Here is found a number of Mohammedan merchants, some of the richest and most respectable in the empire. Silk is the chief article of commerce. Five or six French merchants escaped hither from Acré[58]. Antiquities I observed none. The history of Tripoli during the crusades must be known to every reader. The present population I should be inclined to estimate at about sixteen thousand. The _miri_, or fixed public revenue paid by Tripoli to Constantinople, is only about a thousand pounds sterling, twenty purses, a-year. Syria at present contains only four Pashaliks, Damascus, Aleppo, Acré, and Tripoli; the last of which is the smallest in territory and power. On the 30th of April proceeded towards Ladakia, the antient Laodicea, built by Seleucus Nicanor in honour of his mother. We arrived on the third day at night. The first appearance of this city was most melancholy, as presenting all the ravages of the earthquake, which in the preceding year (1796) had laid a great part of it in ruins, and destroyed numbers of the inhabitants. Ladakia has a convenient but very small port, across the mouth of which is a bar of sand. The place is situated in a plain, extending on the North and South as far as the eye can reach; but bounded by hills towards the East. It has no walls, and only a part is paved; but the streets are clean, the air is salubrious, and refreshed by the fragrance of surrounding gardens. Water is scarce. The snow-capt summits of Libanus now vanish from the eye. In the town are eight mosques. It is governed by a deputy of the Pasha of Tripoli. On the 5th of May departed for Aleppo, in a small caravan, consisting only of Citoyen Chauderlos, the French consul-general, two Turks, and myself. On the second day passed through one of the most picturesque countries which I had ever seen. Lofty rocks and precipices, shaded with luxuriant foliage, of various form and character, but of the most lively verdure, and flowers of the most diversified hues and the strongest odours, alleviated the task of climbing by rugged and difficult paths the steep ascent of the mountain, and torrents wandering through the valleys in their stoney channels, or dashed from the rocks in sheets of foam, filled the ear with their soothing murmurs, the eye with their untaught meanders, and the imagination with some of the most agreeable images that delight in the works of the poet. The third day was occupied in traversing a country romantic like the former, and we passed the night in the open air, at _Shawr_, where the river Orontes winds majestically through the plain. The town of _Shawr_ is populous, and has a good caravanserai; but we preferred the open air, to avoid the vermin which lodge in such places. Adjacent is a good stone bridge of seven arches. These conveniences have been originally provided for the caravan, which rests here in its route from Constantinople to Mecca.