the last, it is chiefly celebrated as the scene of the defeat and death of Marcus Licinius Crassus, who formed the first triumvirate with Pompey and Cæsar. After crossing the Euphrates in his march against the Parthians, he was met in the plain of Carræ by the Parthian general Surena, by whom the Roman army was defeated, with the loss of twenty thousand killed, ten thousand taken prisoners, and the death of Crassus, their leader.*

This city must have been in a state of ruin at a very early period; for, when the Rabbi Benjamin travelled through Mesopotamia, it seemed to be quite desolate.† There did not then remain a single edifice standing in the place where Abraham, our father, (says the pious Jew,) had his dwelling. The Ismaelites, or Bedouins, however, came there often

* Plutarch's Lives, 1. iii. c. 11. Lucan, 1. i. v. 105. Pliny, 1. v. c. 14.

+ The following is a singular account given of the sort of masonry observed in constructing the buildings of Carrhæ, or Haran, which, if correct, might account for their early and total decay :-" At Carrha, a city of Arabia, all the walls thereof, as also the houses of the inhabitants, are reared and built of salt stones, and the same are laid of mason's work, and the joints closed and soldered by no other mortar than plain water.”—Pliny Nat. Hist. b. xxxi. c. 7.

to pray, as they do now to shelter their flocks.*

On descending from the castle, and passing by the lake of Ain el Zilkah, I was shewn a small white worm, about six inches in length, and the size of whipcord in girth, which is used here successfully as a leech, and found in great numbers in these waters. It attached itself by one end only to any substance on which it was placed; but when in motion, no difference could be perceived between that particular end and the other.

Our afternoon was passed at another Mohammedan house, in a large party, until sunset, as it is the fashion among the higher ranks here to sup early, soon after El Assr, or about four o'clock, in order to distinguish themselves from the vulgar, who cannot enjoy that meal until after Muggrib, or dark, when their labours of the day are over; so different are their notions of fashion, as to hours, from those which prevail in Europe.

It was cool and agreeable when we reached the outer khan, where we had hitherto slept; and after prayers, in which all the Moslems

* Voyage de Benjamin de Tudele-Bergeron's Collection.

joined in couples, under the direction of an Imaum, or leader, our evening was closed with the same festive gaiety as that which marked the preceding ones of our stay here.

CHAPTER VI.

FURTHER DETENTION AT ORFAH:

INTERIOR

OF THE CITY, GARDENS, AND ENTERTAIN

MENTS.

JUNE 8th.-The business of the caravan being closed, and all the purchases and sales, which had occasioned our detention here, effected, we were preparing for our departure to-night, when information was brought us, by some people who had themselves been robbed on the road, that the Beni-Saood, or Wahābees, had made an incursion to the northward, and were now encamped, in considerable numbers, by the way.

These predatory Arabs were represented to be, in their persons, dress, manner of living, and religious tenets, every thing that was hideous, frightful, and savage; their extraordinary capacity of going, like their camels,