixed habitations. They have the true Bedouin features, and they have the general propensity of their tribe to thieving. Their property, besides camels, consists in horses, cows, sheep, and goats. The country in many parts, from its abundant springs and the heavy dews which fall, produces a luxuriant pasturage; and here the various wandering tribes, the Arabs, Turkmans, and Kourdines, pasture their cattle. These latter bring annually into Syria from 20,000 to 30,000 sheep from the mountains of Kourdistan, the greater part of which is consumed in Aleppo, Damascus, and the mountains, as Syria does not produce a sufficient number for its own consumption. The Kourd sheep-dealers first visit with their flocks Aleppo, then cross the Anti-Libanus mountains, Hama, Homs, and Baalbec; and what they do not sell on the road they bring to pasture on the Syrian mountains, whither the inhabitants of the neighbouring towns repair, and buy up thousands of them, which they afterwards sell in retail to the peasantry. The country produces in abundance the mulberry, the vine, and the olive. The silk-worm thrives remarkably well, and the inhabitants rear a large produce of silk. Tobacco of a very fine quality is also produced on Mount Libanus; as also honey throughout the whole of this mountain district. Fruit trees succeed remarkably, and walnuts and other fruits form an article of export. Oaks, pines, the spreading palm, and other trees, flourish; and Burckhardt mentions that he had seen the former more than sixty feet high. Galls and medicinal plants are also produced in these mountains, and are exported from Tripoli and other ports. The mineralogy of this country has been little explored. Burck-hardt, from whom we derive most of our knowledge, mentions, that on digging he found several pieces of a metallic substance, which he took to be native amalgam of mercury. He also inferred from what he heard that cinnabar was to be found. The ground all around the village of Hasbeya he discovered to be impregnated with iron. Here are also numerous wells of bitumen, situated on a chalky hill, below the surface of which bitumen is found in large veins.[7:21:61] The pits are from six to twelve feet in diameter, into which the workmen descend by a rope and wheel; and in hewing out the bitumen they leave columns of that substance at different intervals, as a support to the earth above. There are upwards of twenty-five of these pits, most of which have been abandoned, and are overgrown with shrubs. It is only in the summer months that they are worked, on account of the emir, who monopolizes the produce, and sends it to the merchants of Damascus, Beirout, and Aleppo. The wild animals found here are the wild boar, the wolf, the ounce, and some say the lion, on the banks of the upper Jordan. Hares are seen in abundance.

The number of Christian sectaries which exist in this rude country is not more remarkable than their virulence against each other. Greeks, Catholics, Maronites, Syrians, Chaldeans, and Jacobites, have all their respective parishes and churches. They are furious against each other; and each sect has the folly to believe that its church would flourish on the ruins of its heretic brethren. The principal hatred subsists between the Catholics and the Greeks. Of the latter many thousands have been converted to the Catholic faith; all Catholics, the Maronites excepted, having for* merly been of the Greek church in Aleppo, Damascus, and in all the intermediate country. Communities of the original Latin Christians are only found around Jerusalem and Nablous. The Catholic bishop resides at Zahle; and his diocese comprises the whole Christian community in the Bekaa, or valley between the two great Libanus chains, and the adjoining villages of the mountain.

