» 3Vr TRAVELS through SYRIA AND EGYPT, IN THE YEARS I7&3> *7^4? AND 17^5* CONTAINING of thofe The prefent Natural and Political State Manufac- Countries, their Productions, Arts, with Obfervations on tures, and Commerce ; of the the Manners, Cuftoms, and Government Turks and Arabs. ILLUSTRATED WITH COPPER PLATES. By M. C— F. VOLNEY. TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH. I IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON: PRINTED FOR G. G. J. AND J. ROBINSON, PATER-NOSTER-ROW. MDCCLXXXVII. CCc Â/€ °4V HISTORICAL j j \ MEDICAL . j ( i ) va PREFACE. October, 1786. Five years ago, being ftill young, a fmall inheritance, which fell to me, put me in pof- feffion of a fum of money. The difficulty was, how to employ it. Some of my friends advifed me to enjoy the capital, others to purchafe an annuity ; but, on re- flection, I thought the fum too inconfiderable to make any fenfible addition to my income, and too great to be diffipated in frivolous ex- pences. Some fortunate circumftances had habituated me to ftudy ; I had acquired a tafte, and even a paffion for knowledge, and this acceffion to my fortune appeared to me a frefh means of gratifying my inclina- Vql.I. A tion, • * 11 PREFACE. tion, and opening a new way to improve- ment. I had read, and frequently heard re- peated, that of all the methods of adorning the mind, and forming the judgment, travel- ling is the moft efficacious ; I determined, therefore, on a plan of travelling, but to what part of the world I ffiould diredt my courfe remained dill to be chofen : I wiffied the fcene of my obfervations to be new, or at lead brilliant. My own country, and the neighbouring nations, feemed to me either too well known, or too eafy of accefs : the riling States of America, and the favages, were not without their temptations; but other confiderations determined me in favour of Alia. Syria, especially, and Egypt, both With a view to what they once have been, and what they now are, appeared to me a field equally adapted to thofe political and moral obfervations with which I wiffied to occupy my mind. “ Thofe are the coun- “ tries,” faid I, “in which the greater part of “ the opinions that govern us at this day “ have had their origin. In them, thofe “ religious ideas took their rife, which have r< operated fo powerfully on our private “ and PREFACE. ni <c and public manners, on our laws, and <{ our focial ftate. It will be interefting, “ therefore, to be acquainted with the “ countries where they originated, the cuf- “ toms and manners which gave them birth, fC and the fpirit and character of the nations <f from whom they have been received as ct facred : to examine to what degree this “ fpirit, thefe manners, and thefe cuftoms, cc are altered or retained ; to afcertain the “ influence of climate, the effects of the “ government, and the caufes of the va- “ rious habits and prejudices of thefe coun- <c tries ; in a word, to judge from their pre- “ fent ftate, what was their fituation in for- (t mer times.” On the other hand, confidering the po- litical circumftances of the Turkifh empire, for the laft twenty years, and reflecting on t their poflible confequences, it appeared to me equally curious and ufeful to acquire correct notions of its internal government, in order to form a juft eftimate of its real powr er and refources. With thefe views I fet out for Egypt, about the end of 1782. After continuing feven months at Cairo, A 2 finding t iv PREFACE. finding too many obfiacles to a proper ex- amination of the interior parts of the country, and too little affifiance in learning Arabic, I determined to proceed into Syria. The more tranquil Rate of that province correfponded better with my intentions. Eight months refidence among the Drufes, in an Arabian convent, rendered the Arabic familiar to me, and enabled me to travel through all Syria during a whole year. On my return to France, after an abfence of near three years, imagining my refearches might prove of l'ome utility, I refolved to publifh a few obfervations on the prefen Rate of Syria and Egypt ; and I was con- firmed in this refolution by the difficulty attending travelling in thofe countries, which have, therefore, but feldom been vifited, and are but imperfectly known. Travellers, in general, have directed their relearches more to examine their antiquities, than their pre- fent fituation ; and almofi all, hafiily paffing through them, have been deficient in the two principal means of acquiring knowledge, time, and the language of the country. Without pofieffing the language, it