on. The people were
in great dread of the Aneyzeh Arabs, who come in from the Desert to
destroy their harvests and carry off their cattle. They wanted us to take
a guard, but after our experience on the Anti-Lebanon, we felt safer
without one.

Yesterday we travelled for seven hours over a wide, rolling country, now
waste and barren, but formerly covered with wealth and supporting an
abundant population, evidences of which are found in the buildings
everywhere scattered over the hills. On and on we toiled in the heat, over
this inhospitable wilderness, and though we knew Aleppo must be very near,
yet we could see neither sign of cultivation nor inhabitants. Finally,
about three o'clock, the top of a line of shattered wall and the points of
some minarets issued out of the earth, several miles in front of us, and
on climbing a glaring chalky ridge, the renowned city burst at once upon
our view. It filled a wide hollow or basin among the white hills, against
which its whiter houses and domes glimmered for miles, in the dead, dreary
heat of the afternoon, scarcely relieved by the narrow belt of gardens on
the nearer side, or the orchards of pistachio trees beyond. In the centre
of the city rose a steep, abrupt mound, crowned with the remains of the
ancient citadel, and shining minarets shot up, singly or in clusters,
around its base. The prevailing hue of the landscape was a whitish-gray,
and the long, stately city and long, monotonous hills, gleamed with equal
brilliancy under a sky of cloudless and intense blue. This singular
monotony of coloring gave a wonderful effect to the view, which is one of
the most remarkable in all the Orient.

Chapter XV.

Life in Aleppo.

Our Entry into Aleppo--We are conducted to a House--Our Unexpected
Welcome--The Mystery Explained--Aleppo--Its Name--Its Situation--The
Trade of Aleppo--The Christians--The Revolt of 1850--Present Appearance
of the City--Visit to Osman Pasha--The Citadel--View from the
Battlements--Society in Aleppo--Etiquette and Costume--Jewish Marriage
Festivities--A Christian Marriage Procession--Ride around the
Town--Nightingales--The Aleppo Button--A Hospital for Cats--Ferhat
Pasha.

Aleppo, _Tuesday, June_ 8, 1852.

Our entry into Aleppo was a fitting preliminary to our experiences during
the five days we have spent here. After passing a blackamoor, who acted as
an advanced guard of the Custom House, at a ragged tent outside of the
cit