13. MANUFACTURES. Silk and cotton stuffs are manufactured at Bursa in Asia Minor; linen at Amasia; sword blades at Damascus; black felts at Ophium Karahissar; silk, morocco and copper utensils at Tocat.

14. INHABITANTS, MANNERS, &c. The inhabitants are various, and many of them may be ranked as nations. They are Turks, Armenians, Greeks, Jews, Arabs, Elauts, (a tribe of Turcans,) Turcomans, Koords, Yezidees and others. The dress of the Turks is principally the same as in European Turkey, and that of the other nations composing the Asiatic dominions, has a general resemblance to it. The languages are Turkish, Arabic, Chaldee, Koordish, Lingua Franca, and a motley mixture of all these.

The character of the population is various and discordant. The Turk is everywhere the same haughty, indolent being. The Armenian is timid, obsequious, frugal, industrious and avaricious. He traverses all countries for gain, and generally the factors of the Turks, the merchants and mechanics, are Armenians. They are a very ancient people; pliant to circumstances, bending to authority, and living by peaceful pursuits. They have an animated physiognomy and good features. They live in large families, closely united. The Jews do not essentially differ from them. The Greek is, as elsewhere subtle, cheerful, and adroit. The Turcomans are boisterous, ignorant, brave, and hospitable. They will shed their blood in defence of those with whom they have eaten. The Koords are robbers and thieves, and one tribe is often at war with another. The Turcomans are rude and hospitable. The Druses are independent, austere, and faithful, but jealous and revengeful in the extreme. They know not how to forgive, and revenge is considered as a virtue. They are hospitable, to the dividing their last loaf with a stranger. The amusements of the various people that inhabit Asiatic Turkey, are not of an intellectual or refined character. Tricks of jugglers, exhibitions of dancing females, feats of horsemanship, and recitals of stories are common. The following cut represents an oriental conversazione. The arts are in a very low state, and the

chief end of education seems to be to read the Koran. The prevailing religion is the Mohammedan. There are a great many Christians, chiefly of the Armenian, or of the Greek church. The Chaldean Christians have been able to maintain a political ascendency, and Mohammedanism is barely tolerated

among them. They do not permit the muezzin to make his call for prayers. In Syria are a number of catholics and several monasteries. The efforts of the missionary societies are in Turkey necessarily very limited. Some thonsand translations of the New Testament, and the Shorter Catechism of Luther have been distributed in Constantinople, Smyrna and Aleppo. The Arme nians have more fasts than any other Christian sect. The Druses believe in one God, who was manifested in the flesh in the person of Hakem, Caliph of Egypt, A. D. 1030. The Maronites are a Christian sect, on good terms with the Catholics. They are numerous on a branch of the Lebanon Mountains. Polygamy is not uncommon among the Mohammedans, though it is chiefly con fined to the rich. The government is that of the Pachas, appointed by the Porte, and the laws are the same as in European Turkey, principally the precepts of the Koran. Justice however is seldom obtained by an appeal to them, and there is little security for property or life.

The manner of building resembles that of European Turkey. The houses are square, with courts, and flat roofs, and the cities have many domes and minarets. Fountains are found in the cities, generally. Many of the wandering pastoral tribes live in tents. The food is generally plain and simple, and the general population temperate and abstémious. Coffee is almost a necessary of life, and many tribes live almost entirely from the produce of flocks and herds. The Koords eat a bread made of acorns. The most common spirituous liquor is arrack, and it is often drunk to intoxication. Few people are addicted to opium. The diseases are of almost every kind that are common in Europe. In sandy districts ophthalmia is common, and the plague commits ravages in cities. The science of medicine is in a lów state, and any person who assumes the character of a Frank physician may find much employment. The travelling is generally on horseback for there are few vehicles or regular roads. There are a few miserable post horses furnished by contract, or rather by tribute, on the routes of the chief cities, even as far as from Constantinople to Bagdad, but these are not to be had by travellers, unless they put themselves under the care of a Tartar courier who goes with despatches. For a certain sum the courier takes them and furnishes horses and provisions, while the travellers find only their own saddles, bridles, portmanteaus, whips, and leathern bottles for water. This is the most expeditious mode of travelling. The caravans are safer, but when in motion they go but three miles an hour, and they are subject to many delays.

