till the third Day from this Place. At this Fountain we pitch'd, near to which is a Village, but almost wholly ruined and deserted. 'Twas some time before any Body would be seen, for they were afraid of us; at length, three Men came out to our Tents, Spectacles of a miserable Poverty, occasion'd by their being frequently pillaged by the Mountain _Arabs_, and a great Duty they pay to _Assyne Abasse_ their King, for his Protection: Three hundred Dollars they pay him Annually, when one would think the whole Village was not able to make up the Sum of one Hundred; yet being the remotest Place that was under his Jurisdiction, they often suffer by the Inroads of the other. The Name of the Place is _Yarecca_, a Name it received (as we were inform'd) from a Victory obtained there by the _Turks_ over the _Mamalukes_. _October_ the 9th. From _Yarecca_ we mounted early, and Travelling N. E. or near that Point, in seven Hours time arrived at _Soukney_. The Road we found much like what we had the Day before, lying over a barren Plain; only we had Hills on both sides, and sometimes closing within half an Hours riding one of the other. The Village has its Name from the Hot Waters, (for so the Word imports,) which are of the same Nature with those of _Tadmor_; herein they Bath frequently, the same little dirty Hole serving both for Men and Women; only they have so much Modesty remaining, that they have different Hours for one and the other. To say the Truth, 'twas the only mark of Modesty I could observe among them; in other respects they seemed a Confident, or rather Impudent Generation of People. Before we could pitch our Tents, they flock'd about us in multitudes, Men, Women, and Children; and of the last, many of them as naked as ever they came into the World, not so much as a Rag about them to cover them; and so numerous they appeared, that if we had reason to think _Yarecca_ wanted Inhabitants, we had no less, to conclude _Soukney_ over-stock'd. At this Place usually resides an Officer of _Assyne_'s, who is their Sub-Basha, or Governor: He whom we found there, was call'd _Dor_, of a good Family among the _Arabs_, to whom we made a Present; and he civilly return'd it in Barley for our Horses. Afterwards he came under our Tents, and invited us to an Entertainment; which, considering the Circumstances of the Place, was very Splendid, though it was nothing but _Pilaw_ at last, a little diversify'd by the dressing; and, to speak truly, I judge we could not have less than a Bushel of Rice set before us. His Palace, indeed was not very stately, there being few Cottages in _England_ but might vie with it. To the Room wherein we were entertain'd, which, doubtless, was the best, if not the only one he had, we were forced to clamber, rather than ascend, by broken Steps made of Stone and Dirt. When we were got in, and commodiously seated after the _Turkish_ Mode, it seemed large enough for about a dozen or fourteen People: At the upper end was a