Royal Society. 149 
^ Voyage of fome Englifh Merchants at Aleppo to Tadmor. 
Phii. Tranf. N° 218. p. 129. 
C^ULT i8th, 1578, at 5 o'clock in the morning, thefe mer- 
^ chants fet out ixom Aleppo^ with 40 fervants and Mukttier^s 
in all, and in four hours and a half, travehng fouth by eail, they 
arrived at a village called Caffcral?ite, being at the edge of the 
defart^ J/dy 19th, they rofe at one in the morning, and dire(5t- 
ed their courfe S. S. £. over the defart, towards a fountain 
called Churraicky but their guide lofing his way, and there 
being no path, it was near noon before they found it 5 here 
they pitched their tents, and refrefhed themfelves and horfes; 
the water is of a purgative quality; in their way they found 
two j4rabs with two afles, one whereof carried water and a 
little bread, the other they rode on by turns; they had one 
gun, with which they fhot gazels, the bullet being a hard 
Hone, broken round, and cafed with lead ; they had on the 
palms of their hands, elbows, knees and feet, fome gazel-fkin 
tied, that they might creep the better on the ground to ilioot, 
one of the afles walking by as a ftalking horle, and the Arab 
imitating the cry of the gazcl till he gets within /hot of him; 
thele Arabs are called Selebee. Whilll the merchants conti- 
nued at the well, fome Arabs came to them, that were making 
aflies of the ordinary fort of weeds called Chuddraife, Ruggot, 
and Cuttaffj thefe they cut and dry, and putting them into a 
pit, fet fire to them, and the afhes cake at the bottom ; thefe 
they carry to Eglib and Ti-ipoli^ to make foap of; but the 
beft fort of afhes are made of the weed Shinon^ which grows 
about 'iadmor-i Soukriy^^ibe^ and T^arecca-^ it grows like broom 
in E7tglat]d, and in fliape refembles coral, ^itly 20th, they 
rofe at 4 o'clock in the morning, and traveling two hours E. S. 
E. they arrived at Andrefie^ where they found the ruins of two 
or three churches, and of a great town lying in a l^rge plain; 
where having tarried about an hour and a half, they took 
fome fragments o^ Greek inlcriprions, which afforded no certain 
fenfe, but yet were evidently Chriftian-^ they marched again 
S. by E. and in about four hours time came to a pleafant 
aquedu(ft, called Scbeck-alal -, this aqueduct is cut thro' the 
main rock, for a great way from the mountains ; and where 
it ends, the Arabs have made a garden, which afforded me- 
lons, cucumbers, purflain, ^c. In a grotto hard by, there dwelt 
an Arab with his family; he had a dozen buffalo's, which 
they ufed both for their milk and to plow their ground, fowing 
both 
