'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.' [‎544] (635/905)

544 POSTERITY OF THE FIRST SYRIANS, [CHAP. XXI.
Social state of or shoes. The women's dress is likewise of home manufacture,
that people. ^ ^ do ^ cover the face
The food is particularly simple, consisting principally of
eggs, milk, and coarse bread, with a large proportion of
cucumbers, water-melons, and other vegetables. They appear
to be unacquainted with the tenets of the Koran; and, not
having any knowledge of a sabbath, their mysterious rites
have been thought to be connected with some kind of idolatry ;
be this, however, as it may, it is but right to observe that,
during our lengthened intercourse with this people, we almost
invariably found them well disposed, and of a particularly
gentle and retiring disposition. Indeed, before the arrival of
the Egyptian Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , the existence of this branch of the Syrian
people scarcely seems to have been known.
Cause of their Probably as far back as the time of Abraham, the Zeugmas
beinguntnixed. of g ume .. gat and gireh-Jik afforded, as at present, convenient
passages from Mesopotamia ; whilst that of Thapsacus, which
is more to the south, may have been the route of Jacob; and
the latter subsequently gave to the invaders of Syria a direct
road of 45 miles to Aram Zobah. As the communications
appear to have been constant, and the warlike inroads from
Assyria frequent, the population along the line of the great
route towards Southern Syria was subject to repeated and
sweeping changes, while the recesses of the mountains west
ward of this line continued long undisturbed. No road
traversed this part of the territory; and whilst Epiphania,
or Hamath the Great, and other places more eastward,
communicated with Assyria, Tadmor, Damascus, &c., the
inhabitants of the deep valleys on the slopes of Mount Casius
and the Amanus were, in all probability, excluded from any
intercourse with their neighbours; hence they have continued
almost intact, notwithstanding the various changes caused by
the wars of the Arabians, Turks, and Christians, as well as
the influx of the Kurds, Turkomans, and other people. The
other parts of Syria having been invaded by the Persians,
Greeks, Romans, Saracens, Crusaders, and Turks, the inha
bitants consist of many different races, who still preserve their
particular habits and manners.