vPart IL Travels into the Leva t. 23 
Towns, though in feveral Towns the Chriftians have not that permifllon, 
and he is Peer to the great Lords of the Countrey. / He is obliged yearly to 
go vifit the Fortifications of Bagdad^ and he marches over the Defart with 
colours difplayed, having two fmaïl Field-pieces with him, to rsi;rifie the A- 
'rabians, amongll" whom he lives at difcrerion ; and at every To\Àm he takes 
Soldiers entertained purpofely for his guard to convey him to the next Town, 
where he takes others, and fo on till he comes to Bagdad -. Thefe Arabs can- 
not endure him, becaufehe treats them fomewhat rudely, but when he knowâ 
that they wait for him in one place, he takes up his Lodging at another ; not 
but that they could kill him if they had a mind to it, for a Kinfman of his 
told me, that one day in a little skirmifli he had with them, which was 
onely with Stones and Cudgels, though forae fhot were fired, an Arabian 
Scheick, prefented his Lance three times betwixt his Shoulders, fatisfying 
himfelf to let him fee that it was in his power to have killed him : However 
they dare not do it, for they know very well that if they did, fo many 
Soldiers would be fent out againft them, that they would be utterly rooted 
out, if they did not flie the Countrey, Thefe Arabs are notorious RobberSj 
and have not degenerated from their Anceftors the Saraz,ïns^ who without 
doubt were fo called, becaufe of the trade they followed. This brave man 
for whom the Cafucins have procured the King's commiflion to be French 
Conful at Bagdad^ protects them as far as his credit can go, nay and is very 
willing to be reckoned a French-man by the Turks; but he is fomewhat / 
haughty, and a Franck that is newly arrived mull go and vifit him, if he 
would win his favour, and make him fome fmalJ prefent of Europe^ which he 
values more for its novelty and the manner that it is made to him, than for 
its worth, and then he is wholly at his devotion ; whereas if he fhould fail 
^ go and vifit him, he might receive bad Offices from him, it being in his 
power to do them many ways. He made it very evident in my time that his ' , 
protection wat not unprofitable, not onely on my own account, in ordering 
a Jamjjarj to wait on me, when I went to lee him, in the danger I was in 
of being arrefted by û\q Caficoulesy hut alfo upon account of our Religious; 
for the Capicoules of the Chriftians quarter, who yearly at Eafter pretend to 
fomewhat from the Maronites, being unable to raife any thing Irom them be- The poverry 
caule of their Poverty, (which is lo great, that when I came to Damafcus, of the Maro^ 
their Curat had been a long while in Prilbn for three PtaftresJ would needs 
have had that money from the Francks, becaule they lay Mafs in the lame 
Church, but the Topgi hindered it, and got the Father prefident whom the 
Capicoules put lèverai times into prifon, always to be let at liberty again, nay 
he went fo far, that theJBull being let upon the Capucins houle, fo loon as 
he came to hear it, he carried the Cady along with him, and caufèd it to be 
taken off. 
Thele Capicoules of Damafcus, are thole who ellewhere are called Ja- capicoules. 
mjjaries^ of whom there are three or four thouland at Damafcus fometimes Fifty thoufand 
more, fometimes lels, and there are about fifty thoufand of them dif- Jamjfanes. 
perled over the Empire, of whom there are twelve thoufand at Confiamino- 
flcj fix thoufend at Bagdad, as many at Caire, and as many at Buda, and thele 
fifty thouland JamJJanes are to be reckoned amongft the three hundred thou- 
land Men, whom, (as it islfkid,) the Grand Seigmor keeps in conftant pay. 
Before I wholly leave Damajcus, I muft mention Ibme remarks which I 
made, though there be no co-hcrence of matter nor order amongft them, for 
inftance : In thefe Quarters and in the reft oïTurkj, theyl futfcr no body to 
ride on Fîorlè-back with both Legs on one fide, as Ladies did in France, when 
I left it : the reafon of that odd order is, becaule the Turks believe that the ^ Pofture in 
two Gyants Gog ^.n^ Magog who were Rebels againft God, rode in that man- riding forbid^ 
net ; they are lb prejudiced with that falle Zeal, that lb loon as they fee any den. 
body in that pofture they hurle ftones at him till he has altered his w<jy of 
fitting. 
At Damafcus and Aleppo, when they would whiten their Walls with Lime, 
tbey cut hemp into fmall bits, and mingle it with moiftened Lime, which The manner 
they dawb the Wall over with, where it would not hold without the hemp, ^[ preparing 
becaufe the Walls are onely of Earth. 
I ob- 
