The mosques are numerous in Aleppo; seven or eight of them are reckoned magnificent, though none of them have more than a single minaret, or steeple, whence the people are summoned to prayers. In front of the mosques is a spacious paved court, with a covered foun tain in the middle, which has cocks on all sides to sup. ply water for the appointed ablutions before prayers. The roofs of all the houses, except where there are domes, are flat, and plastered with a composition of tar. mortar, ashes, and sand, which in time becomes very hard; but, when not laid on at the proper season, the terrace is apt to crack in the winter. These flat roofs are separated by parapet walls, and most of the natives sleep on them in the summer. The Franks, who live contiguous, have doors of communication in these walls; and, by means of their own, and the bazar terraces, can make a large circuit without descending into the street; a circumstance which illustrates a passage in Scripture, where our Lord commands those who are un the house top to flyo.N idiom coming. down to take any thing out of the house. The Turks of Aleppo are nut fond of this kind of communication; and they raise their to such a height, as may screen them from the view of their neighbours.
The luel universally used at Aleppo is wood and charcoal. And the former, though brought on camels from the mountains, two or three days' journey distant, is sold at a reasonable rate. Indeed, there is little fuel used by the natives, except in their kitchens, their prin cipal apartments not being even provided with chimneys. The bagnios are heated chiefly by the dung of animal , the parings of fruit, and other (dials collected in the streets, which both in drying and burning create an in tolerable nuisance.
The city is supplied with good water from two springs, which rise near lleylan, a village about eight miles dis tant to the northward. It is conveyed thence by an aqueduct, partly on a level with the ground, in sonic places covered, but mostly open, and partly subterra mous, refreshed by air-shafts. From this aqueduct, the water is distributed by means of earthen or leaden pipes to the different fountains, baths, &c.; and many of the khans, as well as the priN ate houses, have large subte• raucous reservoirs for water These are filled either by pipes directly from the aqueduct, or by the sickles, or watermen ; and, as soon as they arc filled, they are closely shut up till the hot months, when, by means of a leaden cup and rope, the water is drawn up perfectly clear, as we are assured, and most deliciously cool. It is not easy however to conceive, how it should be either wholesome or agreeable, after remaining- stagnant fur two or three months.
There are numerous gardens about Aleppo, both along the banks of the aqueduct and of the river Kowick ; and though they are neither cultivated with taste, nor laid out with uniformity, flit y afford nevertheless a voluptu ous retreat to the languid traveller. The natives always talk of them with rapture ; and they are certainly of immense advantage to the city, as they supply it with abundance of delicious fruits and wholesome vegetables, and serve, at the same time to allure the inhabitants from that sedentary life, to which, in common with all the Turks, they are so much disposed, to purer air, and gentle exercise.
The climate of Aleppo is peculiarly mild, consider ing the latitude in yr hick it lies. The westerly winds, which prevail during the summer months, moderate the excessive heat, and produce an agreeable temperature ; and we may judge of the salubrity of the air from this circumstaoce, that from the end of May to the middle of September, the inhabitants are accustomed to sleep ex posed on their terraces, under the canopy of heaven, without danger from damps, or other noxious qualities of the atmosphere.
With regard to the population of Aleppo, authors dif fer widely in their calculations. M d'Aryieux, who was Fiend) consul at Aleppo, makes the population, in 1683, to amount to 285,000; M. Tavernier computes it at 258.000; whilst others are for reducing it as low as 100,000. We cannot help thinking, however, that this calculation must be below the truth; for Dr Russel, who had the best opportunity of ascertaining the truth, (having resided many years at Aleppo, as physician to the British factory,) computes the population at 235,000 , of which he reckons 200,000 to he Turks, 30,000 Chris tians, and 5000 Jews.
We deem it altogether unnecessary to enter into a minute description of the manners or the inhabitants of Aleppo, as the y are for the most part slull as are Awn. moon to the Turks in general. It is howe‘er obscooed, that the Tut ks of Aleppo possess less of Mat 'superci lious manner so general amongst their brethriiii in other parts of the empire; and that foreigners, particularly the English, are treated with more distinction than io most other places in the Turkish dominions. TM Aheppines, however, arc extiZ•nely effeminate, and to tally averse to bodily exertioi 3 . And though certainly. in religion, bodily exercise proliteth little, in respect of rational devotion ; yet in the Mahometan creed, it be comes useful in preventing the torpor of the bodily or gans, and the absolute stagnation of the mental faculties. The Turks of Aleppo spend most of their time in the prayers and ablutions pi escribed by the Koran, in smok ing tobacco, and in the immoderate use of the bagnio, which, from the way in which it is conducted, one would imagine to be a most enervating process. They go into the bagnio, heated to about 100° of Fahrenheit's ther mometer, where alter having used the depilatory, they sit clown on the heated flour, and submit to he rubbed and washed all over by an operator, who attends for that pm-pose. The attendant, as an essential part uf the pro cess, makes every joint of the bather's fingers crack successively ; after which, laying him flat on his back, and bringing the arms across the breast, the shoulder joints are made to crack in like manner; and, last of all, (which to strangers is the most alarming part of the opeeation,) the neck is made to crack also, by raising the head, and bringing the chin forward upon the breast. The whole of this process seems to be an elaborate effort to combine two things, in their nature essentially oppo site, idleness and exercise.