15. ANTIQUITIES. The site of ancient Troy is the foundation of many a learned controversy. One of the chief attractions of the Troad is the sepulchre of Ajax,' a tumulus surmounted by a shrine. The ruins of several temples cover a considerable space, with fragments of granite and marble. The tomb of Ilus is a high conical tumulus, of a remarkable size. Other immense tumuli bear somewhat doubtfully the names of Hector, Priam, and Paris. Near Alexandria Troas, which is full of antiquities, is a granite column nearly 38 feet long, and 5 feet 3 inches in diameter. The enormous masses of the aqueduct of Herodes Atticus, the walls of the city, and the fragments of many buildings remain. Asia Minor has numberless ruins of architectural magnificence. They consist in temples, theatres, arches, walls, tombs, and cities. But our limits will not permit us to describe them. Palmyra, or Tadmor in the desert, presents an imposing spectacle in rising from the sands of the desert. It looks like a forest of columns. The great avenue of pillars leading to the temple of the Sun, and terminated by a grand arch is 1200 yards in length. The temple itself is a magnificent object. The city is a vast collection of ruins, all of white marble, and it is hard to imagine anything more striking than the general view. When examined in detail, the ruins lose much of their interest. None of the columns exceed 40 feet in height, or 4 feet in diameter, and they are composed of 7 or 8

pieces of stone; while at Baalbec, the columns are of 3 pieces only, about 60 feet high, and support a beautiful epistylium of 20 feet more. There is at Palmyra great sameness in the architecture, and the sculptures and ornaments are coarse and insignificant. The ruins are nearly a mile and a half in length.

At Baalbec 'the grand ruin,' to which the place owes its celebrity, is near the foot of the Anti Libanus. The portico has marble pillars of the Corinthian order, more than 6 feet in diameter, and 45 feet in height, composed of three stones each. They are 9 feet apart, and the same from the walls of the temple. There are 14 of these pillars on each side of the temple, and 8 at the end. A stately architrave richly carved, runs all round the capitals. There are many exquisitely sculptured figures; all the ornaments are in the best taste. There are other temples and fragments of the walls which inclose them. The stones are of almost incredible size. Three of the larger ones exceed 67 feet in height. They are 9 feet deep, and 14 in breadth. The mass of stones in the walls are enormous, and some 60 feet long, and 12 broad and deep, are raised in the wall 20 feet from the ground. A whole wall 400 feet on a side, was constructed of these blocks, from 30 to 60 feet long. In the pyramids of Egypt, there are 1 or 2 stones 18 feet long. There are other temples, and various ruins at Baalbec.

At Nazareth is a church wrought out of a cave, in the form of a cross, and

shown to travellers as the spot where the Blessed Virgin received the message of the Angel, as related in the first chapter of St Luke. The original church was built by the Empress Helena, mother of Constantine. Some of the remains of this edifice may be observed in the forms of subverted columns, which, with the fragments of their capitals and bases, lie near the modern building. The present church and convent are of recent structure. In the same town is shown the synagogue in which our Saviour read the Scripture to the Jews. Two miles from Nazareth is the Mount of Precipitation, down which the Nazarenes attempted to cast him headlong.

The remains of the ancient cities of Babylon and Nineveh are extensive, but indistinct. About 12 miles from Bagdad is a heap of brick work, 126 feet high, and of the diameter of 100 feet. It is called Nimrod's Palace. This tower rises on a wide heap of rubbish. The principal ruins of Babylon, are immense mounds of brick, which seem undiminished, though they have served for centuries as quarries of a neighboring city of 12,000 people. One of the first mounds approached, was formerly supposed to be the Temple of Belus. It is 2200 feet in circumference, and 141 in height. Another mound is held to be the remains of one of the palaces, with the ruins of hanging gardens

which were 80 feet high, and contained 3 acres and a half. They were supported by masonry. Among all the ruins, are found fragments of pottery,