is impol- fible fible to appreciate either the genius or the character of a nation. Interpreters can never fupply the defedt of a diredt communication. And without continuing a fufficient time, no traveller can form a found judgment, for the novelty of every thing around us naturally confounds and aftonilhes. The fir ft tumult muft fublide, and the objedts which prefen t themfelves be repeatedly ex- amined, before we can be certain the ideas we have formed are juft. To fee well is an art which requires more pradtice than is commonly imagined. On my return to France, I found that a late traveller * had anticipated me, with re- fpedt to Egypt , by a firft volume of Letters on that country. He has fince publiihed two others ; but, as the field is extenfive and fertile, there ftiil remain forne novelties to glean ; and on fubjedts already treated, the world may pôfiibly not be averfe to hear two witneftes. Syria, though not lefs interefting than Egypt, is undoubtedly a more novel fubjedt. V/hat has been already written on it by fome * M. Savary. A 3 travellers. vî PREFACE. travellers, is now grown obfolete, and, at bed, very imperfedt. I had at fird: deter- mined to relate only what I myfelf had feen ; but, defirous, for the fatisfadlion of my readers, to complete my defcription of that province, I was unwilling to deprive myfelf of the obfervations of others, when, from what I had feen myfelf, I could not doubt their veracity. In my relation, I have endeavoured to main- tain the fpirit with which I conduced my refearches into fadls ; that is, an impartial love of truth. I have redrained myfelf from indulging any fallies of the imagination, though I am no dranger to the power of fuch illufion the over generality of readers ; but I am of opinion that travels belong to the department of hidory, and not that of romance. I have not therefore defcribed countries as more beautiful than they appear- ed to me ; I have not reprefented their in- habitants more virtuous, nor more wicked than I found them, and I have perhaps been enabled to fee them fuch as they really are, f nee 1 have never received from them either benefits or injuries. As PREFACE. vu• • As to the form of this work, I have not followed the method ufual in books of travels, though, perhaps, the moil; Ample. I have rejedled, as too prolix, both the order and the details of an itinerary, as well as all perfonal adventures ; 1 have only exhibited general views, as better calculated to com- bine fadts and ideas, and from a defire of faving the time of the reader, amid the prodigious fucceffion of new publications. To render more clear my geographical ob- fervations on Egypt and Syria, I have an- nexed maps of thofe two countries. That of Egypt, for the Delta, and the defert of Si- nai, is laid down from the aftronomical ob- fervations of M. Niebuhr, who travelled for the King of Denmark, in 1761 : they are the lateft, and mod: accurate, yet publifhed. The fame traveller has afforded me great afiiftance in the map of Syria, which I have completed from that of Danville, and my own obfervations. To conclude, I have no doubt but the lovers of the ancient arts will thank me for accompanying with a. drawing the defcription I have given of the two mod beautiful s \ viii PREFACE. \ beautiful remains of antiquity in Alla, the Ruins of Palmyra, and thole of the Tenple * of the Sun at iJaJbec ; and I have reafon to believe that the admirers of the modern arts will fee with pleafure the execution of the two engraved plates of thofe monu~ ments. CONTENTS \ t 8 ( « ) CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME. Page Chap. i. Of Egypt in general, and of the city of Alexandria i Chap. II. Of the Nile, and of the en- largement of the Delta 1 Whether the Delta haï gained upon the fea fo much as M. Savary pre- tends F Chap. III. Of the rife of the Delta 35 ' Chap. IV. Of the winds in Egypt, and their phenomena 55 Of the hot wind of the defer 60 Chap. 11 X C O N T E N T S. Page Chap. V. Of the climate, and air of Egypt 67 Chaf. VI. Of the various inhabitants of Egypt -, the peafant Arabs ; the Bedouin Arabs , or fkepherds ; the Copts Turks y y and Mamlouks 73 Chap. VII. Summary of the hifiory of the Mamlouks 98 Chap. VIII. Summary of the hijlory of Ali Bey 1 14 Chap. IX. Summary of occurrences from the death of Ali Bey , to the year 1785 143 Chap. X. Brefent fate of Egypt 162 Chap. XI. Military conflitution of the Ma?nlouks l6 S Of their drefs 168 Horfe accoutrements 1 7 Arms I 74 Education and excrcifes 175 Miiitary Jkill 178 Eifcipline 1 8 Manners 184 Ch ap.