or Burfita, is placed on the river near Madjed-Haffein. That city, which does not now exift, can be no other than what the Arabs call Brouffa, or Bourfa, the ruins of which, as I have already faid, are two leagues S. E. of Hella, in the defert. The city and mofque of Madjed Haflein, are equally misplaced on the map; they are not on the Euphrates, but in the defert, feven leagues from Hella, and as many from Mefleib, where the pilgrims going thither from Bagdad pafs the river. The fame may be faid of Kefil, or the tomb of Ezekiel, which Delife places on the river in Mefopotamia. I vifited that mofque after the ruins of Brouffa, and took its pofition by the compafs: it is on the other fide the river, mid-way between Hella and Imam-Ali. Indeed Mr. Delifle's longitudes and latitudes are in general erroneous: Bagdad he places in long. 670, whilst it is but 620. Other differences will appear From the new map which I hope to publish.

I requested of the Chaldean patriarch of Babylon, who refides a day's journey from Mouffoul, a catalogue in Arabic of all the books written in Chaldee or Syriac preferved in his

houfe, in which the paftoral or patriarchal ftaff has been fixed for 6 or 700 years, defcending from uncle to nephew, and particular the date of the year in which they were written. Amongst them perhaps will be found fome curious manufcripts. I also requefted of him fome information refpecting the religion of the Yezidis, his neighbours, and the Grand Sheik, Sholi-Beig, his friend. The Yezidis neither faft: or prey. It is not known that they have any book, th ugh they pretend to have one which they keep concealed. They call it Lohi-Mani, which I am inclined to believe a corruption of Lokman, the famous Afiatic philofopher. Every morning they prefent themselves thrice before the rifing fun. It it faid, that they will not pronounce the letter fbin, because it is the firft of the word fheitan, which fignifies Satan, or Devil. Blue is a colour they hold in abhorrence. The Yezidis in the neighbourhood of Mouffoul are probably Christians, who have embraced the ancient fect of Manicheism; for they ftill retain a respect for the Chaldean Patriarch and his churches. I have even met with fome of them who bore the name of our Apostles.

S

INCE the dynafty of the Sophis, the government of Perfia is entirely changed. That civil and military difcipline of ich Chardin fpeaks, is no longer obferved.

What Chardin fays of the fituation of Jipahan, and the beauty of its fruits, is strictly true. The former, with refpect to Perfia in general, is delightful on account of the Zende. rond, which waters it. This river must be confiderable in winter, from the length of the Royal Bridge which

leads to the garden of Aza Gerib. In fummer it is but a rivulet, from the numerous canals cut from it to water the land. To that fuperb bridge, of which Chardin has given a figure, may be applied what the Spaniard faid of the Mancanares at Madrid: Es menefter vender la puente por comptar aqua.

The move of life in Perfia much refembles that in Turkey; fimiliarity of climate producing fimiliarity of cuftoms. The people of the Levant in

general

general live nearly in the fame manner, and their modes never change; habit with them is fo ftrong that they refuse conveniencies of life which they might procure, and with which they are not unacquainted. I have fought in vain in the relations of various travellers for what they mean by that effeminacy of the Eastern nations fo much talked of in Europe. If it confit in the pleasure of doing nothing, it is unqueft onably to be found in the Eaft; but then might we not alfo cite the effeminacy of the favage of America, who knows no greater pleasure than fmoking his pipe as he is fwung in his hammock? If, on the contrary, it confift in the manner of enjoying the conveniencies of life, in multiplying and varying enjoyments, and in fatisfying the appetites of nature, even the Oriental must confefs, that Europe is the chief feat of effeminacy. When we recount to him our mode of life, the mildness of our laws, the beauty of our country, palaces, gardens, &c. he will anfwer with a text of the Khoran, Infidels enjoy paradife in this world, hell in the next. Indeed I do not fee how the life of an Oriental can be compared with that of a man of fortune in Europe. But a brief account of Eastern manners will fet this in a clearer light.

The Turks and Perfians know not the pleafures of the table, fo fenfual and fo diverfified in Europe. Except at the ceremonies of marriage and circumcifion, they feldom make feafts, and then, however good their cheer, it is eafy to conceive what dullness muft prevail amongst an affembly of men from which women are excluded, and where there is no wine to make their abfence forgotten; they are no more feen than if they never exifted, being ferved apart. Plenty of mutton boiled, roafted, and mixed with rice, fome pulfe and fruits, compofe their great. eft feats. The guests eat greedily,

without faying a word, and without drinking; I do not mean wine, but they touch not even water till the repaft is finished. The Orientals are much furprised to fee us eat and drink alternately. They very feldom eat beef or veal, neither of which is ever feen in the fhambles. The hog, which forms the bafis of our cookery, is to them prohibited. There is not a country in the world, perhaps, where game is fo plenty as in Turkey; and the purfuit of it is free to every one. (Mark this, ye makers of game laws.) The Turks, however, are in general no fportfmen, except the great, who fometimes hawk. Game is in no eftimation among them; and I am perfuaded, there is none ferved to the table of the Pacha, who, like the grand Lama, always eats alone and in private in his feraglio. It is never feen in the market; a religious fcruple preventing the Muffulmen from eating it; as their meat is deemed unclean, if all the blood have not run out; whence the huntsmen who kill antelopes, are to exenterate them inftantly. If the beaft be killed on the spot, it cannot be fold but to Chriftians. Hence all kinds of fowl killed with shot are killed unlawfully. From this we judge how greatly the Turks and Perfians are debarred of the pleafures of the table by the fhackles of religion.