Towards the north the mountains of Syria approach nearer the sea, and leave scarcely any intervening plain. The city of Antioch, on the Orontes, is surrounded by mountains of great height, the different ranges from the interior terminating in this quarter, and leaving open before it a valley from ten to fifteen miles wide, presenting the appearance of an elevated plain, which is said to continue eastward all the way to Aleppo. The southern boundary of this valley is the mountain range of Jebel Okrah, the steep sides of which seem to rise abruptly from the sea, and continue their ascent until they terminate in its gray and bare peak at the height of perhaps 5000 feet from its base, lts northern boundary is the mountain range called Jebel Moosa, the western extremity of which slopes down into a cape, at the distance of about six miles north of the discharge of the river Orontes into the sea, and its even summit runs along eastward from the coast until it loses itself among irregular ranges of hills. The inner and eastern points of these different ranges gradually approach each other till they seem to meet, leaving a triangular valley or plain between them, its base-line being the sea-line, and its whole length from eight to ten miles. It is nearly in the centre of this valley that the Orontes takes its course; and its northern bank is occupied by corn-fields, mulberry grounds, gardens of fig-trees, and detached cottages all excellently built, and mostly of two stories, with sloping and tiled roofs. The upper valley, through which this river flows, is also thickly wooded and highly cultivated, the stream distributing fertility along its winding way. Buckingham celebrates the beauty of the country on the banks of the Orontes, and in the vicinity of the town of Homs. “Our ride,” he says, “was through one continued park of indescribable beauty; and although chiefly over a level ground, yet, by the profusion of its wood, and here and there some gentle eminences, the landscape varied at every point of view. The state of agriculture here, too, was more perfect and more flourishing than we had hitherto seen it elsewhere. The fields were free from weeds and stones, and many of them were enclosed with light fences of twig-work. Some of the barley was nearly ripe for the perennial harvest; and other grounds were tilling by four ploughs in succession, each followed by a sower distributing the grain from a basket for the autumnal one. Fine fat cattle were seen in numerous herds, with some few buffaloes among them, and all wore an appearance of wealth, activity, and abundance."^[3. Buckingham’s Travels in Syria, p. 507. ] Towards the north of Syria, on the coast, there is a great change from the mountain districts, in the appearance, dress, and manners of the inhabitants. “All," says Buckingham, “was now decidedly Turkish. The peasants were of a different physiognomy as well as dress; and one marked peculiarity of contrast was their wearing long boots reaching to the knees, of black leather, and shaped like European ones, without drawers; while the Arabs of Syria all wear long full drawers, and either red shoes, or, as often happens, go barefooted.”^[4. Buckingham’s Travels among the Arab Tribes, chap, xxvi. p. 541. ]- The language also is Turkish instead of Arabic. The country thence eastward, as far as Aleppo, is mountainous, with intervening valleys. Southward, the mountain range of Libanus recedes from the coast, leaving champaign country, diversified with lower hills. From Aleppo, as far south as Damascus, the hilly region prevails, being the eastern declivity of the Libanus mountains.

The immediate neighbourhood of Damascus is known under the name of El Ghautta, which comprehends a district of about thirty square miles; it contains upwards of eighty villages, and is one of the most fertile districts in Syria. In the south is a rocky district called the Ledja, which is from two to three days’ journey in length by one in breadth, and is inhabited by several tribes of Arabs, who breed a vast number of goats, which easily find pasturage among the rocks. A few of them also keep sheep and cows, and cultivate the soil in some parts of the Ledja, where they sow wheat and barley. This district is divided between the inner and the outer Ledja. The inner consists of a labyrinth of rocks, through which the Arabs alone have a due; some of them are twenty feet high, and the country is full of hills. Trees are numerous among the rocks. The most common are the oak, and the bitter almond tree, from the fruit of which is extracted an oil which is in great request among the inhabitants. There are no springs in any part of this stony district; but water collects in great quantities in the hollows and in the cisterns, where it is kept through the summer. Millstones are cut horizontally out of the rocks, and are carried to be finished at Ezra, and the other towns in this district. The camel is commonly met with in the Ledja, and walks with a firm step over the rocky surface. In summer he feeds on the flowers or dry grass of the pasturing places. This district, like all the rest of the country, is frill of ruined towns and cities, containing the remains of large edifices and innumerable inscriptions, with columns, pillars, and all the finest remains of ancient architecture.

