There is no news from the desert; the Wahabi, being fully occupied in opposing the forces of Mohammed Aly, have been obliged to give up for the present their plundering expeditions against Syria. The hopes of re-establishing the pilgrim caravan to Mekka is entertained only by those fanatic Turks, who, from the discontinuance of it, prognosticate the fall of the empire. The important English coffee trade, opened within the last twelve months, between Malta and the Levant, considerably lessens the desire of the Hadj in the minds of all those who were in the habit of performing the pilgrimage merely in order to buy up Mocha coffee at Mekka, which they sold with great profits at Damascus, Aleppo, and Constantinople. The greater half of the pilgrims were merchants of coffee and India goods. At present American coffee has entirely supplanted that of Yemen all over Syria and the Syrian desert. _7th of June._ I have tarried so long at Damascus principally in order to get a letter of recommendation for Kerek, from a Damascene, who was out of town. Kerek is a considerable village to the east of the Dead Sea, where I shall probably stay a few days, for it is from thence that I must look for a conveyance to Suez. I hope to be at Cairo about the 20th of July. _Cairo, Sept. 12th,_ 1812. I hasten to announce to you my arrival at Cairo. The last letter I had the honour of addressing to you was from Damascus, of the 30th of May; I did not leave that city until the 18th of June, and arrived here on the 4th of September, in perfect health, but considerably worn by the fatigues of the road and the intense heat of the season. The following is a short sketch of my journey, the further details of which I shall transmit to you in a short time.