The most untoward circumstances have prevented until now my long projected excursion into the desert towards the Euphrates. Since my last, I have been continually endeavouring to find means to re-enter the desert, with some degree of security, but the state of the country has always thrown insurmountable obstacles in my way. The neighbourhood of Aleppo has been infested since spring, until about a month ago, by great numbers of Aenezy Arabs, who had declared war against the towns people as well as against the Manali Arabs, who are looked upon as the hereditary friends of the Aleppo government. The Aenezy have ruined about forty villages, have eaten up the whole harvest of the open country, and have rendered the roads so insecure that nobody dares travel but in the company of a large caravan. I repeatedly tried to take some of the Aenezy for my guides, and had chosen one from each of the principal tribes who surrounded Aleppo, as the only means left to me to execute my design; but the exorbitant demands of these people greatly exceeded my powers, and I was moreover informed that the Aenezy had declared war upon the Arabs of the Zor, or valley of Euphrates, which was exactly the country I wished to visit; I was therefore obliged to wait till the Aenezy should have retired from this neighbourhood. It is now about a month since they returned into the interior of the desert, to meet the autumnal rains; and I am now on the point of setting out. A caravan arrived here a few days ago from Sokhne, a village in the desert, five days journey from hence on the Bagdad route. The people of that village, together with the inhabitants of Tedmor or Palmyra, bring to Aleppo once or twice every year alcali, which they collect in the desert. The day after tomorrow the caravan is to return to Sokhne, and I intend to proceed with it in order to visit from thence Deir, the ancient Thapsacus, and several ruined places which I have heard much spoken of. I intend to return if possible along the shores of the Euphrates, although I am afraid that the eternal quarrels of the Arabs of the Zor may put many obstacles in my stay. The Shikh of Sokhne, to whom I am strongly recommended, and to whom I carry some small presents, is a powerful man in those parts, and will certainly take care of my safe return to Aleppo; I shall then only remain as long in Aleppo as will be necessary to copy my Journal and put it in order, and proceed to Damascus, to trace my way from thence into Egypt round the Dead Sea. My present tour will take up about seven or eight weeks.[6]