To the south-west of this barren and rocky territory lies the extensive district of the Haouran, which is bounded on the south-west by the mountain chain which is prolonged southward, and here spreads out into a mass of mountains, which extend still farther southward into Palestine. On the south-east, where the farthest inhabited villages are Bosra and El Remtha, the Haouran borders on the desert. It lies between different ranges of lofty mountains, and is a plain diversified with gentle elevations, the same levels being nowhere of long continuation, though still not so much above or below each other as to destroy the general character of an irregular and undulating plain, in which there is nothing that deserves to be called a hill on its whole surface. The eminences that occasionally break the continuity of the surface, are mostly small veins of rock projecting above the surface; and these appear in all cases to have been selected for the sites of towns, for the sake of securing a command-[7:21:62] ing position, a freer air, and a drier soil. This plain is fertile in corn, and is considered as the granary of Syria. But it is liable to severe droughts, under one of which calamities it was suffering when it was visited by Buckingham in 1824. In the eastern hills among the Druses, and in the mountains of Jordan, both rain and snow had fallen; and thither many distressed families had taken refuge from the prevailing distress. Buckingham, when he was in this country, had a view of this extensive district from the hills to the west; and he could perceive, that though lower than the elevated country of Belkah, it was a table-land on a high level, measuring from the surface of the lake of Tiberias, as the tops of the lofty hills which form the eastern boundary of that lake appeared but on a level with the surface of this plain, so that the lake must have been much lower. To the east a range of hills, inhabited by the Druses, bounds the plain. These hills are of an unbroken outline, and not much elevated from the plain, although their summits penetrate the line of perpetual snow. To the northeast the land gradually rises, and is lost in an even horizon of high plains. To the north the view is bounded by another range of snow-clad mountains, called also the Mountains of the Druses. On the north-west there is a still higher range, called Jebel-el-Tely, covered with snow, and extending north-east and south-west; and in this last direction the northern points of the Asswete and the Adjeloon ranges show patches of snow amidst thick forests of evergreen wood. Beyond these, again, is another great plain or tableland, on a higher level, to the eastward, and said to be in all respects equal to the Haouran in the fertility of the soil and the abundant remains of a numerous population.

Buckingham laments that so fine a country should be in the possession of such barbarous inhabitants, and abandoned, from their negligence and tyranny, to sterility and desolation. “On the mountains and plains,” he adds, “of these districts of Belkah, Adjeloon, and Haouran, extending from the Dead Sea to the sources of the Jordan nortli, and from the banks of that river to the extreme limits of the cultivable land on the east, there would be room for a million of human beings to form a new colony, who would enrich every country that was on their borders, and would form a centre from which industry, arts, science, and morals, might extend their influence, and irradiate regions, now the prey of ignorance, rapine, and devastation.”^[5. Buckingham’s Travels in Syria, p. 228. ] Among the hills, horses, mules, and asses, are bred as beasts of burden; but in the plain of Haouran numerous herds of camels are to be seen.

To the west of the Haouran the country becomes mountainous, but is still extremely fertile, and interspersed with numerous valleys. To the east of the river Jordan, from the lake of Tiberias to the Dead Sea, and from Oom Kais to Heshbon, its fertility is great. In the mountain districts of Belkah and Adjeloon, the woody scenery can scarcely be surpassed in beauty. The valleys abound with corn-fields and olive-grounds; the upland slopes of the hills are planted with vines, and the summits of the mountains are clothed with trees of the coldest regions. “The climate,” says Buckingham, “is really delightful; a clear, deep, blue sky, a pure air, a warm summer in the valleys and plains, a snowy winter on the mountain tops, with all the finest shades of gradation between these two extremes, furnish every variety of temperature and atmosphere that can be desired by man. indeed this portion of the country, included in the districts of Belkah and Adjeloon, on the east of the Jordan, is as superior to the promised land on the west of that stream, as the most romantic and beautiful parts of Devonshire are to the bleak hills and barren heaths of the adjoining county of Cornwall."^[6. Buckingham’s Travels among the Arab Tribes, chap. viii. p. 141. ]

