of ufeful and agreeable productions, appropriated to different fituations. Palestine abounds in fefamum, from which oil is procured, and doura * as good as that of Egypt †. Maize thrives in the light foil of Balbek, and even rice is cultivated, with fuccefs, on the borders of the marhy country of Havula. They have lately begun to plant fugar-canes in the gardens of Saide and of Bairout, and they find them equal thofe of the Delta. Indigo grows without cultivating, on the banks of the Jordan, in the country of Bifan, and only requires care to make it of an excellent quality. The hill-fides of Latakia produce tobacco, which is the principal article of its commerce with Damietta and Cairo. This is now cultivated throughout all the mountains. As for trees, the olive-tree of Provence grows at Antioch, and at Ramla, to the height of the beech. The white mulberry-tree conftitutes the wealth of the whole country of the Druzes, by the beautiful filks which are produced on it, while the vine, fupported on poles, or winding round the oaks, fupplies grapes which afford red and white wines that might rival thofe of Bourdeaux. Before the ravages occafioned by the late troubles, there were, in the gardens of Yaffa, two plants of the Indian cottontree, which grew rapidly, nor has this town loft its lemons, its enormous citrons, or its water-melons, which are preferable even to those of Broulos . Gaza produces dates like Mecca, and pomegranates like Algiers; Tripoli affords oranges equal to thofe of Malta; Bairout figs like thofe of Marseilles, and bananas not inferior to those of St, Domingo; Aleppo enjoys the exclufive advantage of producing piftachios; and Damafcus juftly boafts of poffeffing all the fruits known in our provinces. Its ftony foil fuits equally the apples of Normandy, the plumbs of Touraine, and the peaches of Paris. Twenty forts of apricots are reckoned there, the ftone of one of which contains a kernel highly valued through all Turkey. In fhort, the cochineal plant, which grows on all that coaft, contains, perhaps, that precious infect in as high perfection as it is found in Mexico and St. Domingo §; and if we confider that the mountains of the Yemen, which produce fuch excellent coffee, are only a continuation of thofe of Syria, and that their foil and *A fort of pulfe, fomething like lentils, which grows in clusters, on a stalk six or feven feet high. It is the bolcus arundinaceus of Linnæus. I never faw any buck-wheat in Syria, and oats are very rare. Rye and ftraw are given to the horses. I have feen fome which weighed eighteen pounds. Broulos, on the coaft of Egypt, produces better water-mellons than are found in the rest of the Delta, where the fruits in general are too watery. § It was long imagined that the infect of the cochineal was peculiar to Mexico; and the Spaniards, to fecure the exclufive poffeffion of it, have prohibited the exportation of the living cochineal, under pain of death; but M. Thierri, who fuceeeded in bringing it away, in 1771, and carried it to Saint Domingo, found the popals of that ifland contained it before his arrival. It feems as if nature scarcely Ever feparated infects from the plants appropriated to them. 9 climate climate are almost the fame *, we fhall be induced to believe that Judea, especially, might eafily cultivate this valuable production of Arabia. With thefe numerous advantages of climate and of foil, it is not aftonishing that Syria fhould always have been efteemed a moft delicious country, and that the Greeks and Romans ranked it among the most beautiful of their provinces, and even thought it not inferior to Egypt. In more modern times, alfo, a Pacha, who was ac.quainted with both thefe provinces, being asked to which he gave the preference, replied, "Egypt, with out doubt, is a moft beautiful farm, but Syria is a charming country-house +." Qualities of the Air. I must not forget to speak of the qualities of the air and waters Thefe elements prefent in Syria very remarkable phænomena. On the mountains, and in all the elevated plain which stretches to the caftward, the air is light, pure, and dry; while on the coaft, and especially from Alexandretta to Yafa, it is moist and heavy; thus Syria is divided lengthways into two different districts, feparated by the chain of mountains which also cause their diversity; for thefe preventing, by their height, the free paffage of the wefterly winds, force the vapours which they bring from the fea to collect in the valleys; and as air is light only in proportion to its purity, thefe are unable to rise above the fummits of this rampart. The confequence is, that the air of the defert and the mountains, though fufficiently wholefome *The fituation of the country of Yemen and Tahama is very fimilar to that of Syria, See M. Niebuhr Voyage en Arabie. To complete the Natural History of Syria, it is proper to add that it produces all our domeftic animals, and, befides them, the buffalo and the camel, whose utility is fo well known. We alfo find gazelles (antelopes) in the plains, which fupply the place of our roebucks; in the mountains are numbers of wild-boars, not fo large nor fo fierce as ours. The ftag and the deer are unknown there; the wolf and the real fox are very rare; but there is a prodigious