I did not imagine, from the appearance of the river _Coic_, or indeed from what is commonly met with at the tables of the inhabitants, that our list of fish caught there would have swelled to any thing worth mentioning; and yet, upon examination, they were found to amount to no less than seventeen, and even some of these not yet described. They are in general very small, occasioned in part by the assiduous industry of the fishermen; for at _Hylan_, and the _Fountain of Fish_, where they remain unmolested, they grow to larger sizes, though very rarely so large as in other parts of the world. The loche[424] is the most common; the barbel is less than those brought from abroad. The bleak[425] is known by two names; that is, there are two sorts of fish that appear to agree in every characteristic with the bleak, which nevertheless are esteemed different; the first called _mirmeed_, seven or eight inches long; the second, _tiftaf_, is not above one and a half or two inches, and, they say, never exceeds. Chub[426] are plenty; roches[427] seldom large; gudgeons[428] of three sorts; the first is much spotted on the back, and called _tuckle_; the second, _kureety_, has fewer spots; the third, _kalloor_, scarce any, and is smaller than the other two. The mugilis[429] I am less certain of than the rest, but yet it agrees tolerably well with the description; dace[430], carassius[431], the phoxinus[432]; also a fish called by the natives _simak il inglese_[433], from a corruption, I suppose, of _anguilla_, as it has been commonly imagined to be a kind of eel; though, upon examination, it is found to be a genus hitherto undescribed; and two species of mystus[434][435]: of which three, as I have met with nothing like them in other authors, I have given descriptions and drawings. There are also, on the banks of the river, crabs in abundance, which are much eat by the native Christians, and which often furnish the tables of the _Europeans_ with a delicate dish. [Illustration: _facing page 76._ Pl: XIII. _F. Perry Sculp._] The inhabitants of _Aleppo_, though of different religions, yet seem to be much the same people. I wish I could say that those who profess Christianity were better than their neighbours. The number of souls in the city and suburbs is computed at about 235,000, of whom 200,000 are _Turks_, 30,000 _Christians_, and 5000 _Jews_[436]. Of the Christians, the greater number, are _Greeks_; next to them the _Armenians_, then the _Syrians_, and lastly the _Maronites_; each of whom have a church in the suburbs called _Judida_; in which quarter, and parts adjacent, most of them reside. The language generally spoke is vulgar _Arabic_. The _Turks_ of condition use the _Turkish_. Most of the _Armenians_ can speak _Armenian_, some few _Syrians_ understand _Syriac_, and many of the _Jews_ _Hebrew_; but scarce one of the _Greeks_ understand a word of _Greek_, either ancient or modern.