Syria is inhabited by a mixture of various races, with their peculiar manners and modes of faith. The coast and the seaport towns, more especially towards the north, and Aleppo and Damascus, exhibit a population chiefly Turkish, with Turkish manners, costume, and language. But the mountain regions, the countries on the Libanus and the Anti-Libanus range, the intervening valleys, the eastern declivity towards Aleppo and Damascus, and to the south the districts of Ledja, the Haouran, and the countries to the west of the Jordan, are inhabited by Turks, Druses, Christians, and Arabs, some wanderers and robbers, and others following the pastoral life, or enacting alternately the shepherd and the robber as opportunity offers. Civil order or law is but very imperfectly maintained in those unsettled countries. Some districts purchase an exemption from Arab robbery, by paying a contribution, on the same principle as the Scotish Lowlanders formerly paid the contribution of black mail to the mountain robbers of their country. Under the former dominion of the Turkish pachas no regular police was established: there was no security to the traveller, either for life or property; and in the mountain districts, and to the eastward of them, traders, in journeying to Aleppo or Damascus, were forced to associate in large caravans in order to repel the herds of robbers with which the roads were infested. Since the country has come under the dominion of the pacha of Egypt, it has been the scene of rebellion, owing to his oppressions; and the disorders which have ensued cannot fail to encourage the trade of robbery and violence. It is not possible that the condition of the country can be improved when civil war continues to rage within its borders.

The Druses, who are spread over all Syria, more especially in its mountain tracts, are a very peculiar race; and little has yet been discovered of their religion and its occult rites. Their priests maintain an impenetrable silence on these subjects; and when strangers question any of the lay-members of this curious sect, they relate numberless fables, which find their way into books of travels, and thus errors are propagated. A very curious remnant of Egyptian superstition is said to prevail in Mount Libanus, among those Druses who assume the name of okkals, namely, divine honour paid to a calf; and the worship of Venus by the most licentious rites is reported to be practised among them. They are indifferent to all the outward forms of religion, and admit into their temples as objects of adoration whatsoever has been venerated by heathens, Jews, Christians, or Mahommedans. They are reported to worship all the prophets, especially Isaiah and Jeremiah, as well as Christ and Mahommed; and at set times the okkals, who cultivate mysteries, elevate within their places of worship a molten idol made of gold, silver, or brass, which has the form of a calf. According to the report, prostrations are made before this idol, and these are followed by a promiscuous intercourse of the different sexes. That they are not so indifferent as has been reported to different systems of religion, appears from their hatred and contempt of Mahommedanism, while they behave with great benevolence and friendship to Christians, whose faith they respect. The okkals or akauls, the priests of the Druse religion, are distinguished by a white turban, and the peculiarity of the folds in which they wear it. They are subjected to self-denial; they are not permitted to smoke tobacco; they never swear, and are reserved in their manners and conversation. They pray in their chapels, but not at stated periods. These are built in some sequestered spot, and none but Druses are allowed to enter them. They affect to follow the doctrines of Mahommed; few, however, pray according to the Turkish forms. They fast during Ramadan in the presence of[7:21:63] strangers, but eat at their own houses even of the flesh of the wild boar, which is frequently to be found in the mountain districts which they inhabit.^[7. Burckhardt’s Travels in Syria, p. 304. ] They are industrious cultivators, and live comfortably where they are not oppressed by Turkish extortion. Buckingham mentions, that where he was entertained by one of them at supper, they had a chimney, as in England, blazing with an excellent fire. The men were all stout, handsome, clean, and well dressed, and the children among the best-looking he had seen in Syria.^[8. Buckingham’s Travel· among the Arab Tribes, p. 189. ] They speak the Arabic language, but in every thing else they are a distinct race. Their physiognomy is particularly marked; and from the visible difference, Dr Clarke was enabled to select one of the Druses from the midst of a party of Arabs. According to the testimony of this traveller, they are distinguished by a certain nobleness and dignity of feature, a marked elevation of countenance, and superior deportment, accompanied by openness, sincerity, and engaging manners. They are much esteemed for their probity and mildness of disposition.^[9. Clarke’s Travels in Syria, chap. xiv. p. 461. ]

