Ir was past noon, when a party arriving from the eastward brought intelligence of the Annazie camp being removed farther south, and of the road for the moment being clear. It was, therefore, advised, that instant advantage should be taken of this favourable change, by setting out immediately on our journey, as these wanderers might soon again return. This being determined on, with a promptitude extremely rare among Orientals, all became a scene of bustle and preparation. The caravan destined for Diarbekr, and which, like our own, had delayed its departure from day to day, from the supposed danger of the road, now united itself to ours, in order to go with us part of the way at least, and thus increase our mutual safety. The number of animals assembled at evening in the khan was at least three hundred, chiefly horses, mules, and asses; camels being said to be unfit for the road to Diarbekr, because a branch of Mount Taurus crosses this route: the number of persons accompanying the caravan was at least equal to that of the animals. Public prayers were performed at sun-set in the inner court; a bountiful supper was again distributed among the poor, and the strangers; and we continued up, surrounded by parties of great mirth and gaiety, to await the rising of the moon before we set out on our journey to Mardin. JUNE 15.—It was past midnight when we left the khan, after which we passed southerly through the long range of suburbs without the wall and ditch of the city, and getting nearly opposite to the gate of Diarbekr,* in the eastern quarter, quitted Orfah, and bent our course easterly across the plain. It was within an hour after our setting out that we reached a small village, in which the dwellings were meanly built, though from amidst the centre of them arose the tall minaret of a mosque, seen from a long way off. The plain itself was covered with corn, some portions of which had already begun to be gathered in by the reapers, but the greater part was still standing. On our left, or to the north of us, at a distance of a mile, we had a range of bare hills, running nearly in the direction of our road, and on our right, the view lost itself in the distance, ending in the immeasurable and unbounded waste of the Southern Desert. We continued our way on a course of east-south-east, seeing many ruined villages on the right and left, and several small camps of what are called Arab-el-Belled, or Arabs belonging to the country. These are distinguished from the Bedowee, or Bedouins, by their being, in general, stationary, or at least confined to a small * In eastern cities, gates are generally named from places towards which the road leading from them looks; and from which caravans for such places consequently depart. space of wandering; following the occupation of cultivators as well as shepherds, and having fewer camels, and a greater number of other flocks and cattle; but still more than all, by their being tributary to the nearest government, of which the great Desert Tribes are wholly independent. At sun-rise, we crossed a stream flowing to the south-southwest, called the Water of Jelab, and said to lose itself in the southern sands.* We saw here a number of the crested hoopoes, a bird extremely abundant in Egypt. They are called in Arabic "Hedhed," with the appellation of Beni-Suliman, or children of Solomon; from a prevalent opinion, that in the splendid age of this Jewish monarch, these birds were among the number brought to him, with the peacocks and monkeys, from Ophir, and other distant lands. It is currently believed by the people of the country, that its crest was then a crown of gold; but that the avidity of mankind for this precious metal occasioning the birds to be often killed for their crowns, they assembled together, and represented their case to Solomon himself. This monarch, in his great wisdom, understood the languages of all animals, as well as of all people, on the face of the earth; and, hearing and pitying their case, he prayed to their Creator to ameliorate their destiny, when the crown of gold was instantly changed to a crest of feathers, of equal if not of still greater beauty. The plain over which our road lay now became waste and dreary, being no longer cultivated, although it was still covered with a fine fertile earth, and bore a long wild grass, on which the animals of the caravan fed as they went along. The town of Orfah, as seen behind us, at the foot of the hills near which it stands, still preserved * "Les environs de Roha ont quelques positions locales qu'il ne faut pas omettre. En s'eloignant de cette ville, vers Grec-levant, une plaine, que le nom d'Eden fait croire étre agréable, est traversée d'une petite rivière qui prend le nom de Giallab, d'un château situé dans les montagnes qui côtoye la route; et le nom de cette place est Calaba, dans la Notice de l'Empire, et dans Procope de Edificiis.”—D'Anville sur l'Euphrate et le Tigre. an interesting appearance. This range of hills runs nearly north and south, and ends in the last direction in the Desert. To the east of our path, at a short distance, was a similar range of hills, lying also north and south. The bare ridge on our left, lying east and west, completed three sides of a square, and the fourth side of the horizon on our right was open, presenting an even line like the sea, terminating in the sandy waste of the Great Southern Desert. In the western edge of this, we could distinguish as we passed the minaret or towers of Haran, bearing south-south-west, and distant from twelve to fifteen miles. From some of our party who had been there, I heard that, though all in ruins, it was a larger town than Orfah, and had, like it, enclosing walls and a castle; but I could hear of no remains of Roman architecture resembling those seen in the castle of Orfah.* There are at present no inhabitants of any kind at Haran, though the Arabs of the country come occasionally to lodge there during the rainy seasons, for the shelter of their flocks. Our march was continued in a state of constant apprehension and frequent alarm, from the appearance of horsemen in small parties, until nearly noon, when we halted at a spot called Tal Kaloo, for the sake of watering at a well there. We had slightly ascended from the level of Orfah, and had reached the foot of the eastern range of hills seen from thence, at a distance of about fifteen miles. The heat of the day was excessive, and a dead calm prevailed at noon; the thermometer in the shade standing at 99°. A strong north-east wind however soon sprung up; and a storm of thunder, lightning, and large hail, beat down our tent, and obliged us to cover ourselves and horses with all the cloaks, bags, and carpets we * Charran, which was at the same time called Carræ and Charræ by the Romans, and was remarkable for the defeat and death of Crassus, is placed by Golius Niger, and others, forty miles to the northward from hence, which is evidently erroneous.-See Ives's Travels, p. 354. could collect, to protect us from the heavy fall of the stones, many of which were an ounce in weight. We were repaid for this inconvenience by the delightful serenity of the evening, and the pure freshness of the air. Ascending a round artificial eminence, near the place of our encampment, on which foundations of buildings were visible, the view from thence was exceedingly extensive. The people here have a particular and characteristic name for the Desert, and for all wide spaces of land, unpeopled by towns and villages, similar to that which we use for the wide expanse of ocean, when we call it "the open sea." Such portions of unpeopled country are called "Burreah," a name derived either from "Burra," meaning the land—as " Burra el Sham,” the land of Sham; or Burra, meaning without, at a distance: thus they say, "Nuzzult al Burreah," or "We encamped without, in the open land," exactly as we should say, on ship-board, "We brought up, or lay-to, without, in the open sea." In these extensive plains, minute objects are seen at quite as great a distance as on the ocean, and the smallest eminences are discovered, (or "made," as the sea phrase is,) by degrees, just as islands and capes are at sea, first perceiving their tops, and then raising them gradually above the horizon, till their bases appear on the level of the observer. Many of these, like rocks and headlands to sailors, become, among the Desert Arabs, so many fixed marks of observation, and fresh points of departure. The bearings and distances of wells are noted and remembered from such objects; and they are seen by caravans, going slowly across the Great Desert, for many days in succession, as they approach to and recede from them. We observed from hence several of such eminences, all of which are said to have their peculiar name among the Arabs of these wastes, as well as among the leaders of caravans, so that they answer the names and positions of capes to sailors, in the direction of single ships, or fleets at sea. From several single passengers whom we met coming across these plains from the eastward, all of them poor men, venturing as messengers, or letter-carriers, having, in the execution of their |