or HALAB, the capital of a pachalic, and of all Syria, and the ordinary residence of the pacha, is situated in the vast plain which extends from the Orontes to the Euphrates, and which towards the south terminates in the desert. It is built on eight hills or eminences, on the highest of which the castle is erected, and is supposed to be the ancient Beræa. This mount is of a conic form, and seems in a great measure to be raised with the earth thrown up out of a deep broad ditch which surrounds it. The suburbs to the north-east are next in height to this, and those to the west-south-west are much lower than the parts adjacent, and than any other part of the city. The houses are large and commodious, having terraces on their tops, and generally sky-lights in form of a dome to let the light into the rooms, which from their loftiness, the gilding on the window shutters, cupboard-doors, &c. have at first entrance a very grand and agreeable effect. They are all so equal in height, that there are seldom any steps to ascend or descend in going from one house to another; while several large vaulted streets increase the facility of communication, by affording a passage to every part of the city free from the embarrassment of the open streets. They are carefully paved; have gutters and a foot-pavement on each side; and the middle of the street is laid with brick, the small end upwards, for the convenience of the horses. There is also a cleanliness observed here unknown to the other cities of Turkey, and which is not attended with the trouble of our scavengers, there being also drivers who go about the city and take up the rubbish and dust, which each inhabitant is obliged to sweep together; and though the heat of the climate renders this labour more easy, the same heat obliges them to greater cleanliness in order to preserve the salubrity of the air.

The mosques in Aleppo are numerous, and some few of them magnificent. Before each of them is an area, with a fountain in the middle, designed for ablutions before prayers; and behind some of the larger there are little gardens. There are many large khans, or caravanserais, consisting of a capacious square, on all sides of which are a number of rooms, built on a ground-floor, used occasionally for chambers, warehouses, or stables. Above stairs there is a colonnade or gallery on every side, in which are the doors of a number of small rooms, wherein the merchants, as well strangers as natives, transact most of their business.

The bazars or market-places are long covered narrow streets, on each side of which are a great number of small shops, just sufficient to hold the tradesman and his goods, the buyer being obliged to stand without. Each separate branch of business has a particular bazar, which is locked up, as well as the streets, an hour and a half after sunset: but the locks are of wood, though the doors are cased with iron. The slaughter-houses are in the suburbs, open to the fields. The tanners have a khan to work in near the river. To the southward in the suburbs they burn lime; and a little beyond that there is a village where they make ropes and catgut. On the opposite side of the river, to the westward, there is a glass-house, where they make a coarse white glass, in the winter only; for the greatest part of this manufacture is brought from a village 35 miles westward.