quantity of the middle fpecies, named Shacal (jackall) which in Syria is called wauwee, in imitation of its howl; and in Egypt dib, or wolf. Thefe jackalls go in droves, and frequent the environs of the towns, where they feed on what carrion they can £nd. They never attack any body, but are always ready to fave themselves by flight. Every evening they feem to give each other the watch-word, to begin howling, and their cries, which are very doleful, fometimes last a quarter of an hour. In unfrequented places there are alfo hyenas, in Arabic named daba, and ounces, improperly called tygers (in Arabic nema). Lebanon, the country of the Druzes, Nablous, Mount Carmel, and the environs of Alexandretta, are their principal haunts. But, in return, the country is exempt from lions and bears. Water fowl are very plentiful; land game is not fo abundant, except in particular diftricts. The hare and the large red partridge are the most common; rabbits, if there are any, are extremely fcarce. The francolin, or attagen, is more numerous at Tripoli, and in the neighbourhood of Yafa. Nor ought we to omit obferving that a fpecies of the colibri (or humming-bird) ftill exifts in the territory of Saide. M. J. B. Adanfon, formerly interpreter in that city, who cultivates natural his. tory with equal tafte and fuccefs, met with one, which he made a prefent of to his brother the Academician. This and the pelican are the only remarkable birds in Syria, F 4 for for fuch as are in no danger of pulmonary complaints, is hurtful to those who are, and it is neceflary to fend fuch from Aleppo to Latakia or Saide. This good property of the air on the coaft is, however, outweighed by more ferious bad ones, and it may in general be pronounced unhealthy, as it caufes intermittent and putrid fevers, and thofe defluxions of the eyes, of which I have spoken in treating of Egypt. The evening dews, and fleeping on the terraces, are found much lefs hurtful in the mountainous and interior parts of the country, as the diftance from the fea is greater, which confirms what I have already obferved upon that fubject. Qualities of the Waters. The waters of this country have alfo a remarkable difference. In the mountains, that of the springs is light, and of a very good quality; but in the plain, whether to the eaft or weft, if it has no natural or artificial communication with the fprings, we find nothing but brackifh water, which becomes ftill more fo the nearer we approach the defert, where there is not a drop of any other. This inconvenience has rendered rain fo precious to the inhabitants of the frontiers, that they have in all ages taken care to collet it in wells and caverns carefully clofed: hence, among all ruins, cifterns are the first things we difcover. The face of the heavens, in Syria, particularly on the coaft, and in the defert, is in general more conftant and regular than in our climates; rarely is the fun obfcured for two fucceffive days. In the courfe of a whole fummer we fee few clouds, and ftill lefs rain; which only begins about the end of October, and then is neither long nor plentiful. The husbandmen wish for it to fow what they call their winter crop, that is, their wheat and barley. In December and January, the rain becomes more frequent and heavier, and fnow often falls in the higher country. It fometimes rains also in March and April; and the husbandman avails himself of it to fow his fummer crop of felamum, doura, tobacco, cotton, beans, and watermelons. The remainder of the year is uniform, and drought is more frequently complained of than too much wet. Of the Winds. The winds in Syria, as in Egypt, are in fome degree periodical, and governed by the feafons. About The feed-time of the winter crop, called Shetawia, takes place, throughout Syria, only at the time of the autumnal rains, or toward the end of October. The time of reaping this crop varies according to the difference of fituation. In Paleftine, and in the Hauran, they reap their wheat and barley from the end of April through the whole month of May. But as we advance toward the north, or ascend the mountains, the harvelt does not begin till June and July. The feed-time of the fummer crop, or Saifia, begins with the fpring rains, that is, in March and April; and their harveft is in the months of September and October. The time of vintage, in the mountains, is about the end of September; the filkworms hatch there in April and May, and begin to spin in July. the autumnal equinox, the northweft winds begin to blow more frequently and stronger. It renders the air dry, clear, and sharp; and it is remarkable that, on the feacoaft, it causes the head-ach, like the north-aft wind in Egypt; and this more in the northern than in the southern parts, but never in the mountains. We may further remark, that it ufually blows three days fucceffively, like the fouth and fouth-eaft at the other equinox. It continues to prevail till November, that is, about fifty days, and its variations are generally toward the east. These winds are followed by the north-west, the weft, and fouthweft, which prevail from November to February. The two latter are, to use the expreffion of the Arabs, the fathers of the rains. In March arife the pernicious winds from the fouthern