Part 2 — CHAP. XXIV.

OBSERVATIONS AT ALEPPO.

Sherîfs and Janizaries — Manufactures and commerce — Quarries — Price of provisions — New sect — Journey to Antioch — Description of antient Seleucia — Return to Aleppo.

The country adjacent to Aleppo is broken with many inequalities, and even the city stands partly on high and partly on low ground. A small river, called Coik, descends from Aintab, and, after passing through the city, is lost in a marsh on the West.

So many descriptions of this famous capital having appeared, I shall only offer a few remarks on such objects as struck me during my residence there.

The site is rocky, and the few gardens chiefly produce pistachios. The city is well built, and paved with stone. The tall cyprus trees, contrasted with the white minarets of numerous mosques, give it a most picturesque appearance. The population and buildings seem to be on the increase; but this affords no proof of public felicity; for, in proportion as the capital swells, the adjacent villages are deserted. The houses are clean, airy, substantial, and commodious. The people in general are distinguished by an air of affected polish, hardly to be observed in the other towns of Syria. Their dialect too has its characteristic marks. The Arabic prevails, though many speak the Turkish language.

A new Pasha had been lately appointed at the time I arrived, but was prevented from entering the city, by the feuds which had prevailed between the Sherîfs and the Janizaries, and induced the latter to suspect that the Pasha had a design of punishing them. This officer was a young man, the son of the Pasha of Adene; his title El Sherîf Mohammed Pasha; of an unblemished character, but unequal, in point of talents and personal weight, to compose the violence of these factions, which, after he had resided a short time in the city, obliged him to retire. The Sherîfs, or descendants of Mohammed, here form a considerable faction; a circumstance also observable at Bagdad, but not in so remarkable a degree. In Aleppo they form a body of near sixty thousand. The Janizaries do not exceed one-fourth of that number. The Sherîfs consist of all ranks, from the highest Imâm to the lowest peasant, and are far from excelling in courage: the Janizaries are of superior valour, though little acquainted with the use of arms or aspect of battle. Hence the force of the factions is merely balanced, and continual disputes arise for offices of profit or power, which generally terminate in bloodshed. In the course of this summer, 1797, several of these took place; in one of them it is supposed near three hundred persons perished. This imperfect exercise of authority may be estimated among the symptoms of decline in the Turkish empire.

The manufactures are in a flourishing state, being carried on with great spirit both by Christians and Mohammedans: silk and cotton form the chief articles. Large caravans frequently arrive from Bagdad and Bassora, charged with coffee, which is carried round to the Persian gulf from Moccha, with the tobacco and cherry-tree pipes from Persia, and muslins, shawls, and other products of India.

Besides the manufactures of Aleppo, and the productions of the surrounding country, which are sent to Europe by sea, three or four caravans, laden with merchandize, proceed annually through Anatolia to Constantinople. Pistachio nuts form no mean article of trade, being the chief produce of the adjacent territory, in the soil of which that tree particularly delights. Aleppo also maintains a commercial intercourse with Damascus, Antioch, Tripoli, Ladakia, and the towns on the East towards the Euphrates.

The last pestilence is supposed to have destroyed sixty thousand of the inhabitants.

The women of Aleppo are rather masculine, of brown complexions, and remarkable for indulging in the Sapphic affection.

The quarries which supplied the stone for the construction of the city, are not far removed from the Antioch gate. They are every way worthy remark. On both sides of a road, cut through the solid rock, are seen the openings of caverns, capable of giving shelter to a vast number of persons. From these again, which are tolerably light, open a number of other passages, in all directions, from the principal apartments. These I had neither time nor instruments to investigate; but the people of the place pretend that one of these passages goes to the castle, another to Antioch, &c. Traditions similar to which abound in every country, which presents any caverns natural or artificial.

The material is a soft stone or tufa, replete with petrified shells. It would appear that the artificers designed those quarries for some useful purpose, as they have not only left rough columns, and cut perpendicular shafts, which admit some portion of light, but the walls are hewn to a much greater degree of smoothness than is usually seen in quarries. It is certain they have afterwards been occupied, as marks of fire, mangers for horses, and even burial places, may be observed. In latter times, disbanded dellîs, not being admitted into the city, have here fixed their abode, and become dangerous to passengers, whom they have robbed, and sometimes murdered.

There is a large burying-place without the city. Here I observed the tomb of an Englishman, dated 1613.

The dress of the people of Aleppo resembles that of Constantinople more than that of Egypt and southern Syria: both men and women, in rainy weather, wear a kind of wooden patten, which has no agreeable effect either on the eye or the ear.

The hire of a camel from Aleppo to Ladakia or Scanderoon, about sixty miles, was a century ago four piasters, thirty years ago eight piasters, and is at this time nineteen. The price of commodities is much changed in the course of not many years. But since the year 1716 it has increased in a tenfold proportion. I saw an authentic document, that the ardeb of rice at that time sold for eleven piasters; it now fetches one hundred and eighteen piasters. They at that time sold 185 rolls of bread, of a particular kind, for a piaster; they now only sell forty of the same kind for that sum. Meat is good and in plenty; it is sold for fifty paras the rotal, 720 drams, or about 4½d. a pound. There are no fish, save a few small eels, found in the Coik. Wine is very dear, none being produced in the neighbourhood. On the other articles of provision nothing remarkable occurs.