The Bedouin Arabs wander over all Syria. They are of two classes; those who do not fix their habitation to any district, but who range over the whole country; and those whose wanderings are confined within certain bounds. The Bedouins of the Haouran were formerly bound to join the troops of the Turkish pacha when that country was under the dominion of the Porte; but they were in general guided entirely by the advantage which they were likely to derive from the contest. The Arab tribes were formerly subject to an annual tribute, which was levied on each tent, according to the wealth of its owner. It was often refused by the poor or refractory Arabs. Those of the Ledja, the district already described, on the north of Damascus, often withheld the tribute, in the confidence that the recesses of their abodes could not be forced. But they were often reduced by the want of water; when, their own springs failing, they were obliged to approach the perennial springs of other districts. The Arabs of the Haouran act as shepherds for the people of the plains, who intrust to them in summer and winter their flocks of goats and sheep, which they pasture during the latter season among the rocks of the mountains. In spring they account for the flocks to their owners, who sell a part of them at Damascus. They receive for their trouble one fourth of the lambs and kids, and a like proportion of the butter. Casual losses in the flocks are borne by both parties. These are the Arabs who are comparatively stationary. The wandering Arabs cover the whole of the plain of Haouran, whither they come in swarms from the desert in May, and remain until September. On their arrival, the resident Arabs who may happen to be at war with them conceal themselves in the mountains, with all the recesses of which long experience has made them familiar. Till within a few years these Arabs were the constant carriers for the Hadji pilgrims on their road to Mecca, and made yearly contracts with the pacha, by which they were considerable gainers, as well as by the fixed tribute which they levied on the pilgrim caravans, and by the nightly plunder of stragglers and loaded camels on the march.

The Arabs are generally of a short stature, thin visage, scanty beard, and brilliant black eyes; while the Druses are taller and stouter, with a long beard, and a less piercing look. The Turks and Christians of the Haouran live and dress alike, and religion seems no source of difference between them. The Christians, as they recede from the sphere of supreme authority, enjoy a degree of boldness and freedom unknown in the Turkish cities or in their vicinity, or throughout the lower and more populous districts. When quarrels arise in these mountain regions, a Christian fears not to strike a Turk, or to execrate his religion; a liberty which, in the Syrian towns, would expose the offender to the penalty of death, or to a heavy pecuniary fine. This liberty which Christians enjoy in the Haouran and in other remote and less frequented districts, is supposed by Burckhardt to arise from the common sufferings and dangers which they encounter in defence of their property; and it is strengthened by the Druses, who show equal respect to both religions. Buckingham ascribes this diminution of religious bigotry and intolerance to the nearly equal mixture of Mahommedans and Christians. The prohibition of the Christians and Jews to wear the same gay colours as the Mahommedans, to use the salutation of peace, or to employ the oaths and ejaculations peculiar to the faith of Islam, which is enforced wherever the authority of Arab or Turkish governors extends, does not take effect in the mountain districts of Syria, where the two religions are on a footing of equality.

