SMYRNA, a sea-port town of Turkey in Asia, and one of the largest and richest cities of the Levant. The goodness of the harbour has caused it to be rebuilt several times, after being destroyed by earthquakes. It is the rendezvous of merchants from almost all parts of the world, and the magazines of their merchandizes. Some time ago it was thought to contain 15,000 Turks, 10,000 Greeks, 1800 Jews, 200
Armenians, and 200 Franks. The Turks have 19 mosques, the Greeks 2 churches, the Jews 8 synagogues, the Armenians 1 church, and the Latins 3 convents. There are three bishops; one Greek, another Latin, and the third Armenian. The streets are more open, better paved, and the houses better built, than in other towns of the continent. The street of the Franks is the finest in Smyrna, and lies all along the harbour. It is 8 days journey from Constantinople by land, 25 days from Aleppo by the caravans, 6 from Cogua, 7 from Cataya, and 6 from Satalia. The caravans of Persia often bring 2000 bales of silk in a year, besides drugs and cloths. The other commodities brought here, are thread made of goats hair, cotton yarn, cotton in bags, nut galls, wax, scammony, rhubarb, opium, aloes, tutty, galbanum, gum-arabic, gum-tragacanth, gum-ammoniac, frankincense, zedoary, and all sorts of carpets. All the trade passes through the hands of the Jews, and they seem to have better capacities for trade than other merchants. The English and Dutch factories have Protestant chapels, and taverns are as open here as in Europe. The fortifications consist in a fort, a castle, a mountain, and an old citadel. In the year 1778, it was almost totally destroyed by an earthquake and fire.