333 
mill with water, which falls with much •violence. The 
water is good but turbid. I presume that the mean 
breadth of the river may be about fifty feet; the current 
is rapid, and the borders are marshy. The bed is so 
very deep, that its waters cannot be of any use to the 
adjacent land, which remains uncultivated and barren 
for want of irrigation. 
Saturday, 5th September. 
We continued our march at midnight, leaving the 
river upon the right, and ascending the elevated plane, 
directed our course to the north, with some trifling de- 
viations. After having again descended by a gentle 
slope, we entered about five o'clock in the morning 
the city of Hama, situated at the foot of a small hill, 
which we had just passed; and we crossed the Orontes, 
which flows though the middle of the city, for the 
second time. 
Hama is a very considerable city; its population is 
said to be double that of Horns, and may therefore be 
reckoned at eighty thousand souls, but I believe it 
amounts to near a hundred thousand. The situation is 
charming, particularly on the side of the principal part, 
which is situated on the right bank of the Orontes, 
upon the upper plane of the ground. The remainder of 
the city descends in the form of an amphitheatre to the 
side of the river, and ascends in like manner on the 
other side upon the left bank, where it extends con- 
siderably, and encloses a mountain of some height in 
its precincts. In short, the extent and aspect of Hama 
announce a city of the first order; and I cannot refrain 
from expressing my astonishment, that it has not more 
strongly attracted the attention of travellers and geogra- 
phers, whose descriptions and maps had hitherto led 