There is little distinction between the richest and the poorest of the Druses in their mode of living. In newly-built villages the whole family, with all its household furniture, cooking utensils, and provision chests, is commonly huddled together in one apartment; but where the ancient buildings, which were raised by the more civilized race that inhabited the country in the age of the Romans, are occupied, they afford spacious and convenient dwellings of three or four apartments for each family. The country, as has been already mentioned, is covered with these dwellings, constructed very curiously of stone, and with other wonderful memorials of ancient grandeur. Granite pillars, hewn blocks, excavated sepulchres, Roman theatres and temples, and other works of masonry, all testify the great works of former days. The houses are all built of solid stone; and from the scarcity of wood a singular kind of masonry has been restarted to, the stones being interlocked into each other by a kind of dove-tailing, and thus very strongly united without cement. They have small windows, both of the square and circular form in the same range. In many of these dwellings there were massy folding doors of stone, which were moved on stone hinges, and of which the remains are still to be seen. Some are fastened by horizontal bars of stone, and others by perpendicular ones in the inside of them, and lodging each end in the massy framework of the door on either side, or above and below, as the position of the bar required. The want of wood for building rendered it necessary to use very large stones for some parts of the edifices, such as beams for the roofs and doors. These houses are large, having several spacious apartments; and they are still used by the inhabitants, being constructed of such durable materials as to resist decay.

The Turkmans are a barbarous race, with pastoral habits, who range over the plains west-north-west of Aleppo, and the mountains by which it is bounded on the west; the average breadth of which, including the numerous valleys which intersect them, may be estimated at from fifteen to twenty miles. They lose themselves in the plain of Antioch, which is bounded on the opposite side by the chain of high mountains that extends along the southern coast of the gulf of Scanderoon. The plain of Antioch is watered by the river Afrin, which is full of carps and bar-bles; but the Turkmans have no implements for fishing. The valleys among the mountains are besides watered by numerous other rivers; and here is a small lake formed by the river Goul, which is so full of fish that the boys kill them by throwing stones at them. Here are also warm springs, which were seen by Burckhardt, strong[7:21:64] ly impregnated with sulphur, in which the thermometer rose to 102°. Those tribes of the Turkmans appear in their winter-quarters in the plain of Antioch at the end of September, and depart towards the middle of April, when the flies of the plain begin to torment their horses and cattle. They then begin to direct their march towards Marasch, and remain in the neighbourhood of that place for about a month; thence they reach the mountains to the east, where they pass the hottest summer months; and in autumn they return by the same route towards Antioch. They live in tents and in huts. Those tents are always surrounded by four others, in which live the Fellah families, who cultivate the land. These are the remaining peasants of abandoned villages, or some poor stragglers from the mountains of Kurdistan, who live wretchedly; and when they succeed in scraping together a small pittance, their Turkman masters contrive to take it from them under pretence of borrowing it.

Syria is a country of ancient renown, and connected with many interesting historical recollections. In the early periods of the Jewish history, it was a powerful state, of which Damascus was the capital. Phoenicia, the great commercial state of those ancient times, flourished in Syria, and sent out colonies to other countries. Syria was, after the death of Alexander, erected into an extensive monarchy under Seleucus, one of his lieutenants. It comprehended the whole west of Asia, and under Antiochus maintained a long and doubtful conflict with the Roman power. Under the Roman emperors Syria was the seat of luxury and wealth, and Antioch, the capital, was, next to Rome and Alexandria, one of the first cities in the empire, famed for its riches and splendour. Syria, during the decline of the Roman empire, was overrun by barbarous hordes, and fell under the dominion of the Saracens. It was the great theatre of contention between the crusading armies and those of the Moslems; and a long and bloody contest, signalized by deeds of valour on both sides, terminated in the triumph of the infidels; when Syria was finally absorbed in the Turkish empire, of which it formed one of the richest and most valuable provinces. It was ruled by the provincial authority of the pachas, several of whom, in the increasing weakness of the Turkish sway, set up the standard of independent power. Among the earliest of these was Fackerdin, the emir of the Druses, who made himself master of Beirout, and successively of all the towns on the Syrian coast. He was at last defeated and slain by the Turkish force sent against him; and his posterity continued to administer the affairs of the Druses as vassals of the Porte. Daher, a powerful Arabian scheik, contended for independent power so successfully with the sultan, that for a long time he was obliged to grant him an annual lease of his dominion. He was also subdued by a powerful army sent against him by the Porte, and was put to death. He was succeeded by the well-known Dsjezzar Pacha, who acquired a power almost equally independent, but who, unlike the former pacha, whose administration was mild and just, was a fierce and savage tyrant. His reign was rendered remarkable by the invasion of Syria by Bonaparte, and by his memorable defence of Acre, along with the British under Sir Sidney Smith. After the death of Dsjezzar, Soleiman was appointed pacha; and it was about this period that Syria was first threatened with an invasion by the Wahabis, whose power had been extending for some years, and who would no longer permit the great armed caravans to proceed to Mecca from Damascus. Yussuf Pacha succeeded, and was equally unsuccessful in repelling the incursions of the Wahabis, who, advancing through the Syrian desert, spread terror to the gates of Damascus. The important task of crushing the rising power of this formidable sect was at length undertaken by Mehemet Ali, the present pacha of Egypt, who sent Ibrahim with a numerous force, and a vast retinue of camels and other beasts of burden, with large supplies, and succeeded, after many bloody conflicts, in taking their capital, and Abdallah their chief, who was sent prisoner to Constantinople, and there beheaded.^[10. See article Arabia in this work. ] Syria, after the extinction of the Wahaby power, was ruled as before by Turkish pachas, the vassals of the Porte, who oppressed the country by exactions, and left the poor peasantry scarcely a bare subsistence. When a just administration, with which they are occasionally blessed, left them the produce of their fertile soil, they were prosperous and happy, as they were proportionably miserable under those cruel tyrants, in whose hands power was only used for extortion.

