[Tair-el-Raouf, or the Magnificent.]
rush upon their prey, and thus secure an abundant meal before
the stream can resume its previous state.1
In addition to the black fish, and those also noticed in the
Koweik, the carp, barbel, bream, dace, trout, lamprey, and the
round-tailed chub (burak),2 are found in the rivers: also the
common tortoise of three kinds, the ordinary turtle, and two
kinds of trionyx,3 one of which was first seen by Olivier. Serpents
and vipers are numerous, but in general the former are harmless.
Scorpions, black and yellow; centipedes, tarantulas,
lizards, chameleons, land crabs,4 wasps, and occasionally the
devastating locust, of three kinds, are met with in the pashalik.
The entomology of the district is particularly rich, and
presents many new forms.5
1 See a description of this bird in the Appendix, by Mr. Vincent Germain
of Aleppo.
* Cyprinus cephalus. 3 See Appendix. 4 Gecarcinus.
5 The Appendix contains a succinct notice on this subject by Dr. Heifer;
but the collection was destroyed on the way to England.
Besides the change caused by opening a route to India
round the Cape of Good Hope, there has been, from other
causes, a considerable decrease in the commerce of Aleppo.
Formerly there were in the city 40 Venetian and as many
as 18 or 20 French mercantile houses, chiefly in connexion
with Marseilles, while only two or three were English ; and
scarcely 80 years ago there were six caravans which proceeded
annually to Baghdâd : the largest consisted of nearly
12,000 camels, and the smaller from 5000 to 6000 ; so that
about 50,000 camels left Aleppo annually, besides those which
went to Damascus, Beirut, Kurdistan, and Asia Minor.
Whereas, in 1832, the number scarcely exceeded 6000; the
French establishments were reduced to one or two agency
houses, and there was but one regular British establishment.
.
Being p l a c e d between the river Euphrates on one side, and
the Mediterranean Sea on the other, with the advantage of
easy land communications to countries lying southward,
northward, and eastward, Aleppo is admirably suited for
commerce, but its inhabitants want the address necessary to
excite in their simple neighbours, the Kurds, Turkomans,
and Arabs, a taste for the conveniences and luxuries which
commerce would supply. The towns of Edlip, Antioch,
Mar’ash, Aïn-tâb, Orfâh, Diyâr Bekr, and Mârdin, though
well-situated as depots for articles of merchandise, are destitute
of proper European agents ; and it may be added that a want
of information respecting the topography of the district has
hitherto, in a great measure, prevented commercial operations
from being extended beyond the walls of the city. In 1836,
when the merchants at Aleppo proposed to pay the compliment
of meeting the steamers then engaged in surveying the
river, and Balls was named as the most convenient place, they
were* found to be ignorant even of its existence ; our visitors-
were, in consequence, merely two travellers, Captains Crawford
and Henderson of the Royal Artillery, who chanced to
be in the neighbourhood.
But, as the number of our mercantile establishments is increasing,
more extensive dealings are likely to be undertaken ;