'The Expedition for the survey of the rivers Euphrates and Tigris, carried on by order of the British government, in the years 1835, 1836, and 1837; preceded by geographical and historical notices of the regions situated between the rivers Nile and Indus. In four volumes. With fourteen maps and charts, and embellished with ninety-seven plates, besides numerous wood-cuts. Volume the first.' [‎434] (519/905)

434
CASTLE OF ALEPPO. [CHAP. XVIII.
Fortifications bridge leads into the interior through a narrow gallery
of the castle. ascen( ji n g i n a zig-zag direction to the top. Although much
injured by earthquakes, this is still a fine specimen of a work
belonging to the time of the crusaders, to which Saracenic
defences have since been added. A Cufic inscription over the
gate is dated in the sixth century of the Hijrah. The walls
and square towers follow the crest of the mound, and present
a double line of defence, there being, quite round the castle,
a loop-holed gallery beneath the parapet: the longer sides of
the structure, or those towards the south and north, have in
the centre of each a square tower rising from the bottom of
the ditch to the foot of the walls, and flanking the sides of the
mound. On the summit there is another tower about 60
feet high, which no doubt was constructed for a look-out
place; and certainly it commands a most extensive view,
especially towards the Beilan mountains. At a considerable
depth, and nearly in the centre of the castle, there is a well
with a sloping descent like that at Cairo, which gives a com
munication with the two towers defending the ditch, and also
with some subterranean apartments. In the latter there
were, at the period of my visit to Aleppo in 1832, several
balistse, catapultse and other weapons, such as bows and
arrows, which appear to have remained there since the
evacuation of the place by the croises. There were besides
some interesting specimens of ancient ordnance, consisting of
guns, each roughly formed of iron bars hooped and welded
together, so as to form an imperfect bore. Probably this
rude kind of instrument was used by the Turks before they
cast heavy artillery. 1 But a still earlier attempt to employ
gunpowder in war is understood to have been made by this
people in Egypt, where there exists a kind of mortar formed
by excavating a rock.
Appearance of The lofty castle, the barracks, and the fortified serai, called
Abu Bekr, of the Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , together with the graceful minarehs
1 In 1453 Sultdn Muhammed caused an immense piece of ordnance, carry
ing a stone shot weighing 600 lbs., to be cast at Adrianople, from whence it
was transported to assist in the siejje of Constantinople.— Gibbon, Decline
and Fall, chap. Ixviii.