capital of the above district, is situated in a delightful plain, on the banks and near the head of the Tigris, about 155 miles or 15 caravan days journey, north-east from Aleppo, in latitude 37° 35', east longitude 40° 50'. The bridge of 10 arches over the said river is said to have been built by the order of Alexander the Great. It is one of the richest and most mercantile cities in all Asiatic Turkey; and is well fortified, being encompassed with a double wall, the outermost of which is flanked, with 72 towers, said to have been raised in memory of our Saviour's disciples. It has several stately piazzas or market-places, well stored with all kinds of rich merchandise, and 12 magnificent mosques, said to have been formerly Christian churches. Its chief manufacture is the dressing, tanning, and dying of goat-skins, commonly called Turkey leather, of which the vein is almost incredible in many parts of Europe and Asia; besides this, there is another of dyed fine linen and cotton cloths, which are nearly in the same request. The waters of the Tigris are reckoned extraordinary for those two branches of trade, and give red leather a finer grain and colour than any other. There is a good number of large and convenient inns on both sides of the river, for the caravans that go to and from Persia; and on the road near the town is a chapel with a cupola, where Job is said to lie buried. This place is much frequented by pilgrims of all nations and religions, and a Turkish hermit has a cell close to it. The fair sex, who, in most other parts of the Turkish empire, are kept quite immured, and considered as mere slaves, enjoy here an extraordinary liberty, and are commonly seen on the public walks of the city in company with the Christian women, and live in great friendship and familiarity with them. The same is said of the men, who are polite, affable, and courteous, and very different from what they affect to be, especially the Turks, in other cities of this empire. The city is under the government of a basha, who has great power and very large dominions. He has commonly a body of 20,000 horse under him, for repelling the frequent incursions of the Curdes and Tartars, who always go on horseback to rob the caravans. The adjacent territory is very rich and beautiful; the bread, wine, and flesh excellent; the fruits exquisite, and the pigeons better and larger than any in Europe.

Mr Ives, who passed through this city in 1758, informs us, that "about two years ago it was very populous, its inhabitants amounting to 400,000 souls; but in the last year 300,000 died either by cold or famine. The Christians residing in the city before this calamity were reckoned to amount to 26,000, of whom 20,000 died. This account we had from one of the French missionaries, a capuchin, who also said, that before the famine the city contained 60,000 fighting men, but that now they are not able to muster 10,000. He assures us, that the houses and streets, nay the very mosques, were filled with dead; that every part of the city exhibited a dreadful image of death; and that the surviving inhabitants not only greedily devoured all kinds of beasts, brutes, and reptiles, but also were obliged to feed on human bodies. Yet, in the midst of this scene of horror, the grandees of the city had everything in plenty; for they had taken care to monopolize vast quantities of corn, which they sold out to the other inhabitants at most extravagant prices, and thereby acquired for themselves immense fortunes. Corn rose from two piastres a measure to 50, 60, and even 70, in the space of six months. The father added, that the very severe winter of 1756, and the locusts in 1757, were the causes of this dreadful visitation: for by reason of the former, there were but few acres of land sown with corn; and by the latter, the small crop they had was in a great measure destroyed. He spoke of the severity of that winter in terms almost incredible: that it was common to see the people people fall down dead in the streets; that he himself once on quitting a warm room, and going into the open air, fell down motionless; and that his brother, in attempting to assist him, met with the same fate."

This account of the effects of cold in the city of Diarbekir, which lies only in about 38° north, seems at first very surprising; but considering that the place stands on a rising ground in the midst of an extensive plain, and that the high Coudiflan mountains lie to the south and east of it; and the Armenian or Turcomanian to the north, whose heads are always covered with snow, and even now in July supply the city with ice; it will not appear at all improbable, that in a very severe winter, such as was that in 1756, the inhabitants of this city should so severely feel the effects of it. Besides, fuel must have been extremely scarce, especially among the poorer sort, as nothing of this kind is produced but upon the mountains, and these lie at such a distance that the price of it must thereby be greatly enhanced.

DIARRHŒA, or LOOSENESSE, in medicine, is a frequent and copious evacuation of liquid excrement by stool. See (the Index subjoined to) MEDICINE.