ALEXANDRETTA, by the Turks called Scanderon; a town in Syria, at the extremity of the Mediterranean sea. It is the port of Aleppo, from which it is distant 28 or 30 leagues. It is now little else but a heap of ruined houses, chiefly inhabited by Greeks, who keep tipping-houses for sailors. The air is very unwholesome; and therefore the better sort of inhabitants, during the hot weather, live at a village called Bayland, on a mountain about ten miles off, where there is wholesome water and excellent fruit. What surprises strangers most, when they arrive at this place, are the pigeons which carry letters to Aleppo, which they reach in about three hours: these pigeons are of a singular kind*, and are very much celebrated throughout the east. E. Long. 37. 5. N. Lat. 36. 35. See Columns.