first my doubts whether my fellow caravan travellers might not be over inquisitive here; but such of them as I have since met, greeted me without further questions, and the government of the city is now such, that a man picking a quarrel with me about what I might have told him at Antakia, would only expose himself to be fined for a sum of money by the Janissaries, the masters of the town, for their trouble to settle the business with the Consul. My plans for the present are to remain at Aleppo the whole of the winter and part of next summer. I have been fortunate enough to find a good and willing master of Arabic, and I hope to make progress in the study of the literal as well as vulgar language. As soon as I shall be able to express myself with some precision in the vulgar dialect, and perfectly to understand it, I shall visit the Bedouin Arabs in the Desert, and live with them some months. I can do this in perfect security; and I have no doubt that you will approve of it, as it will afford me the best opportunity of practising the manners and becoming acquainted with the character of a class of people who are the same, whether they over-run the deserts of Arabia or those of Africa. You need not be afraid that the history of my own person, which has taken up so considerable a portion of the preceding pages, will any more be exhibited before you at such a length. I thought it might be of some interest to the Association, to see how far I was able to succeed in making good my way to Aleppo in the disguise in which I left London; unaided as I was by a knowledge of Eastern languages, or a familiarity with Eastern manners. This trial has so far been satisfactory to me, that, in the first place, I am persuaded that nothing of my pursuits has transpired at Malta, which will always be of material consequence to me; secondly, in being landed at a remote corner of Syria, I have avoided the general intercourse of a mercantile seaport, such as Acre, Beirout, Tripoly, or Latakia; and finally, it has created within me the confidence that whenever I may be able to call in support of a similar disguise, a fluent utterance of Arabic, and a habitude of Oriental manners, I shall easily find means to triumph over such obstacles as those I met with in the Khan at Antakia. A few days after my arrival at Aleppo, I was attacked by a strong inflammatory fever which lasted a fortnight. The want of night’s rest occasioned by the quantity of vermin which had collected upon my person, principally during my stay in the Khan of Antakia, was, as I thought, the cause of it. I have enjoyed perfect health since that time, and the climate agrees with me better than I expected. _Aleppo, October 2nd,_ 1809.