MONRO'S SUMMER RAMBLE IN SYRIA.

TILE Reverend VERE MUNRO must have the organ of locomotion well developed. He appears to have visited Spain, Italy, Greece, Egypt, and Ethiopia, without any other perceptible impulse than to gratify his innatus amor of rambling. Finding himself at Cairo in March 1833, in a state for travelling,—that is, in "sound health, and with a happy temper,"—he proceeded to in- quire for the third essential, "a good servant ;" and gives a very pleasant account of his adventures in the search. Having picked tip a Pole by birth but an Oriental by education, who was com- pelled to leave Cairo in a given time on account of the expected return of his late master, a Bey, whose harem he was suspected of having visited, a favourable engagement was entered into with this gallant ; and Mr. MUNRO next made arrangements with an Arab Sheikh to take him to Mount Sinai. " Hemet the Just," however, turned out a scamp. He in various ways disappointed our divine; who had to threaten a thrashing before he could re- cover his earnest-money. The first effect of the balk having sub- sided, Mr. MUNRO'S professional skill came to his aid, and he hugged himself on the risk he had escaped— In meditating a journey through the confines of Edom, I had overlooked the- prophetic denunciations against any who should traverse it, no literally and wonderfully enforced up to the present hour. " None shall pass through it for ever and ever." "I will cut off from Mount Seir him that passeth out, and him that returneth." The repeated and persevering attempts of travellers to explore Idunixa have always proved abortive, except in two instances. Seetzen did "pass through," and died soon after at Aleppo; Burekhardt penetrated into it but turned aside in dismay, and died soon after at Cairo.

After expatiating at some little length on this point, liken sound divine, our author, like a still better traveller, starts off without delay to the banks of the Nile; and in two hours was under weigh for Damietta. At this place lie hired an open boat to take him to Jaffa ; but after tossing about some eight-and-forty hours in a tremendous sea, Mr. MUNRO was landed at Acre. He thence set off for Jerusalem ; and visited the places mentioned in the Bible as the scenes of remarkable events, and identified by

credulity relying on tradition. Having exhausted the wonders of Palestine, he phssed on to Damascus ; where he found the victorious Egyptians had established liberality by force of arms, and placed the hat on a level with the turban. From Damascus- he proceeded across Lebanon to Antioch ; pleasantly mingling— as indeed lie does throughout his journey—things sacred and profane, now discoursing of a Bible relic, now of an historical antique, sometimes sketching the scenes and persons lie en- counters, sometimes telling of his dilemmas and how lie conquered them. A detachment of the Egyptian army was quartered at Antioch ; and the Reverend VERE MUNRO dined on camp fare with the European " instructors," and accompanied some of them to Tarsus, in order if possible to cash a bill. Getting advice from the French and Austrian Consuls instead of money, lie put him- self on board a boat destined to carry the wounded soldiers to Tri- poli, with the intention of making another attempt at raising the wind and penetrating the country ; but he had scarcely arrived, when an anxious father introduced himself to his notice, and be- sought our reverend friend to accompany him to Aleppo on business connected with a wedding. Mr. MUNRO is not the man to refuse any thing to the ladies; so to Aleppo lie went; and thence galloped with a Tartar to Constantinople,—whose distant and near impres- sions he thus describes in his closing passage.

The first view of .Stamboul, in descending through the interminable forest of cypress, does not disappoint even the most sanguine expectations, however long and ardently they may have been cherished. Her domes and minarets rise above each other, and yet seem as if based upon the deep blue water of the Bosphorus, where the flag of every nation under heaven is waving fi om vessels of the largest bulk, and the slim delicate calque shoots like an arrow from shore to shore; while the gaudy-vested people, like painted insects, moving to and fro, charm the eye and beguile the imagination, till a phantom flits before it, as of some enchanted isle, where all is beauty, gayety, and bliss. And now the aeiial calque wafts you, with the rapidity of thought, to the stairs of Topana, eager to enter upon anticipated joys; when suddenly you awaken from the dream, and find that instead of the halls of Circe, you are enticed into her sty. Chagrin and horror displace all other feelings. In the steep streets of I'era all nature is offensive; from fairy visions you are roused to a dread of the plague, and shrink from every object around you as if death were in its touch : yet in spite of the nicest caution, you are hustled at each step by swaggering Turks, mangy dogs, squalid Jews, lying Greeks, lousy Arabs, cheating Franks, and women wandering in grave.clothes.

