386 TRAVELS IN AFRICA, 
dred perfons perifhed. This imperfedt exercife of authority 
may be eftimated among the fymptoms of decline in the Turkifh 
empire. 
The manufadiures are in a flourifhing ftate, being carried on 
with great fpirit both by Chriftians and Mohammedans : filk 
and cotton form the chief articles. Large caravans frequently 
arrive from Bagdad and Baffora, charged with coffee, which is 
carried round to the Perfian gulf from Moccha, with the tobacco 
and cherry-tree pipes from Perfia, and muflins, fhawls, and other 
produds of India. 
Befidesthe manufadures of Aleppo, and the productions of the 
furrounding country, which are fent to Europe by fea, three or 
four caravans, laden with merchandize, proceed annually through 
Anatolia to Conftantinople. Piftachio nuts form no mean arti- 
cle of trade, being the chief produce of the adjacent territory, 
in the foil of which that tree particularly delights. Aleppo 
alfo maintains a commercial intercourfe with Damafcus, An- 
tioch, Tripoli, Ladakia, and the towns on the Eaft towards 
the Euphrates. 
The laft peftilence is fuppofed to have deftroyed fixty thou- 
fand of the inhabitants. 
The women of Aleppo are rather mafculine, of brown com- 
plexions, and remarkable for indulging in the Sapphic af- 
fedion. 
The 