The situation of Aleppo, beside the advantage of a rich and fruitful soil, possesses also that of a stream of fresh water, which never becomes dry. This rivulet, which is about as large as that of the Gebeline at Paris, or the New River near London, rises in the mountains of Antab, and terminates six leagues below Aleppo, in a morass full of wild boars and pelicans. Near Aleppo, its banks, instead of the naked rocks which line them in the upper part of its course, are covered with a fertile earth, and laid out in gardens, or rather orchards, which in a hot country, and especially in Turkey, cannot but be delightful. The city is in itself one of the most agreeable in Syria, and is perhaps the cleanest and best built of any in Turkey. On whatever side it is approached, its numerous minarets and domes present an agreeable prospect to the eye, fatigued with the continued sameness of the brown and parched plains. In the centre is an artificial mountain surrounded by a dry ditch, on which is a ruinous fortress. From hence we have a fine prospect of the whole city, and to the north discover the snowy tops of the mountains of Bailan; and on the west, those which separate the Orontes from the sea; while to the south, and east, the eye can discern as far as the Euphrates. In the time of Omar, this castle stopped the progress of the Arabs for several months, and was at last taken by treachery, but at present would not be able to resist the feeblest assault. Its flight wall, low, and without a buttress, is in ruins; its little old towers are in no better condition; and it has not four cannon fit for service, not excepting a culverine nine feet long, taken from the Persians at the siege of Bailora. Three hundred and fifty Janizaries, who should Aleppo should form the garrison, are busy in their shops, and the aga scarcely finds room in it to lodge his retinue. It is remarkable that this aga is named immediately by the Porte, which, ever fulficial, divides as much as possible the different offices. Within the walls of the castle is a well, which, by means of a subterraneous communication, derives its water from a spring a league and a quarter distant. In the environs of the city, we find a number of large square stones, on the top of which is a turban of stone, which are so many tombs. There are many rising grounds round it, which, in case of a siege, would greatly facilitate the approaches of the assailants. Such, among others, is that on which the house of the Dervishes stands, and which commands the canal and the rivulet: Aleppo, therefore, cannot be esteemed a place of importance in war, though it be the key of Syria to the north; but, considered as a commercial city, it has a different appearance. It is the emporium of Armenia and Diarbekar; sends caravans to Bagdad and into Persia; and communicates with the Persian gulf and India, by Baffora, with Egypt and Mecca by Damascus, and with Europe by Scanderoon (Alexandretta) and Latakia. Commerce is there principally carried on by barter. The chief commodities are raw or spun cottons, clumsy linens fabricated in the villages, silk stuffs manufactured in the city, copper, bourres (coarse cloths) like those of Rouen, goats hair brought from Natolia, the gall nuts of the Kourdestan, the merchandise of India, such as shawls and muslins, and pif-tachio nuts of the growth of the neighbourhood. The articles supplied by Europe are the Languedoc cloths, cochineal, indigo, sugar, and some other groceries. The coffee of America, though prohibited, is introduced, and serves to mix with that of Moka. The French have at Aleppo a consul and seven counting-houses; the English and the Venetians two, and the merchants of Leghorn and Holland one. The emperor appointed a consul there in 1784, in the person of a rich Jew merchant, who shaved his beard to assume the uniform and the sword. Russia has also sent one very lately. Aleppo is not exceeded in extent by any city in Turkey, except Constantinople and Cairo, and perhaps Smyrna. The number of inhabitants has been computed at 200,000; but in these calculations certainty is impossible. However, if we observe that this city is not larger than Nantes or Marseilles, and that the houses consist only of one story, we shall perhaps not think it probable they exceed 100,000. The people of this city, both Turks and Christians, are with reason esteemed the most civilized in all Turkey; and the European merchants nowhere enjoy so much liberty, or are treated with so much respect.

The air of Aleppo is very dry and piercing, but at the same time very salubrious for all who are not troubled with asthmatic complaints. The city, however, and the environs, are subject to a singular endemic disorder, which is called the ringworm or pimple of Aleppo: it is in fact a pimple which is at first inflammatory, and at length becomes an ulcer of the size of the nail. The usual duration of this ulcer is one year; it commonly fixes on the face, and leaves a scar which disfigures almost all the inhabitants. It is alleged that every stranger who resides there three months is attacked with it; experience has taught that the best mode of treatment is to make use of no remedy. No reason is assigned for this malady: but M. Volney supposes it proceeds from the quality of the water, as it is likewise frequent in the neighbouring villages, in some parts of Diarbekar, and even in certain districts near Damascus, where the soil and the water have the same appearances. Of the Christian inhabitants the greater number are Greeks, next to them the Armenians, then the Syrians, and lastly the Maronites; each of whom have a church in the city called Judda; in which quarter, and the parts adjacent, most of them reside. The common language is the vulgar Arabic, but the Turks of condition use the Turkish. Most of the Armenians can speak the Armenian, some few Syrians understand Syriac, and many of the Jews Hebrew; but scarce one of the Greeks understand a word of Greek. The people in general are of a middle stature, and tolerably well proportioned; but they seem neither vigorous nor active. Both sexes are handsome when young; but the beard soon disfigures the men; and the women, as they come early to maturity, also fade very soon; females are generally married from 14 to 18 years of age, and many under 14. The people of rank here are polite and affable, making allowances for that superiority which the Mahometan religion inflicts its votaries to assume over all who hold a different faith. Their bread is generally of wheat flour made into thin cakes, but very ill prepared, and is generally eaten as soon as it comes out of the oven. The principal people have small loaves of a finer flour, which are well fermented and baked. Besides these, there is a variety of biscuits, most of which are sprinkled on the top with some kind of seeds. The Europeans have very good bread, baked and prepared in the French manner. All the inhabitants of both sexes smoke tobacco to great excess; even the very servants have almost constantly a pipe in their mouths. Coaches or carriages are not used here; therefore persons of quality ride on horseback in the city, with a number of servants walking before them, according to their rank: ladies of the first distinction are even compelled to walk on foot in the city, or to any place at a moderate distance; in longer journeys they are carried by mules, in a kind of couch close covered up. There are a number of public bagnios in this city, which are used by people of all ranks, except those of the highest distinction, who commonly have baths and every other convenience in their own houses. Aleppo is 70 miles east of Scanderoon, on the sea-coast, and 175 north-by-east of Damascus. F. Long, 37° 42'. N. Lat. 36° 12'.

