the first civilized settlements of the world, soon after the epoch of the deluge, the earliest period of which we possess any history, and at least 3000 years before London existed as a city, or even England was known but as an island inhabited by barbarians. The distance between these cities is now, however, immense; London being as much above Damascus in whatever can indicate superior knowledge, superior comfort, and all that can endear and embellish life, as Damascus is to the meanest kraal or village of the African Hottentots. Yet the natural situation of the latter has greater advantages than that of the former; its climate, soil, and water are favourable to the richest productions of the earth; and even in a commercial point of view, its central situation in the heart of Syria, with India, Persia, Mesopotamia, Asia Minor, Egypt, and Arabia, all accessible by land, and the whole range of the Mediterranean open to any of the ports within less than a hundred miles on the coast, would be a source of great wealth to an active and enterprising people. What, then, has been the leading causes of the immense difference between the wealth and intelligence of London and those of Damascus ? is a question that naturally forces itself on an enquiring mind: and the answer necessarily is-"Education and Freedom," the two main springs of good government, of which it may be truly said, as Pope has done of selflove and social happiness ;—

Man but for this no knowledge could attain,
And but for that all knowledge would be vain;
Instruction points the way to true renown,
But Liberty must win and wear the crown.
The untutored savage may be just and brave,
The deeply learn'd, a despot or a slave;
But Freedom and Instruction, both combined
At once to nerve the heart and raise the mind,
Will teach the Tyrant, trembling on his throne,
This world was made for many, not for one,
And purge the earth, till all be wise and free,
As man still pants, and fondly hopes, to be.

ON THE SEA COAST.

THURSDAY, April 6, 1816.-I was still so weak, that it required some exertion for me to leave my bed, and dress. As Dr. Chaboçeau was of opinion that my getting to the sea air upon the coast would contribute more to my recovery than any thing else, I was determined to lose no time in accomplishing it by easy journies, and accordingly prepared for departure. A mule driver had been engaged at five piastres per day, and a servant to accompany me as far as Seyda, at two piastres per day. The clothes which had been lent me were returned to their owner, and others purchased for the journey, and my horse had been well fed, reposed, and newly caparisoned. I paid to my medical friend, a Spanish doubloon in gold, to the convent ten Spanish dollars, and to the servants five, so that all our arrangements being completed, we mounted about 10 o'clock.

In quitting Damascus we came out westerly by the paved road which leads to Salheyah, and had as much reason as before to admire the gaiety and cheerful appearance of every thing we saw. The gardens were even more beautiful, as the verdure of the ground was fresher; the fruit trees were full in blossom, and every shrub had begun to send forth its young buds of green.

From Salheyah we ascended the hill which presses close on its western edge, by a well-frequented but steep road. The The pass of Roboeh and the village of Meze near it, where the waters of the Barrady are thought to form the four rivers of Paradise, were below us on our left; while, from the summit of the hill itself, the view of all before us, on turning towards the plain of Damascus, was enchantingly beautiful. We halted in the narrow pass, which appears to have been cut through the rock near an open tomb of some Mohammedan saint on the top, to enjoy the extensive and delightful prospect; and, even after a full hour's stay there, we turned from it with regret.

From hence we went down over the N.W. side of the hill, going on a rugged road of limestone rock; and as a striking contrast to the verdant spring which we had just quitted in the plain below, all the mountains that intercepted the horizon like an amphitheatre, on every side were covered from the summit to the base with snow. It was nearly noon when we reached the small village of Dummar, peopled by Mohammedans, and seated on the N.E. of the Barrady, at a short distance only from its banks. The view of the valley through which this stream runs from hence, south-easterly to Roboeh, presents a romantic picture, in its high cliffs on either side, and narrow green vale between, filled with verdure, trees, and water.

From Dummar we ascended gradually for nearly three hours in a N.W. direction, passing over a bare tract of land, in which were only a few spots cultivated with corn; and throughout all our way across it, we met not a single passenger. About three o'clock we turned down to the S.W., through a valley of considerable

depth, but narrow. On our right we had lofty and rugged hills of lime rock, and on our left perpendicular cliffs of puddingstone, with many detached masses of the same scattered at their feet. The whole of the space between the enclosing hills, about a mile in breadth, was thickly covered with vines.

At four we reached Beseemia, a small village in a most romantic situation, hemmed in by overhanging cliffs and rugged hills, with grottoes and large masses of severed rock all around; while the stream of the Barrādy, as broad and rapid as the Jordan at its fall, rushes through a thick and winding grove of poplars, watering fields, and meadows, and gardens in its way.

We followed from hence the course of the stream towards its source, going north-westerly for about an hour along its eastern bank, and I do not remember ever to have passed over a more delightful road, or one which presented so continued a series of romantic views as this.

It was about five o'clock when we reached the village of Feejy, so called from the river of that name which rises near it. We were furnished with a beurdee, or a passport, from the governor of Damascus to the sheikh, and hoped to have lodged at his village for the night. He professed his willingness to receive and entertain us, but declared that in all the village sufficient corn for our two animals could not be purchased at any price. We remonstrated and disputed for some time, but in vain, and were at last compelled to push on for another village a short distance off.

The inhabitants of Feejy, to the number perhaps of 500, are all Mohammedan. We found the men well dressed, and apparently much at their ease, and the females, both old and young, were all employed in spinning cotton at a wheel before their doors.

In about five minutes after our quitting the village, and going in a westerly direction, we came to the source of the waters called Ain-el-Feejy, and alighted there for a moment to observe it. The spring appears to issue from beneath an old arch, the roof or

highest part of which is but a few inches clear of the surface of the stream. The quantity discharged from this is considerable, and the water is of the purest transparency notwithstanding its being extremely agitated, as well as of the most excellent taste.

Immediately over the arch from out of which this large body of water springs, are the remains of an ancient building; and below by the side of the stream, the walls of another very similar one, both thought to have been temples. The lower one is about fifteen paces square within, consisting only of one apartment. It was entered by a gateway extending all the breadth of its front, excepting only the portals, which rise about two-thirds the height of the whole, and there terminate in a cornice exactly like the gates of the Egyptian temples. The stones of the building are very large, and the masonry solid and well executed, though certainly unlike Roman work. The gateway opens toward the south, and immediately opposite to it on entering, or in the centre of the interior face of the northern wall, is an oblong upright niche, as if for the reception of a statue. The spring of an arch is begun from the inner moulding, which runs round the whole of the interior on a level with the top of the portals of the gateway, and three layers of large stones still remain above it; but it appears from what remains never to have been wholly arched over.

The upper building, which is right above the arch from whence the water issues, is somewhat less than the lower one, being perhaps about twenty feet square, and of one apartment only. Here the portals of the gateway are carried up the whole of the height of the building; and on each side of the gateway, on the outer front, is a shallow square pilaster without a capital of any kind. It fronts the south, like the lower one, and has a still broader recess in the inner face of its northern wall, over which the rocky cliff above literally hangs. The base of the upper building is just on a level with the top of the lower one, which is distant from it about fifteen paces on the west. Between them both, and in the cliff beside the arch from whence the spring issues,