Towards night we descended from the hills upon the Plain of Keftin, which stretches south-westward from Aleppo, till the mountain-streams which fertilize it are dried up, when it is merged into the Syrian Desert.  Its northern edge, along which we travelled, is covered with fields of wheat, cotton, and castor-beans.  We stopped all night at a village called Taireb, planted at the foot of a tumulus, older than tradition.  The people were in great dread of the Aneyzeh Arabs, who come in from the Desert to destroy their harvests and carry off their cattle.  They wanted us to take a guard, but after our experience on the Anti-Lebanon, we felt safer without one.

Yesterday we travelled for seven hours over a wide, rolling country, now waste and barren, but formerly covered with wealth and supporting an abundant population, evidences of which are found in the buildings everywhere scattered over the hills.  On and on we toiled in the heat, over this inhospitable wilderness, and though we knew Aleppo must be very near, yet we could see neither sign of cultivation nor inhabitants.  Finally, about three o’clock, the top of a line of shattered wall and the points of some minarets issued out of the earth, several miles in front of us, and on climbing a glaring chalky ridge, the renowned city burst at once upon our view.  It filled a wide hollow or basin among the white hills, against which its whiter houses and domes glimmered for miles, in the dead, dreary heat of the afternoon, scarcely relieved by the narrow belt of gardens on the nearer side, or the orchards of pistachio trees beyond.  In the centre of the city rose a steep, abrupt mound, crowned with the remains of the ancient citadel, and shining minarets shot up, singly or in clusters, around its base.  The prevailing hue of the landscape was a whitish-gray, and the long, stately city and long, monotonous hills, gleamed with equal brilliancy under a sky of cloudless and intense blue.  This singular monotony of coloring gave a wonderful effect to the view, which is one of the most remarkable in all the Orient.

Chapter XV.

Life in Aleppo.

Our Entry into Aleppo—­We are conducted to a House—­Our Unexpected Welcome—­The Mystery Explained—­Aleppo—­Its Name—­Its Situation—­The Trade of Aleppo—­The Christians—­The Revolt of 1850—­Present Appearance of the City—­Visit to Osman Pasha—­The Citadel—­View from the Battlements—­Society in Aleppo—­Etiquette and Costume—­Jewish Marriage Festivities—­A Christian Marriage Procession—­Ride around the Town—­Nightingales—­The Aleppo Button—­A Hospital for Cats—­Ferhat Pasha.

Aleppo, Tuesday, June 8, 1852.