Aleppo, The Pachalic of, one of the five governments into which Syria is divided. It comprehends the country extending from the Euphrates to the Mediterranean, between two lines, one drawn from Scanderoon to Beer, along the mountains: the other from Beles to the sea, by Mara and the bridge of Shoger. This space principally consists of two plains; that of Antioch to the west, and that of Aleppo to the east: the north and the sea-coast are occupied by considerably high mountains, known to the ancients by the names of Amanus and of Rhodus. In general, the soil of this government is fat and loamy. The lofty and vigorous plants which shoot up everywhere after the winter rains prove its fertility, but its actual fruitfulness is but little. The greatest part of the lands lie waste; Aleppo. waste; scarcely can we trace any marks of cultivation in the environs of the towns and villages. Its principal produce consists in wheat, barley, and cotton, which are found especially in the flat country. In the mountains, they rather choose to cultivate the vine, mulberry, olive, and fig trees. The sides of the hills towards the sea-coast are appropriated to tobacco, and the territory of Aleppo to pistachios. The pasturage is not to be reckoned, because that is abandoned to the wandering hordes of the Turcomans and Kurds.

In the greater part of the pachalics the pacha is, as his title imports, at once the viceroy and farmer-general of the country; but in that of Aleppo he does not possess the latter office. This the Porte has bestowed on a mehafiz or collector, who is immediately accountable for what he receives. His lease is only for a year. The present rent of his farm is 800 purses (above 40,000l.) but to this must be added the price of the babouches (Turkish slippers), or a present of three or four thousand pounds, to purchase the favour of the vizier, and men in office. For these two sums the farmer receives all the duties of the government; which are, first, the produce of import and export duties on merchandise coming from Europe, India, and Constantinople, and on that exported in exchange. Secondly, the taxes paid by the herds of cattle brought every year by the Turcomans and Kurds from Armenia and Diarbekir, to be sold in Syria. Thirdly, the fifth of the salt-works of Djeboul. And lastly, the miri, or land-tax. These united may produce about 60,000l.

The pacha, deprived of this lucrative branch of the administration, receives a fixed allowance of about 8300l. This revenue has always been inadequate to the expenses; for, besides the troops he is obliged to maintain, and the reparation of the highways and fortresses, the expenses of which he is obliged to defray, he is under the necessity of making large presents to the ministers, in order to keep his place; but the Porte adds to the account the contributions he may levy on the Kurds and Turcomans, and his extortions from the villages and individuals; nor do the pachas come short of this calculation. Abdi Pacha, who governed 13 or 14 years ago, carried off, at the end of 15 months, upwards of 160,000l. by laying under contribution every trade, even the very cleaners of tobacco-pipes; and very lately another of the same name has been obliged to fly for similar oppressions. The former was rewarded by the divan with the command of an army against the Ruffians; but if the latter has not enriched himself, he will be strangled as an extortioner. Such is the ordinary progress of affairs in Turkey!

In consequence of such wretched government, the greater part of the pachalics in the empire are impoverished and laid waste. This is the case in particular with that of Aleppo. In the ancient defters, or registers of imposts, upwards of 3200 villages were reckoned; but at present the collector can scarcely find 400. Such of our merchants as have resided there 20 years, have themselves seen the greater part of the environs of Aleppo become depopulated. The traveller meets with nothing but houses in ruins, cisterns rendered useless, and fields abandoned. Those who cultivate them have fled into the towns, where the population is absorbed, but where at least the individual conceals himself among the crowd from the rapacious hand of depotifin.