by the Turks called Scandervon; 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, properly speaking, nothing else but a village, without walls, in which the tombs are more numerous than the houses, and which entirely owes its existence to the road which it commands. This is the only road, in all Syria, where vessels anchor on a solid bottom, without their cables being liable to chafe: but in other respects it has many inconveniences. It is infested, during winter, by a peculiar wind, called by the French sailors le Raguier, which, rushing from the snowy summits of the mountains, frequently forces ships to drag their anchors several leagues: And when the snow begins to cover the mountains which surround the gulf, tempestuous winds arise which prevent vessels from entering for three or four months together. The road also to Aleppo by the plains is infested by Kurd robbers, who conceal themselves in the neighbouring rocks, and frequently attack and plunder the strongest caravans. But the worst circumstance is the extreme unwholeness of the air, occasioned here by stagnant waters and mephitic exhalations. It may be affirmed that this every year carries off one third of the crews of the vessels which remain here during the summer; nay ships frequently lose all their men in two months. The season for this epidemic disorder is principally from May to the end of September: it is an intermitting fever of the most malignant kind, and is accompanied with obstructions of the liver, which terminate in dropsy. To this baneful epidemic, Alexandrettia, from its situation, seems to be irremediably condemned: for the plain on which the town is built is so low and flat, that the rivulets, finding no declivity, can never reach the sea. When they are swelled by the winter rains, the sea, likewise swelled by tempests, hinders their discharging themselves into it: hence their waters, forced to spread themselves, form lakes in the plain. On the approach of the summer, the waters become corrupted by the heat, exhale vapours equally corrupt, and which cannot disperse, being confined by the mountains that encircle the gulf. The entrance of the bay besides lies to the west, which in those countries is the most unhealthy exposure when it corresponds with the sea. The labour necessary to remedy this would be immense, and after all insufficient: and, indeed, such an undertaking would be absolutely impossible under a government like that of the Turks. A few years ago, Mr Volney informs us, the merchants of Aleppo, disgusted with the numerous inconveniences of Alexandrettia, wished to abandon that port and carry the trade to