alabaster, &c. What is called the Tower of Babel, and Temple of Belus, or the Birs Nimrood is near the Euphrates. Its appearance is that of the fallen

and decayed pyramid, with the remains of a tower on the top. The tower is 50 feet in height, and the rubbish whereon it stands 200. This is the most conspicuous of all the mounds of Babylon. It seem to have rose in distinct stages or platforms, of which the remains are visible; and the apparent tower which now surmounts it, is but a remaining part of one of these platforms. It formed the fourth stage, and there were doubtless several other stages above it. In Palestine, which from its having been the place of so many wonderful and sacred events, we call the Holy Land, few vestiges remain of the ancient edifices. A barbarous and bigoted people have destroyed them. There is even much doubt as to many of the places described in the Scriptures, at Jerusalem. On this subject however, it is so pleasing to be deceived, that credulity rises somewhat higher than probability, and the pilgrim feels a wil

lingness to believe the descriptions given him by the resident Christians. Many spots, however, may be indicated with sufficient certainty. In the fourth century, when they were known by tradition, the Empress Helena erected, over numbers of their temples, altars, and oratories. The mosque of Omar, occupies the place of Solomon's temple. A church is built near the place of the Holy Sepulchre, for the possession of which, Europe was arrayed in arms for 300 years. The pilgrims approach the consecrated spot upon their knees. On Calvary a piety of more zeal than knowledge, pretends to show the hole made in the ground for the cross. It is covered with marble, but perforated, so that the spot may be touched. The memorable cleft in the rock made at the crucifixion, is still shown. This also is covered with marble. Maundrel describes the cleft as a span wide at the surface, and two spans deep, after which it closes, but opens below, and runs down to an unknown depth. On the east of Mount Zion, is the Pool of Siloam. It is under an arched vault of masonry. In the valley of Jehosaphat are edifices, called the tombs of Zachariah, of Abraham, and of Jehosaphat. The Pool of Bethesda remains with its original facing of large stones. At Bethlehem, a convent built by Helena, marks the spot of the Redeemer's birth. The edifice has been so often repaired, that it contains probably few of the original materials. None of the consecrated places are pointed out with so much certainty as the spot of the Nativity, and of this spot, which is worn by the feet of pilgrims, there is no ground for scepticism.

1. BOUNDARIES AND EXTENT. Arabia is bounded north by the pachalics of Bagdad and Damascus in Asiatic Turkey, east by the Persian gulf, south by the Indian Ocean, and west by the Red Sea. It extends from 12° to 34

N. lat. and from 33° to 59 E. lon. The area, according to Arrowsmith's chart, is 1,030,000 square miles.

2. DIVISIONS. Arabia was divided by the ancients into three parts; Arabia Feliz, or Happy Arabia, comprising the southwestern part of the country, bordering on the Indian Ocean, and on the southern part of the Red Sea; Arabia Petræa, lying on the Red Sea north of Arabia Felix; and Arabia Deserta, much the largest division, embracing all the eastern and northern part of the country. These names are still in common use among Europeans; the natives, however, divide the country into five parts, as follows, 1. Yemen. 2. Hedsjas. 3. Oman. 4. Lachsa. 5. Nedsjed. The first of these seems to correspond with Arabia Felix; the second with Arabia Petroa, and the three last with Arabia Deserta.

3. MOUNTAINS, DESERTS, &c. Arabia is an arid desert, interspersed with a few fertile spots, which appear like islands in a desolate ocean. Stony mountains and sandy plains form the prominent features in the surface of this vast peninsula. To the north it shoots out into a very extensive desert, lying between Syria and the countries on the Euphrates. The whole coast of Arabia, from Suez to the head of the Persian gulf, is formed of a plain called the Tehama, which presents a picture of the most complete desolation. The interior is diversified by extensive ranges of mountains, but there is no river of any consequence in all Arabia, almost every stream either losing itself in the sandy plains or expanding into moors and fens.

4. CLIMATE. In the mountainous parts the climate is temperate, but in the plains intolerable heat prevails. A hot and pestiferous wind, called the Simoom, frequently blows over the desert and instantly suffocates the unwary