The route from Aleppo to Damascus has been often described. On Wednesday the 8th of August entered Damascus at day-break. The approach is remarkable, being ornamented for many miles with numerous gardens, and then by a paved way, extending for a great length.
On the day after my arrival, was entertained with the entrance of the grand caravan from Mecca. The street was lined for some miles, for such is its length, with innumerable spectators, all impressed with curiosity, some with anxiety to see their friends and relations, many with reverence for the sacred procession. Some of the more opulent Hadjîs, or pilgrims, were carried in litters, (tattarawân,) but the greater number in a kind of panniers, two and two, placed on the back of camels. They did not appear much fatigued, though it was said they had suffered from the want of water.
On the Saturday following, was the entrance of the Pasha of Damascus, who is constantly the Emîr-el-Hadje, or chief of the caravan by office. First appeared three hundred dellîs, or cavalry, mounted on Arabian horses, variously armed and clothed, but on the whole forming no mean display. These were succeeded by fifteen men on dromedaries, with musquetoons, or large carbines, placed before them, and turning on a swivel in every direction. This destructive instrument of war is said to have passed from the Persians to the Syrians. Some of the great officers of the city followed, well mounted, and decently attired. Then came part of the Pasha of Tripoli’s Janizaries, well clothed and armed; that Pasha himself, with his officers, and the remainder of his guard. Next was the tattarawân belonging to the Pasha of Damascus, another body of four hundred dellîs, a company of thirty musquetooners, a hundred and fifty Albanians, in uniform, and marching two and two, like our troops. Before the latter was borne the standard of the Prophet, Senjiak Sherîfi, of green silk, with sentences of the Korân embroidered in gold, and the magnificent canopy brought from Mecca, guarded by a strong body of Muggrebîns, or western Arabs, on foot. Then passed the Pasha’s three tails, (generally of white horses,) borne by three men on horseback; twelve horses, (a Pasha of two tails has only six,) richly caparisoned, and each bearing a silver target and a sabre; six led dromedaries, in beautiful housings; numbers of the chief persons of the city followed, among whom were the Aga of the Janizaries, the governor of the castle, and the Mohassel. Last came the Pasha himself, in a habit of green cloth adorned with fur of the black fox, preceded by his two sons, the eldest about fourteen, all mounted on the most spirited steeds of Arabia, and followed by his household troops, to the number of four hundred, well armed and mounted. More than a hundred camels had preceded the rest, bearing the tents and baggage of the Pasha. The whole was conducted without any noise or tumult, to the great credit of the Damascene mob, who had been waiting several hours without their usual repast.
Damascus has been often described; but a residence of about two months may enable me to suggest some particulars worthy of notice. The walls are of a circular form, suburbs large and irregular. The situation is in an extensive plain, filled with gardens, to the length of more than three leagues, and the breadth of more than a league and a half. At no great distance to the East, rises a ridge of Anti-Libanus. The river Baradé is above the city divided into many streams, which are distributed through the gardens; so that there is a supply for all. The air is excellent, the soil exuberant in fertility. Fruits more abundant than I have ever seen, particularly the grapes and apricots, which are of excellent flavour.
Near the mountain are some Saracenic remains of a mosque and palace, with many inscriptions in Cuphic characters. These are vestiges of the destructive warfare conducted by Timûr Leng, the hero, the robber, the warrior, the scourge. The walls are antient, not very lofty, but strong. Gates nine. The city is divided into twenty-three districts, each under its distinct magistrate.
That beautiful tree, the Lombardy poplar, abounds all over the plain. It is a native of Syria. When old it becomes ragged and uncouth, as usual in other regions, a monument of fugitive beauty.
Damascus is the seat of a considerable trade; and its manufactures afford a support to a great number of Mohammedans and Christians: they consist of silk and cotton, mixed or separate, but chiefly mingled together, in the form of what they call Cottonî or Alléja[60]. Much soap is also fabricated[61], which is carried to different parts of Syria and to Egypt. Such of the European articles as are used by the Orientals, are drawn from Seidé, Beirût, and Tripoli, to and from all which places, there are regular caravans, iron, lead, tin, cochineal, broad-cloth. From Persia and the East the caravans of Bagdad convey shawls, muslins, and the rich fabrics of Surat, a part of which is consumed in the city, and a part passes on to other places in Syria and to European Turkey. To maritime commerce the Damascenes were formerly very adverse, and it is only within these few years that they could be prevailed on to send goods by sea to Constantinople.
Timûr Leng, on his conquest of Syria, about the beginning of the fourteenth century, conveyed all the celebrated manufactures of steel from Damascus into Persia. Since that period, its works in steel have been little memorable. They were formerly of the highest reputation in Europe and the East. The famous sabres appear to have been constructed, by a method now lost, of alternate layers, about two or three lines thick, of iron and steel: they never broke, though bent in the most violent manner, and yet retained the utmost power of edge; so that common iron, or even steel, would divide under their force.
So far as my researches have enabled me to ascertain the population of Damascus, I should not be inclined to compute it at less than two hundred thousand souls. That of Aleppo may be estimated at two hundred and eighty thousand.
Some modern travellers appear to me to have mistaken the nature of the gradual depopulation of the East. The villages in general are so much deserted, that, in the neighbourhood of Aleppo for instance, where within the present century stood three hundred villages, there now remain no more than ten or twelve. Yet, this depopulation of the villages swells the cities and towns, not indeed in the same proportion, but still with a rising tide. The causes seem to be, 1. In the cities the modes of gaining a livelihood are more multifarious, and small or no capital is required, whereas in agriculture it is indispensable. 2. In the cities the property is not tangible, so to speak; it is veiled from the eye of government, so as to be safe from the excessive exactions imposed on the peasants, whose property is of the most unwieldy and self-apparent description. The peasantry, both in Syria and Egypt, are not Villani, but as free as any class of men; and it happens unfortunately, that even a good governor cannot sufficiently protect them, for he must either resign, or pay the usual tributes at the Porte. Money he must have, and the modern ministerial arts, of diving into the most secret recesses of property, being there unknown, he of course taxes that which is most apparent, and the most difficult to remove.