But a new era was now approaching, when Syria, in the progressive decline of the Turkish dominion, was to pass under the yoke of a new and even more severe task-master. The pacha of Egypt, Mehemet Ali, had been long aspiring at independent power; and having collected and disciplined a powerful army, he at length threw off the mask, and in October 1831 invaded Syria by El Arish, and after taking possession of Gaza and Jaffa, he laid siege to St Jean d’Acre, the memorable scene of so many sanguinary conflicts. The place was strong, and resolutely defended by Abdallah Pacha. The siege had continued three months, during which the town was reduced to a heap of ruins. The Egyptian army had also suffered severely. In the mean time, Osman, the bey of Tripoli, having collected a force of 5000, proceeded to the attack of Tripoli, on the sea-coast. Ibrahim hastened with 5000 troops and six pieces of artillery to this new scene of action, and on the 31st of March 1832 succeeded in putting Osman to flight after a severe engagement. He retired across the mountains to Hamah; and Ibrahim following, encamped on the plains of Homs, where he was attacked on the 15th of April by a Turkish force, and after a drawn battle, retired on Baalbec. In the mean time Mehemet Ali, impressed with the importance of gaining possession of Acre, sent reinforcements from Candia; and Ibrahim resuming ,the command, pressed the siege with redoubled vigour, and on the 15th of May the place capitulated after a severe struggle, Abdallah and the garrison being made prisoners of war. Mehemet Ali, following up his success, advanced on the 8th of June on Damascus, which he entered on the 14th. He was joined by the Christian population of Mount Lebanon, and by their aged emir with 5000 men. The victorious army resumed its march northwards for Aleppo; and at Homs, on the head streams of the Orontes, he was encountered by a Turkish force of 20,000 men, which was completely routed, with the loss of tents, provisions, ammunition, and thirty-one pieces of cannon. Ibrahim now divided his force, sending one detachment to Antioch, and advancing with the other towards Aleppo. Hearing that the Turkish army had now entered Syria under Husseyn Pacha, he proceeded to meet the enemy. The Turkish position was one of great natural strength, accessible only by a defile. Troops were posted along all the heights, which were besides crowned with artillery. The Egyptian army reached the pass on the 28th of July; and the following morning, having silenced the enemy’s batteries by his superior fire, Ibrahim carried the heights by main force. The victory was complete; the loss of the Turks amounted to 13,000 men, and forty pieces of cannon were left on the field. The fruit of this victory was the surrender of Antioch, and the submission of the whole north-eastern portion of Syria. Another battle was fought on the 2lst of December 1832,; when the Turkish army, amounting to 40,000 men, with sixty pieces of cannon, was entirely routed and dispersed.[7:21:65] The sultan was now completely humbled; and after various delays and negociations with Russia, a treaty was finally concluded, which ceded the dominion of Syria to Mehemet Ali.