As Mr. MUNRO is not in any sense a scientific traveller, and as lie journeyed over a country which has been pretty well trodden of late years, lie cannot be said to have added any thing to the existing stock of knowledge: but his narrative forms a pleasant addition to the shelves allotted to Travels in our Library. The writer has the good temper and good spirits that spring from ex- cellent health, and throws the results of these qualities into his composition; which is off-hand, rattling, and at times both graphic and pointed. He also appears to be something of a cha- racter, with decided opinions, verging to prejudices, upon certain points ; and this is displayed in his pages. Finally, he is an old Mager, who makes light of difficulties that would destroy the happiness and fill the pages of most novices : but, whilst cheer- fully bearing irremediable evils, he takes care to submit to nothing which his own address or the firman of the ruler of Egypt can remedy.

In selecting extracts, we begin with that subject which seems to have been the only aim of the traveller in undertaking his journey—the present condition of places hallowed by Scriptural associations. As we cannot, however, go along with him in such matters as the fields where the Apostles picked the ears of corn, or the fountain where the star appeared to the Wise Men of the East, we must take something in which the present combines with the past.

FIRST VIEW OF JERUSALEM.

At eight home from liandeh, ascending from a valley among the mountains, .

we caught the first sight of Jerusalem, half a league distant. * P * The first exclamation which bursts forth, is that which prophecy has said shall be in the mouth of " all that pass,"—" Is this the city that men call the perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth ?" It is impossible that any delineation can be more just, or any image more vivid, than is contained in those few svords, "How doth the city rot solitary !" The sight carried across a tract of gray, desolate, and barren rock, rests upon a bare dead wall, above which little is seen except the tops of a few Turkish mosques. At this time not a living creature was moving without the city, and, with the exception of the leaden green pro- duced by a few ragged olives, scarcely a sign of vegetation could be traced ; a deathlike silence settled upon the rocky waste ; and the city placed upon an eminence, as if an object for observation, presented one of the most gloomy and melancholy spectacles that the fancy could paint.

PILGRIMS BAPTIZING IN JORDAN.

The river here forms an angle, having its bank covered with long coarse grass, tall reeds, oleanders, tamarisks, and low brushwood. The width of it might be thirty-five yards, and the stream was running with the precipitous fury of a rapid. The bank was steep, shelving off abruptly to deep water. The first who prepared himself was a Russian, with hair of enormous length ; ' who having stripped and enveloped himself in a long new shirt,* dropped care- fully in, and holding on by the grass, dipped and shook himself, and dipped again, much after the manner of a duck that presages of wet weather.

The sun was rising over the tops of Abarim, and the river bank presented one of the most unprejudiced scenes which it has ever been my lot to witness. The main body of the pilgrims had arrived, and a general undressing commenced. There were men of all sizes and seasons, from the tottering octogenarian to the crawling bambino, who being immersed with its head back and its mouth open, filled and bubbled like a bottle : ladies of all ages and angles, colours and calibres, from the Caireen Copt to the fair-skinned Russian. Of the men, some crept cautiously in, and reflected a moment before they went under; others leaped spinning in like wheels, and returning to the land repeated again and again the same performance. Of the lovelier creatures, some bounced daunt- less in, and bolding fast between two men, were well ducked, and came smiling out again; others " went delicately," and standing ankle-deep in mud upon the brink, were baptized basins full of the sacred stream. Nor was it enough that their bodies were consecrated—all their clothes were plunged; and they drank the unconscious element, not each out of his own hands; but ont of these of a fellow-pilgrim, the two palms being joined together to form a cavity fur the liquid.; while bottles of every form and metal were filled fur distant markets.

Next to religion, the ladies chiefly occupied the divine's atten- tion; and a very able critic on beauty he is,—keen in perception, enthusiastic in praise, unsparing in censure. Many refined or pungent judgments are scattered throughout his book; but we cannot spare room for more than one. Here is a description of a Christian harem at Damascus ; to which he got access by the means of " Padre Manoel, a lively, laughing, Spanish monk, ' who presented him in several ; physic and divinity being privileged professions.

