'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.' [‎445] (530/905)

CHAP. XVIII.]
COMMERCE OF ALEPPO.
445
Besides the change caused by opening a route to India Former state of
round the Cape of Good Hope, there has been, from other ^ commerce -
causes, a considerable decrease in the commerce of Aleppo.
Formerly there were in the city 40 Venetian and as many
as 18 or 20 French mercantile houses, chiefly in connexion
with Marseilles, while only two or three were English; and
scarcely 80 years ago there were six caravans which pro
ceeded annually to Baghdad: the largest consisted of nearly
12,000 camels, and the smaller from 5000 to 6000; so that
about 50,000 camels left Aleppo annually, besides those which
went to Damascus, Beirut, Kurdistan, and Asia Minor.
Whereas, in 1832, the number scarcely exceeded 6000; the
French establishments were reduced to one or two agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent.
houses, and there was but one regular British establish
ment.
Being placed between the river Euphrates on one side, and ^
the Mediterranean Sea on the other, with the advantage of state,
easy land communications to countries lying southward,
northward, and eastward, Aleppo is admirably suited for
commerce, but its inhabitants want the address necessary to
excite in their simple neighbours, the Kurds, Turkomans,
and Arabs, a taste for the conveniences and luxuries which
commerce would supply. The towns of Edlip, Antioch,
Mar'ash, Ain-tab, Orfah, Diyar Bekr, and Mardin, though
well-situated as depots for articles of merchandise, are destitute
of proper European agents j and it may be added that a want
of information respecting the topography of the district has
hitherto, in a great measure, prevented commercial operations
from being extended beyond the walls of the city. In 1836,
when the merchants at Aleppo proposed to pay the compli
ment.of meeting the steamers then engaged in surveying the
river, and Balis was named as the most convenient place, they
were found to be ignorant even of its existence ; our visitors
were, in consequence, merely two travellers. Captains Craw
ford and Henderson of the Royal Artillery, who chanced to
be in the neighbourhood.
But, as the number of our mercantile establishments is in
creasing, more extensive dealings are likely to be undertaken;