INTRODUCTION. liii 



of that part of it by which the couriers pafs from Conflan- 

 tinople into Egypt, belonging to both thefe tribes, who 

 were then at a diftance from each other, and roved in flying 

 fquadrons all round Palmyra, by way of maintaining their 

 right of pafture in places that neither of them chofe at that 

 time to occupy. Thefe, I fuppofe, are what the Englifh. 

 writers call Wild Arabs, for otherwife, though they are all 

 wild enough, 1 do not know one wilder than another. This 

 is very certain, thefe young men, compoling the flying par- 

 ties I fpeak of, are truly wild while at a diftance from their 

 camp and government; andtheftranger that falls in unawares 

 with them, and efcapes with his life, may fet himfelf down 

 as a fortunate traveller. 



Returning from Haffia I would have gone fouthward to 

 Baalbec, but it was then belieged by Emir Youfef prince of 

 the Drufes, a Pagan nation, living upon mount Libanus. 

 Upon that I returned to Tripoli, in Syria, and after fome time 

 fet out for Aleppo, travelling northward along the plain of 

 Jeune betwixt mount Lebanon and the fea. 



I visited the ancient Byblus, and bathed with pleafure 

 in the river Adonis. All here is clafiic ground. I faw feve- 

 ral confiderable ruins of Grecian architecture all very much 

 defaced. Thefe are already publifhed by Mr Drummond,. 

 and therefore I left them, being never defirous of interfer- 

 ing with the works of others. 



I passed Latikea, formerly Laodicea ad Mare, and then 

 came to Antioch, and afterwards to Aleppo. The fever and 

 ague, which I had firft caught in my cold bath at Bengazi, 

 had returned upon me with great violence, after paffing 



one. 