The women of Damascus are small, but extremely beautiful ; with hair of glossy black, fair complexions, and eyes whose brightness streams upon and dazzles the beholder, who, thus rendered defenceless, is exposed to an unerring shaft. Though sometimes black, their eyes arc more frequently of a deep blue ; but not as in our Northern regions, where the full dark eyes and raven locks of the brunette indicate a morbid pulse and frigid temperament ; these, fired by their genial sun, glow, and speak, and breathe of passion ; • and those inquiring looks, which among European belles seem to be a laboured science, in them are the coruscations of nature, gleaming, penetrating, and warming, like the fierce beams that dart from the cloudless sky in

" The climes of the East and the land of the Sun ; "

and then they have withal such laughing faces, that their life should seem to be perpetual May. But it is their supreme bliss never to have courted the " folly '' of wisdom : with minds entirely uncultivated, they appear scarcely capable of understanding the plainest proposition; for the mouk, when lamenting to me their lost and unintellectual condition, said, that even compliments paid to their beauty were unintelligible to them; and these being the rudiments of knowledge in the " young ladies' book," it is to be supposed they know nothing.

In one house eight of these fair things were collected expecting our arrival, of which they had been previously apprized by the monk. When we entered the court, we found them throwing water upon the pavement and each other; but on seeing us they desisted, and scampered away laughing to the hareem. Padre Manuel, went his way, and I strolled through the divans, of which there were three. In one of them, a lovely girl about sixteen was sleeping out her siesta upon the cushions, with a Kashmere thrown over her. A babe reposed upon the snowy breast where late it fed ; and the infantine mother slept so sound, so softly, and so free from care, that it seemed unkindness to wake her to the world again : yet the deep azure of her eyes alliniug through their trans- parent lids excited so lively a curiosity to see them open, that I doubt if even Cymon's nascent " good manners" would not have given way, had such an 1phigenia slumbered in his .path. Having taken our seats in one of the divans, the whole party made their ap • prarance. In their dresses, plain and embroidered silk predominated, and seemed to form part of all that was external and visible. The trousers, very long and full, are worn close at the ankle; the bust low in front, exposing the bosom ; ,and over it is an embroidered robe in the manner of a surtout, with sleeves to the wrist, slashed and open from the elbow downwards. The turban is set !rather on one side, festooned with strings of pearls, enriched with brooches of turquoise and emeralds. A Kashmere or Bagdad scarf is wound loosely round ,0 This baptismal robe is preserved by each pilgrim to be used as his winding sheet ; sad they believe that if they are cast into hell it will not catch fire. They calculate shrewdly I the waist, and a little yellow slipper or a small white foot is seen below. I can- not like their painted toe-nails. Of these eight hourie, nearly all were either married or betrothed, although the eldest was only seventeen. The prettiest of them was a spinster, ripened by eleven summers, who, from her budding pro- mise of maturity,-might have passed in Europe for sixteen, though small of stature. She was nut yet betrothed ; a circumstance unusual in that country, where mothers ofttimes tell fewer years than Lady Capulet. As they entered, each kissed the holy father's hand ; when some ran off to do the honours of the house, and the rest staid to converse with us ; which they did without reserve, laughing, and asking questions of the customary Oriental tenor. Pipes having been brought, soon after came water full of sugar, and then coffee, black and bitter, without any ; sugar-plums, pastry, and in conclusion, rakkee.

We will close with an anecdote confirmatory of Mr. Moser commis?' MARTIN'S theory of the effect of the moon. We have all heard of changing the colour of the hair. Here is

A RECIPE FOR CHANGING THE HUE OF THE EYES.

My kind host allowed me to occupy a flat upon his house-top during my stay (at Aleppo), in preference to being confined in a room ; but the influence of the moon upon my head was so powerful, that whenever its beams reached me I was compelled to get up and move my mattress to some part of the hyptethral chamber which was in shade ; and it was easy to comprehend the full face of the Psalmist's prophetic promise, " The sun shall not burn thee by day, neither the moon by night." The injurious influence of the moon upon the eye in Eastern countries has been noticed by various travellers. In passing from Messina to the coast of Calabria with Messrs. Wordsworth, Errington, and Menzies, the Captain of our spironara had eyes of so light a blue as to be unnatural in appearance. He said it was occasioned by having slept under the moon's beams.