The people of the Eaft do not lie foftly; their bed confifling in a mattrefs of cotton or wool, spread on the ground, a pillow and a coverlid. The Pacha of Bagdad, who has a revenue' of twenty millions of livres, fleeps no otherwife. I have been told, that in the feraglios the women repofe on cufhions adorned with gems; but even these are nothing to the down beds of Europe. It is the conftant cuftom of the Eaft to fleep quite dreffed, which is very inconvenient, particularly for the fick. A whole family, father, mother, brothers, filters,

&c.

&c. fleep in the fame place with a lamp burning. This cuftom forms a fingular contraft with our manners. Does it not tend, independent of the climate, to haften the maturity of youth? Children of different fexes are frequently feen in the streets, doing by imitation things very innocent with them, but most indecent for any people but Mahommedans, who make the perfection of religion confift in the propagation of the species. Incited by fo laudable a motive, the Turks would be far more numerous, but for the causes of depopulation mentioned by various writers.

Perfonal cleanliness is a point of religion to which the Muffulmen are great flaves. Winter and fummer they must wash after having fatisfied the leaft call of nature; and from this no one is excused. They are ftrict in praying five times a day, and before each they must wash their arms to the elbows, or be guilty of fin. They rife before the fun, and retire to reft almoit as foon as he fets. The filence which prevails on their terraces in the evening is aftonishing; not a voice, not a fingle word; you fcarcely hear your next neighbour. Two hours after fun-fet not a perfon is to be found in the fireets. Before funrife the Mollah calls from the top of the Mofque to prayer. The devout rife, and having washed, which is indifpenfible, go to pray. The moft devout go to the warm bath, which is always open before day, to purify themselves from the uncleanness they have contracted with their wives. Such a life cannot be extremely fenfual.

The Orientals have none of thofe fecondary paffions, which fometimes tranfport men as far as thofe that are the immediate offspring of our nature; I mean poetry, painting, and mufic. Though moft of their languages are poetical, they produce little. We find genius and fire in the Perfian and Arabic poets; but they

are rare. At prefent there in not, perhaps, one good poet throughout the Levant. The Turks read little, and have few books. A man thinks himfelf very learned when he knows the Koran by heart. Their religion forbids them to paint living creatures, and confequently there is nothing in their houfes to regale the fight. Tapeftry they ufe not; and a white wall decorated with a paffage from the Koran is the only ornament of every houfe. Thofe of the Perfians are more elegant, because they allow paintings. Flowers they draw prettily enough; the beauty of the colouring has a striking freshness, but their outlines are ftiff, without the leaft foftnefs. All the world knows, that the mufic of Turkey and Perfia has little merit; it is obftreperous, with no charm but that of cadence. The Orientals have very nice ears for the measure of their tunes, which has almost always breaks and pauses. Their great drum marks it with much precifion; but their mufic is deftitute of harmony. Should they every attempt to improve that divine art, could they fucceed in a country where love is unknown, I may fay profaned? The Turks know no other pleafure but the phyfical enjoyment of their wives, whom they treat as flaves. In this their grofs religion has favoured them. They marry very young, and take to wife women they have never feen. The great fhut them up in their feraglios. Thofe who are acquainted with the paffions of the fex, will eafily conceive what cabals, intrigues, animofities, and tragic fcenes prevail in the feraglios of fovereigns, and of the great. For thefe it is fufficient to refer to Chardin. The lower people who are able to maintain but one wife, are better loved. The law, which permits divorce, and punishes adultery with death, is a great restraint to the infidelities of wives.

The

The people of the Eaft travel little, and never without neceffity.Though they have been journeying to Mecca for more than three thoufand years, they have not yet fought to render the roads to it more convenient. There is no country where a traveller has fuch bad accommoda

tions.

