THE CITADEL OF ALEPPO. 53 



CHAPTEE V. 



ALEPPO TO DEIR-EL-ZOR. 



Aleppo— Its bazaars— Population— Importance as a distributing centre- 

 More tales of Turkish administration— Routes between Aleppo and 

 Mossul— The northern route— The southern route — The proposed 

 railway route— Internal disorder— Reason for travelling by southern 

 route— Start from Aleppo— Nature of country— A long march and a 

 scanty dinner— Meskineh— The lands of the Euphrates— Historical 

 interest of the river banks— Deir— A visit from a Turkish colonel— I 

 secure an escort— Road-making— The disadvantages of an absence of 

 road. 



Aleppo, more generally known in the country as Haleb, 

 is a large town, possessed in one quarter of many well- 

 built — for Turkey almost imposing — houses. The chief 

 feature, however, which attracts attention is the castle 

 or citadel, consisting of a steep artificial mound crowned 

 by a wall, which encloses the various buildings on the 

 summit, the whole considered by the inhabitants to be 

 impregnable. Both the walls and buildings, however, 

 are in bad preservation, and the best preserved and far 

 most massive portions now extant are the solidly built 

 fortification, which gives entrance to certain subter- 

 ranean chambers, by means of which access is obtained 

 to the summit, and the stone bridge across the moat 

 which surrounds the whole mound. The bazaars are 

 worthy of note, consisting of a labyrinth of covered-in 

 arcades which run from one into another, and cover a 