At Aleppo I first observed the practice of illuminating the mosques on Thursday night, to usher in the Mohammedan Sabbath; this is unknown at Kahira, and other cities of the South.

About this time, the beginning of June 1797, intelligence arrived, that the Pasha of Bagdad had sent a strong detachment of troops, to be joined by the Arabs friendly to the Porte, in repressing the incursions of Abd-el-aziz ibn Messoûd el Wahhâhbé, a rebel against the government, who by the rapid success of his arms, and his increasing followers, had lately grown formidable. This man, a native of Nedjed, respected among the Arabs for his age and wisdom, had two years before first made public his determination to resist the authority of the Porte. He has since collected a considerable body of men, but it is said they are only furnished with spears and swords. He pretends to a divine mission, and gives no quarter to those who oppose him. To invite Christians and Jews to his party, he only requires an annual capitation tax of three piasters and a half. Of the people under his jurisdiction, every owner of a house is obliged to serve in person or find a substitute; and, to encourage them, he divides the spoil into five parts; taking one himself, he gives two to the substitute and two to the principal, or if the latter serve he has four parts. It was supposed his views pointed to Mecca, which he had threatened to attack. His confession of faith is only—“There is no God but God;” inferring, that a prophet, when dead, deserves no homage, and that of course to mention him in a creed, or in prayers, is absurd. He enjoins the absolute necessity of prayer, under the open canopy of heaven, and destroys all the mosques he can seize. Of the five dogmata of Mohammed, he admits alms, fasting, prayer, and ablution, but rejects pilgrimage. He denies the divine origin of the Korân, but prohibits the use of all liquors but water. Being advanced in age, he had taken care to secure the attachment of his followers to his son, who was generally his substitute in the field[59].

On the 11th of June set out from Aleppo for Antioch, where I arrived on the 14th. Part of the route is mountainous. We passed the Orontes at a ferry. Country cultivated with Hashîsh, a kind of flax.

Entered Antioch, now called Antáki, by Bab-Bolûs, the gate of St. Paul. The walls are extensive, but the houses are chiefly confined to one corner. Numerous towers flank the walls, which are strong and lofty, and run from the river Orontes, the southern boundary of the city, up to the summit of the mountain. There is a substantial bridge over the river, which winds through a fertile vale. A large castle on the mountain, now ruinous, commands an extensive prospect.

Antioch is governed by a Mohassel, who derives his appointment from Constantinople. He received me with great politeness, and desired me to make what researches I pleased.

The barley harvest was begun. The length of the plain of Antioch is about three leagues and a half, the width two leagues. The language is here generally Turkish.

It must be remarked with regard to Aleppo and Antioch, that the latter has by far the most convenient situation. The former has no navigable river, the land is little productive, and it is placed at a great distance from the sea. Antioch possesses every opposite advantage, except that of a navigable river, which however far exceeds the diminutive Coik; the air is superior to that of Aleppo, and it is within five hours of the sea. The mountain produces wine, which is sold cheap, and there is plenty of sea-fish. The mouth of the river forms a haven for small vessels, with very deep water.

Between Antioch and the sea, the ridge abounds in mulberry trees, which furnish a copious supply of silk, though not of the best kind.

From Antioch I set out for Suadéa, the antient Seleucia, and port of Antioch, and only about four hours removed from it. It presents to the mind the idea of the immense labour used by its former possessors to render it convenient for traffic, which is now rendered useless, by the negligence of its present masters. The road from Antioch is pleasingly diversified by mountain and plain; yet to appearance the country is but thinly inhabited, though filled with all kinds of flowering and odoriferous plants, particularly myrtles, oleanders, and cyclamens. Having crossed four rapid and translucid streams, which descend into the Orontes, I passed the night with a hospitable native, in a garden of mulberries, which afforded support to his numerous family.

A large gate of Seleucia yet remains entire; it approaches to the Doric order. The rock near it has been excavated into various apartments. A part exists of the thick and substantial wall which defended Seleucia toward the sea. The port must have been commodious and secure, though but small, being formed by a mole of very large stones. Though the port be at present dry, the sand in the bottom appears not higher than the surface of the sea. A little to the North is a remarkable passage, cut in the rock, leading by a gentle descent, from the summit of the mountain towards the water. It is above six hundred common paces long, from thirty to fifty feet high, and about twenty broad. In the middle of it is a covered way, arched through the rock, but both the ends are open. A channel for water runs along the side, conveying the pure element down from the mountain to Seleucia. The whole rock above is full of artificial cavities, for what purpose does not appear. There is a Greek inscription on the South side of the cavern, comprising, I believe, five lines. Having no glass, and the inscription being lofty, I could only discover the letters ΤΕΤΑΡ, which form a part of the last line but one.

Returning towards the sea, I observed some catacombs. One of the chambers contains thirty niches for the dead, another fourteen. These catacombs are ornamented with pilasters, cornices, and mouldings.

Returned to Antioch, and on the following day set off for Aleppo. The Kûrds occasionally attack the caravans going between these two cities. The Turcomâns form another tribe of rovers; they generally pass the winter in the plains near Antioch, returning in the summer to Anatolia.