That effeminacy of the Eaftern nations, then, with which most travellers embellish their narratives, is reduced to the gloomy wearifomenefs of a feraglio, and the defpotically domineering over a certain number of women, who deteft each other, and whom eunuchs, thofe voluntary monfters in nature, are frequently obliged to punish to make them hear reaton. This multiplicity of wives, or rather flaves, cannot render a man happy. If any one doubt this affertion, I would urge in proof the shameful vices which are an offence to nature and the fex, to which the Turks are in general addicted, and the Perfians ftill more, notwithstanding what Chardin fays, who in fome parts of his work confirms, in others difputes it. (vol. ii. p. 258. vol. iv. p. 12.) I might relate many other customs of the East, which prove that its inhabitants know not how to enjoy life amidst all that nature has done for them. But are they on that account lefs happy than we? That is another queftion which has long been difputed by philofophers. Chardin feems to decide, that the Perfians are happier (vol. vi. p. 184.) Adopting the fentiments of that great traveller, I would add the Turks. Their uniform and regular life, their little ambition, which prevents all thofe diforders committed in Europe, their great refignation to providence in all their afflictions, their belief of predeftination, the few paffions which disturb them, their greater equality of fortune, the felicity with which they fatisfy their phyfical wants; all

muft confpire to render the people of the Eaft happy. That jealousy which prevails in Europe between citizens of different claffes, and which places fo great a difference between a mafter fhoe-maker, and a cobler, a duke, and a marquis, is there little known. Ifpeak in general, and ex-` cept courts, for these are every where alike. Wealth and fortune hold the place of nobility in the Levant.

There is great luxury in dress in the Eaft, and it is fo much the more refined, as it makes but little fhow. Gloffy ftuffs, fuch as our tabbies, fattins and velvets, are not used by men, but, as well as lace, by womenonly. In winter cloth, in fummer fine woollen ftuffs, turmachales of Cashmire, fometimes as fine as a fpider's web, which ferve for turban and girdle, furs of every kind, and the soft filks of India, compofe the garments of men. With them every thing is foft to the touch, every thing is light, but nothing fplendid. There are dreffes which you may hold in the hollow of your hand. The Orientals furpafs us in dreffing both themselves and their horfes. There is not in the world, perhaps, a dress fo noble as the Turkish; yet no where does a fine habit excite defs attention. The Pacha of Bagdad wears fur cloaks worth ten or twelve thousand piafters, the Grand Seignior, as I am told, has fome worth forty thoufand. The deareft are the black fox of Siberia. They owe their value to their rarity, for they are not agreeable to the fight. Every one dreffes according to his circumftances, without affuming an air of confequence. The little expence they are at in adorning their houfes allows them the more for drefs. It is very common to see a Turkish fhoemaker with a turban worth four or five guineas; if it be not of fine woollen of Cashmire, it will be of beautiful muflin embroidered. The head drefs of the Turks, always clean,

has

has a very different effect from our hat, which appears to them extremely ridiculous; what would they fay, did they know that we frequently metamorphofe it into a rag that renders one arm ufelefs?

We are told the Turks and Perfians are extremely jealous, and it is for that reafon they keep their women always fhut up, or veiled when they go out. I believe jealousy was the origin of thefe cuftoms, which are of the highest antiquity, as may be feen in the fcripture. Sarah hid herfelf behind the door of the tent when the two angels vifited Abraham; Rebecca covered herself with her veil when the perceived Ifaac. I am perfuaded, however, that these customs being univerfal, have not been for a long time the effects of perfonal and individual jealousy. The most indifferent hufband is obliged to do what every one does, and would think himself dishonoured if his wife permitted herself to be feen. Jealoufy, therefore, is not so great a torment to the Orientals as we imagine. They have for fo many ages taken care to remove all grounds for it, that their women have no idea of any other mode of life. We may fay, that one of the fexes has totally enflaved the other. Married women vifit one a nother, and the mafter of the house must not enter into his Haram, or Seraglio, when the wife of another is there. These marks of refpect to each other are indifpenfible ainongft the Turks. The dominion of prejudice is fo great, that the women retire and hide themselves when a inan enters who vifits their houfe moft habitual

ly, even the water-carrier, baker, &c. whatever be their age. Here jealoufy has certainly nothing to do, it is merely a matter of decorum. In the Eaft, women are facred, and you never hear that one is infulted in the streets, not even an Arabian, who at Bagdad has no garment but a fimple blue fhirt reaching to the middle of the leg.

Ten years have I refided amongst the Turks, and to me every one has appeared to wear an air of ease and contentment. The defpotifm of the Pachas is felt only by the great. An increase of taxes is never known; on this fubject the court of Conftantinople is immoveable. I believe the Turks happy from that uniformity of life which would kill an European with ennui. Amongst them intrigues and adventures are in a manner unknown; to fuicide and duelling they are ftrangers; and affaffinations are very rare. Juftice is administered with speed well or ill; and fuits are far lefs common and lefs complex than in Europe, where a multitude of laws are drowned in an abyfs of commentaries. In the Eat every thing is judged by the Koran. He who gains his caufe pays ten per cent. to the judge, and the lofer pays nothing.Property is more respected in Afia than is generally believed in Europe.

Here I fhall finifh the account of my Perfian journey, the map and topographical details of which are in the hands of M. de la Lande. On the 14th of January 1788, I re-entered Bagdad, but in a very weak state, from which I recovered not without great difficulty.

My friend, faid he, with eagerness and emotion, you are betrayed. A numerous troop of Alguazils befieges the caftle, and their chief defires to

fpeak