quarter, with the fame circumstances as in Egypt; but they become feebler as we advance toward the north, and are much more fupportable in the mountains than in the flat country. Their duration, at each return, is ufually of four and twenty hours, or three days. The easterly winds, which follow, continue till June, when a north wind fucceeds, with which veffels may go and return along all the coaft. At the fame feafon too, the wind varies through all the points, every day, paffing with the fun from the east to the fouth, and from the fouth to the weft, to return by the north, and recommence the fame circuit. At this time alfo a local wind, called the land breeze, prevails along the coaft, during the night; it fprings up after fun-fet, lafts till fun-rifing, and reaches only two or three leagues out at fea. The causes of all these phænomena are problems well deferving the attention of natural philofophers. No country is better adapted to obfervations of this kind than Syria. It feems as if nature had there prepared whatever is neceffary to the ftudy of her operations. We, in our foggy climates, in the depth of vaft continents, are unable to pursue the great changes which happen in the atmosphere: the confined horizon which bounds our view, circumfcribes alfo our ideas. The field of our obfervation is very limited; and a thoufand circumftances combine to vary the effects of natural causes. There, on the contrary, an immenfe fcene opens before us, and the great agents of nature are collected in a space which renders it easy to watch their va rious operations. To the west is the vast liquid plain of the Mediterranean; to the east the plain of the defert, no less vaft, but abfolutely dry; in the midst of these two level furfaces, rife the mountains, whofe fummits are fo many obfervatories, from whence the fight may difcern full thirty leagues. Four obfervers might command the whole extent of Syria; and from the tops of Cafius, Lebanon, and Tabor, let nothing efcape them within that boundless horizon. They might obferve how the region of the fea, at firft unclouded, veils itfelf with vapours; in what manner thefe vapours form into groupes, and feparate, and by a conftant mechanism, afcend and rife above the mountains; while, on the other hand, the defert, invariably clear, never produces clouds, and has only thofe it has received from the fea. They might reply to the question of M. Michaelis, M. Michaelis *, "Whether the defert produces dews?" that the defert, containing no water, except in winter, after the rains, can only furnish vapours at that period. On viewing the valley of Balbek, burnt up with heat, whilft the head of Lebanon is hoary with ice and fnow, they would be fenfible of the truth of an axiom, which ought no longer to be disputed, that the heat is greater in proportion as we approach the furface of the earth, and diminifbes as we remove from it; fo that it feems to proceed only from the action of the rays of the fun upon the earth. In short, they might fuccefsfully attempt the folution of the greatest part of meteorological problems. brought from the Soobah of Khandaifle; it is fold for ten or twelve feer for a rupee, and wheat-flour, alfo, bears the fame price. Grain is in general very dear, and there is but little trade in other commodities. Silk is brought hither from Bengal. Of linen manufactures there is abundance; but they are not to be compared with those of Bengal. Pearls are here a great article of merchandize; they are brought from Mocho and Judda. The fruits of the country are grapes, pomegranates, water-melons, mangoes, and pears. Of manufactures, here are only fome of white cloth, chintz, Burhaunpoor turbants, &c. but Europe goods, fuch as broad cloaths, &c. and filk, opium, and Bengal cloths, are imported hither from Bombay, and difperfed on all fides as far as Dehly. Excellent horfes || are to be had here in great abundance, but the market price is high. In every province, and in every place dependent on the Marrattas, there are tables and herds § of horfes ; and in * See the questions propofed by M. Michaelis to the travellers for the king of Denmark. Thefe are different kinds of pulfe. The Kokun rice is like that commonly used in Bengal, and is indeed generally fold at 12 or 13 feer for a rupee; but the Khandaifle rice, called in Hindoftan pattay chauvel, which is the only fpecies brought from that province, is generally ufed by the higher ranks of people, and is feldom at a lower price than 6 or 7 feer per rupee. It is a long and finall gramed rice, like that used for pillows by Muflulmen of high rank on the Coromandel coaft. The horfes moft esteemed by the Marrattas are those bred on the banks of the river Bheema, which runs into the Krishtna, about thirty cofs wet of Bidder, in the province of Bhaulky. They are of a middling fize and ftrong, but are, at the fame time, a very handfome breed, generally of a dark bay with black legs, and are called, from the place which produces them, Bheemertedy horfes. Some of them bear a price as high as 5000 rupees upon the market. Marcs are commonly the deareft. § Thefe herds are called, in the Marratta language, Jhundy, and are compofed of the horses of feveral individuals, who fend them to feed on the open plains as long |