Syria has been ruled by Mehemet Ali with the most tyrannical cruelty. The conscriptions both for the army and for his military works have been enforced with the most unheard-of brutality. At Damascus the houses were surrounded in the night by troops, and every man capable of bearing arms was carried off. Still greater outrages took place at Beirout, where the inhabitants, Turks, Jews, and Christians, were seized or knocked down in the streets; the housesbroken open, and all dragged indiscriminately to prison, and there plundered and otherwise maltreated. His conscriptions and rigorous exactions produced insurrection in various quarters of the country. These were soon suppressed, and were followed by severe vengeance. The Druses were decimated, and their villages burned. The Ansaries, who were driven to resistance by oppression, were indiscriminately slaughtered, though they implored forgiveness. Towards the close of 1837, the Druses again rose in arms to resist the intolerable cruelty of Mehemet Ali. They gained a signal victory over a force of 20,000 troops under Achmet Pacha, who was driven back with great loss by the Druses, advantageously posted on the mountains. But new armies being sent, the Druses were finally defeated, and compelled to seek refuge in the recesses of the mountains.

In the mean time the Porte, stung by recent humiliation and the loss of Syria, was preparing for a new war; to which the hesitation of Mehemet Ali in paying his tribute, and his threatened declarations of independence, afforded a sufficient motive. Mehemet Ali on his part reinforced his armies; and although the European powers, namely, Great Britain, Russia, France, and Austria, interposed to maintain peace, the armies at length encountered, when victory again declared in favour of Mehemet Ali, whose way was now open to Constantinople, when the vigorous interposition of the European powers enforced an armistice, with a view to establish a lasting peace. Since this period the combined influence of the same powers has been exerted to settle these eastern disputes, and, as is understood, to maintain the integrity of the Turkish empire by the cession of Syria to the Porte. Mehemet Ali refuses to yield the hereditary sovereignty of this country, the fruit of victory and his right by conquest. The European powers are engaged in anxious discussions to effect a settlement of these disputes, and numerous fleets are assembled in the Mediterranean to give weight to their interference.

How far the interest or honour of those powers, and more especially of Great Britain, is so directly concerned in the integrity of Turkey as to warrant such actual interference, and the maintenance of expensive armaments, may well be questioned. The Turkish empire has been long verging to decay; and can no longer maintain supreme rule over its subordinate governors, who, taking advantage of its weakness, assume independent power. This is a necessary step in the natural progress of decay which no foreign aid can avert; nor is it easy to perceive any rational ground for the interference of Great Britain, by means of expensive armaments, in those distant disputes, the result of which cannot affect her safety. The rise of an independent power in the east, such as Egypt, cannot possibly be prejudicial to European interests; and for what purpose therefore set in motion such expensive political machinery to arrest the natural progress of events? Even if Turkey were to fall under the extending sway of Russia, of which there is no immediate prospect, it is doubtful whether this accession of territory would add to her solid strength; whether it would render her a more formidable enemy, held as it would be by the uncertain tenure of recent conquest; and whether therefore it is not the wiser policy to remain quiet, watching the course of events, than to provide by expensive preparations against dangers which may only exist in the fancies of speculative politicians. It is this system of watchful anticipation, and of chimerical anxiety about the balance of power, which has plunged Great Britain into so many useless wars, and has overwhelmed her with debt; and the danger is, that the same course followed in a season of profound peace will increase her burdens, until she sink at last under the accumulating load. (f.)