a city of Asiatic Turkey, and capital of the pashalic of Diarbekir, situated on a mass of basaltic rock, which rises in an eminence on the western bank of the Tigris. N. Lat. 37° 55', E. Long. 39° 52'. It is about three miles in circumference, of a nearly circular form, and is encompassed by a lofty thick wall of black stone. This wall, which is supposed to be a work of the Romans, is fortified by numerous round and square towers at irregular intervals. The whole is now in a ruinous condition. The town is also environed by a ditch, and has four gates leading to Mardin, to Asia Minor or Rumelia, to the mountains of Armenia and Kurdistan, and to the river. The citadel, standing about midway between the two last-mentioned gates, is thus in the north-east angle of the town, and commands both the valley of the Tigris below, and the town. It is surrounded by a wall, and is divided into many courts. It contains also the palace of the pasha, which is a commodious rather than a splendid building. In one of the stables are the remains of an old Christian building. The citadel is now almost completely in ruins. There is a fine view of the town from this height. The houses are built of black basalt in the lower stories, and of dark-coloured brick in the upper ones. This, with a succession of flat terraces, gives a sameness and gloominess of aspect to the town, which, however, is somewhat relieved by the view of the mosques, towers, and little garden-plots in different parts. Of the mosques seen from the citadel, there are fifteen with minarets, nine having circular shafts and galleries in the Mohammedan style, and the remaining six with square towers, after the manner of Christian churches. There are five other mosques with domes or cupolas only, and several smaller ones, making altogether twenty-five Mohammedan places of worship. Among the minarets of the mosques, some were observed by Mr Buckingham to be highly sculptured; and in several of the square towers were intermixed layers of red burnt brick, mixed with masonry of stone, after the manner of the Roman towers in the walls of Antioch. Amidst the ruins of the castle some fine arches of highly burnt bricks were also observed, which, from their form, as well as material, looked more like Roman than Saracenic work. The bazaars and baths contain brickwork of a similar kind, which Mr Buckingham thinks is decidedly Mohammedan. Broken columns of black marble are seen scattered in different quarters of the town; and among these are several Ionic capitals of Greek origin. Of the Christian churches, the Armenians have two, one of them large and richly decorated, and the other smaller, but more tastefully