40O TRAVELS IN AFRICA, 
At this moment the fhops in the extenfive bazars, much 
larger than thofe of Aleppo, are all opened, and furniflied with 
every fpecies of commodity, and each caravan brings a fupply 
of perfons who, fhunning oppreffion elfewhere, come here for 
temporary profit or fixed refidence. The rent of houfes, 
though flill low, is fenfibly increafmg, and the fuburbs fpread- 
ing by new buildings. 
The Pafhalik is the firfl in Afia. The prefent Pafha is Ab- 
dallah, a man of about fifty years of age, tall and perfonable, 
and of noble extract, his anceflors having been invefted with 
Pafhaliks in the lafl century. It is hardly neceffary to mention, 
that every Pafha has abfolute power of life or death, there being 
no appeal from his jurifdidiion. 
The inhabitants of Damafcus were formerly noted for their 
maltreatment of the Franks, but at prefent I found the pride 
of their ignorance fomewhat abated, and obferved no difference 
between them and other Oriental citizens. It is deeply to be 
regretted, that religion, intended to conciliate mankind, Ihould 
be the chief caufe of their ferocity againfl each other, and 
fhould, in an equal proportion, have mingled poifcns and anti- 
dotes. The Mohammedan himfelf a god, all the refl of man- 
kind dogs ! can any benefit recompenfe the pride, the fury, the 
eternal enmity, deflru£tion, and flaughter, inwoven into the 
very foul by fuch mifanthropic dogmata ? 
A flriking contrafl exifts between the inhabitants of Damaf- 
cus and thofe of Aleppo. The Aleppins are vain and feditious ; 
the 
