itute. The house in which Mr. Ford lives was plundered of jewels and
furniture to the amount of 400,000 piastres ($20,000). The robbers, it is
said, were amazed at the amount of spoil they found. The Government made
some feeble efforts to recover it, but the greater part was already sold
and scattered through a thousand hands, and the unfortunate Christians
have only received about seven per cent. of their loss.

The burnt quarter has since been rebuilt, and I noticed several Christians
occupying shops in various parts of it. But many families, who fled at the
time, still remain in various parts of Syria, afraid to return to their
homes. The Aneyzehs and other Desert tribes have latterly become more
daring than ever. Even in the immediate neighborhood of the city, the
inhabitants are so fearful of them that all the grain is brought up to
the very walls to be threshed. The burying-grounds on both sides are now
turned into threshing-floors, and all day long the Turkish peasants drive
their heavy sleds around among the tomb-stones.

On the second day after our arrival, we paid a visit to Osman Pasha,
Governor of the City and Province of Aleppo. We went in state, accompanied
by the Consul, with two janissaries in front, bearing silver maces, and a
dragoman behind. The _serai_, or palace, is a large, plain wooden
building, and a group of soldiers about the door, with a shabby carriage
in the court, were the only tokens of its character. We were ushered at
once into the presence of the Pasha, who is a man of about seventy years,
with a good-humored, though shrewd face. He was quite cordial in his
manners, complimenting us on our Turkish costume, and vaunting his skill
in physiognomy, which at once revealed to him that we belonged to the
highest class of American nobility. In fact, in the firman which he has
since sent us, we are mentioned as "nobles." He invited us to pass a day
or two with him, saying that he should derive much benefit from our
superior knowledge. We replied that such an intercourse could only benefit
ourselves, as his greater experience, and the distinguished wisdom which
had made his name long since familiar to our ears, precluded the hope of
our being of any service to him. After half an hour's stay, during which
we were regaled with jewelled pipes, exquisite Mocha coffee, and sherbet
breathing of the gardens of Guelistan, we took our leave.

The Pasha sent an officer to show us the citadel. We passed aro