'The Expedition for the survey of the rivers Euphrates and Tigris, carried on by order of the British government, in the years 1835, 1836, and 1837; preceded by geographical and historical notices of the regions situated between the rivers Nile and Indus. In four volumes. With fourteen maps and charts, and embellished with ninety-seven plates, besides numerous wood-cuts. Volume the first.' [‎436] (521/905)

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POPULATION OF ALEPPO. [CHAP. XVIII.
wards Chalybon or Chalcis, 1 and the Beroea of later times;
with which the position of Balis as its port, and the valley of
Salt, 2 midway between them, seem to coincide.
Mildness of the Since the Egyptians have been driven out of the country,
government. ^j e pp 0 partly resumed her former importance, by be
coming the seat of one of the principal governments of Asiatic
Turkey; and strange as it may seem, those governments, though
based on despotism, are characterized by mildness in operation.
Tranquillity of It is necessary, observes Burckhardt, to have lived for some
the town. ^ me among the Turks, and to have experienced the mildness
and peacefulness of their character, as well as the sobriety
and regularity of their habits, to conceive it possible that the
inhabitants of a town like Aleppo should live for years with
out any regular administration of justice, protected only by a
miserable guard of police, and yet that the town should be a
safe and quiet residence. No disorders or nightly tumults
occur; and instances of murder and robbery are extremely
rare. 3
Number of the The deaths which occurred during the catastrophe of 1822,
and the abandonment of the place by many persons subse
quently, has reduced the number of the inhabitants of Aleppo
from upwards of 150,000 to little more than 100,000 souls.
The people, independently of passing Arabs, Kurds, and
Turkomans, consist of 66,500 Turks, 3000 Armenians, 19,000
Greeks, 4500 Jews, 5000 Maronites, and 2000 Syrians and
Aleppines, of whom the parent stock was a mixture of Euro
peans and natives, the former being chiefly Greeks.
The nomadic people of this pashalik are composed of the
Henadi, the Bern Said, and other Arab tribes, 4 with the
addition of a few gypsies, here called Kurpadh, also some
sections of Kurds and Turkomans. The habits and customs
of the sons of Kaktan and Ishmael do not differ from those
of their nation; but in this part of the world the social state
of the two last-mentioned sections of people has undergone
some change. The Millis and most of the other Kurds
1 Plin., lib. V., chap. xxvi. 2 2 Samuel, xiii. 5.
3 Burckhardt's Travels in Syria, &c. Murray, 1822, p. 654.
4 There are also portions of the Fahal, Weldack, Effawalee, and Arieza.
The Arab
tribes.