used for the outer garments, these never failed to produce a brilliant assemblage of colours, though the turbans were almost invariably white.

The peculiar gloom, which reigned throughout these dark brickvaulted passages during the morning, was now removed by a profusion of lamps and torches, with which every shop, and bench, and coffee-shed, was illuminated, and all was life and gaiety. It was on these nights of the Ramazan only, that the bazārs of Bagdad equalled the idea which one would form of them, on reading the descriptions of Oriental cities in Arabian tales; and dull and uninteresting as they seemed to me, on my first passing through them by day, I was amply compensated for my original disappointment, and constantly delighted by rambling through them, and mixing in their gay crowds, at night.

But the scene which pleased me more than all, was that presented at midnight, from the centre of the bridge of boats across the Tigris. The morning breeze had, by this time, so completely subsided, that not a breath was stirring, and the river flowed majestically along, its glassy surface broken only by the ripple of the boats' stems, which divided the current as it passed their line. In this resplendent mirror was seen, reflected back, another heaven of stars, almost equal in brilliance to that which spread our midnight canopy; not a cloud veiled the smallest portion of this deep blue vault, so thickly studded with myriads of burning worlds. The forked galaxy, with its whitened train of other myriads, too distant to be distinctly seen, formed a broad and lucid band across the zenith; and even the reflection of this milky way, as belting the seeming heaven below us, was most distinctly marked upon the bosom of the silent stream.

The only persons seen upon the bridge, at this late hour of the night, were some few labourers, who, exhausted with the riot of the feast, had stolen into the bows of the boats, and coiled themselves away like serpents between the timbers, to catch there, undisturbed, the short repose which was necessary to fit them for

the morrow's burthens. It is the rich alone who can devote the night throughout to revelry, and the day to uninterrupted ease: the poor are obliged, though fasting, to earn by labour their daily portion of food. Excepting here, where I came often by night during the Ramazan, and sat for an hour in silent admiration of the beautiful heaven above, and placid stream below, with not a creature near me except the weary sleepers already described, the voice of joy was heard on every side. The whole. of the river's banks were illuminated, as far as the eye could follow the Tigris in its course. The large coffee-house near the Medrässee el Mostanser, or College of the Learned, so often mentioned in Arabian story, presented one blaze of light on the eastern side. The still larger one, opposite to this, illuminated by its lamps the whole western bank; and as these edifices were both facing the separate extremities of the bridge of boats, a stream of light extended from each, completely across it, even to the centre of the stream; and on the surface itself were seen floating lighted lamps, and vessels filled with inflammable substances, to augment the general blaze.*

It was on the evening of the 19th of August, that, during our admiration of the brilliant sky of this climate, a meridian altitude of some fixed star was suggested, to confirm the accuracy of the latitude deduced from the solar observation on the 4th of the month, and Altair in Aquila falling at the most convenient time for that purpose, its altitude was taken before we quitted our tea-table on the terrace. The only instrument Mr. Rich possessed was one of Spencer, Browning, and Rust's common quadrants, and this thrown a little out of its adjustment by the late great heats. Had there been other and better instruments here, no situation could have been more favourable for astronomical observations; as we had a spacious terrace, an artificial horizon, and the atmosphere always beautifully

* Un des divertissemens que l'on prend dans cette navigation, (du Tigre,) est de mettre le feu au Nafte, qui, après être sorti de sources auprès de Mosul, et plus bas, se repand sur le surface du Tigre: il semble alors que la rivière soit enflammeé.-Otter, tome i. p. 158.

clear at night; but without sextant, chronometer, telescopes, or ephemeris, we were obliged to be content with such results as were attainable by the quadrant alone, assisted by the common Tables of Norie and Moore. This observation gave us a latitude of 33° 18′ 57′′ N. which, wanting only three seconds of 33° 19', left a mean of 33° 20' between this and the solar observation which preceded it; and considering that there was a slight imperfection in the instrument, we conceived this a sufficient coincidence to shew that the results of both were very near the truth.†

Observed Altitude of the Star Altair, when on the me

AUGUST.-My strength being now somewhat restored, and the thermometer, which had been 115° at midnight, having now fallen to that standard in the day, I benefited by my convalescence, to make a short excursion to the ruins of Ctesiphon and Seleucia, before I set out on my longer journey to the East.

It was at sun-rise on the morning of the 20th that I left the southern gate of Bagdad, on the east of the river, accompanied by the same Koord horseman of Mr. Rich, who had before gone with me to Hillah and the ruins of Babylon.

Our road lay over a level plain of fine light soil, apparently not long since watered and cultivated, but now lying waste; and our course across it was generally south-east, inclining southerly. In

our way we met many parties of Arabs, and droves of asses laden with heath and brush-wood, which is used as fuel by all classes in Bagdad; most of the men who accompanied these were strongly armed, which gave us unfavourable impressions of the state of the road.

After passing some few enclosures of garden-land and date-trees, on the eastern bank of the Tigris, which we now had on our right, we came in about an hour to an eastern bend of the river. The banks were high and on a steep slope, the stream narrow, and its current moving at the ordinary rate of about three miles per hour. A fine north-west breeze had already began to ruffle its surface, yet the water continued tolerably clear; and on it were now descending some of the circular wicker-work boats from Bagdad, driven by the mere force of the current, and steered by paddles, while two larger craft were ascending against the stream, by a large square-sail, braced sharp to the wind.

In about an hour and half from hence, continuing the same course, we reached the banks of the river Diala, flowing gently from the north-east towards the Tigris. There had been a bridge of boats here, which was very recently passable; but it was now broken up, and several of the boats, which were hauled up on the mud for repair, still lay there untouched. The stream was too deep to be fordable, and it was thought dangerous to attempt swimming the horses across, as its soft bottom of mud yielded so easily to the animals' weight, that if they once touched the bottom, it would be difficult to extricate them; we were, therefore, drawn across in an open-sterned boat, exactly like those used in traversing the Euphrates at Bir.

The Diala appeared to be about half the breadth of the Tigris, into which it discharges; its banks were steep, its waters clear and sweet, and its current moving at a slow rate, not exceeding two miles per hour. Fishes are found in this river, called, in Arabic, "Biz ;" they are each large enough to form a good load for an ass; but I know of no fish in European waters to which they can be compared. They are taken to Bagdad, and sold at a moderate