A very extraordinary accident happened the third day after our arrival, which had like to have put an end to all our pur suits in this and every other part of the world. We had been in the morning to visit Djezzar, and had passed the day in viewing the bezesten (a covered place for shops, very inferior to that of Constantinople or of Moscow,) the custom house, and some other objects of curiosity in the place. Signor Ber tocino, interpreter to the pacha, and the imperial consul, Mr. Catafago, came to dine with us on board the Romulus. In the evening we accompanied them on shore, and took some coffee in the house of the consul, where we were introduced to the ladies of his family. We were amused by seeing his wife, a very beautiful woman, sitting cross-legged by us upon the divan of his apartment, and smoking tobacco with a pipe six feet in length. Her eyelashes, as well as those of all the other women, were tinged with a black powder made of the sulphuret of antimony, and having by no means a cleanly ap pearance, although considered as essential an addition to the decorations of a woman of rank in Syria, as her ear rings, or the golden cinctures of her ankles. Dark streaks were also penciled, from the corners of her eyes, along the temples. This curious practice instantly brought to our recollection certain passages of scripture, wherein mention is made of a custom among oriental women of "putting the eyes in painting ;" and which our English translators of the bible,* unable to reconcile with their notions of a female toilet, have rendered "painting the face." Whether the interesting conversation to which the observance of this custom gave rise, or any other cause prevented the consul from informing us of an order of the pacha, is now of no moment, but it was after the hour of eight when we left his hospitable mansion to return on board the Romulus and Djezzar had decreed that no boat should pass the bar of the inner harbour after that hour. The crew of the longboat were pulling stoutly for the ship, when, just as we were rowing beneath the tower of the battery that guards the inner harbour, a volley of large stones came like cannon shot upon us from above, dashed the oars from the hands of our sailors, and wounded three of them severely. It is very fortunate none of their brains were beat out, for some of the stones weighed several pounds. The cries of our wounded men gave us the first alarm, and presently another volley drove us

*2 Kings, ix. 30. "And when Jehu was come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it, and she painted her face, and tired ber head," &c.

back with all possible speed toward the shore. Not one of us who sat in the stern of the boat received any injury. Captain Culverhouse, and Mr. Loudon, purser of the Romulus, ran for the consul: the rest of us rushed into the ground floor of the watch tower whence the attack proceeded: it was a kind of guard room. Being the foremost of the party, I observed a man in the very act of descending from the tower into this place, evidently in some agitation. Having seized him by the collar, a struggle ensued: the other Arabs attempted to rescue him, and a general confusion prevailed, in the midst of which the consul and Captain Culverhouse entered the place. It was some time before any order could be restored; our party were determined not to give up the culprit we had secured; but the consul knowing him, and undertaking to be responsible for his appearance when called for, we retired, and went on board the Romulus.

Next morning, word was brought to the ship, that unless the captain went on shore, the man would be put to death. We accompanied him to the consul's house, and met the pacha's interpreter; but found that the whole was a fabrication; no notice had been taken of the event, and Djezzar was yet ignorant of the circumstance. Upon this, Captain Culverhouse returned to his ship; and sent me to inform the pacha, that he' should be compelled to have recourse to other measures, if the insult offered to his majesty's flag was not properly noticed; and that he would go no more on shore until this was done. Determined, therefore, that Djezzar should have due information of the outrage, I took with me the stones which were found in the longboat, tied in a sack; one of the wounded sailors, and a midshipman, being ordered to accompany me. Signor Bertocino met us upon the shore, assuring me that it was the hour when Djezzar always slept; that it would be certain death to any one of his slaves who should wake him: and having earnestly entreated me not to venture to the palace, he declined acting as interpreter. I resolved therefore to make myself understood without his aid; and ascended the staircase of the seraglio, toward the door of the apartment wherein Djezzar had always received us. This I found shut. The guards, mute, or whispering, began their signs to us, as we advanced, not to make any noise. The young midshipman, however, as well as myself, began to knock at the door, and immediately every one of the guards fled. It was some time before any notice was taken of our summons;

but

at length the door was opened by a slave, appointed, as we were afterward informed, to keep flies from the pacha's face during his sleep, and who always remained with him, in the outer apartment of his charem, for this purpose, during the repose he took in the day. This man, after putting his finger to his lips, pushed us from the passage, saying, "Heida! heida, djour! hist! hist!" that is to say, "Begone, begone, infidel! hush! hush!" We called loudly for Djezzar; and presently heard the murmuring of the old pacha's voice in the inner apartment, somewhat milder than the growling of a bear roused from his repose, calling for his slave. As soon as he had been told the cause of the disturbance, he ordered us to be admitted. I presented myself foremost, with my sack of stones; and understanding enough of Arabic to comprehend him when he asked what was the matter, untied the cloth, and rolled them before him upon the floor; showing him, at the same time, our seaman's broken shins and wounded shoulder. Bertocino was now loudly called for by the pacha, and, of course, compelled to make his appearance; Djezzar making signs to me and to the young officer to remained seated by him until his interpreter arrived. As soon as Bertocino had placed himself, as usual, upon his knees, by the pacha's side, and informed him of the cause of our visit, an order was given to one of the attendants, to bring the captain of the guard instantly into Djezzar's presence. This man came: it appeared that his absence from his post the preceding evening had given occasion to the attack made upon the longboat; some of the fanatic Arabs thinking it a fine opportunity to strike a blow at a party of infidels. Nothing could exceed the expression of fury visible in Djezzar's countenance at this intelligence. It might have been said of him as of Nebuchadnezzar, "The form of his visage was changed." Drawing his dagger, he beckoned the officer-as Bertocino trembling said to us, "Now you will be satisfied!" "What," said I, "is he going to do ?" "To put to death that poor man," added be, and scarcely were the words uttered, than I, more terrified than any of the party, caught hold of Djezzar's arm; the midshipman adding his entreaties to mine; and every one of us earnestly supplicating pardon for the poor victim. All we could obtain, was permission from the pacha to have the punishment suspended until Captain Culverhouse was informed of the cir cumstance, who, coming on shore, saved the man's life; but nothing could prevail upon Djezzar to grant him a free pardon.

He was degraded from his rank as an officer, and we heard of him no more.

The next morning, an Albanian general was ordered into the mountains, with a party of cavalry, to act against the Druses. Djezzar, who sent for us to inform us of this circumstance, further told us, that he entertained some apprehensions on account of our journey to Jerusalem; but, said he, "I have already sent messengers into the country, that every precau tion may be used among the chiefs in the villages." He spoke also of the news he had received from Egypt, whereby he understood that the Vizier had retreated from before Caïro, on account of the plague. "This conduct," said he, might be justifiable in a Christian general, but it is disgraceful in a Turk.”* He then informed us that upon Mount Carmel he had found several thousand large balls, and never could discover a cannon to fit them; but that a peasant had found a fieldpiece, which Buonaparte had concealed previously to his leaving the country, capable of receiving every one of those balls. During this conversation, which lasted about an hour, interlarded, on the part of Djezzar, with a more than ordinary allowance of aphorisms, truisms, and childish stories, he was occupied, as usual, in cutting paper into various shapes; such as those of coffee pots, pipes, cannon, birds, and flowers. At last, his engineer coming to consult him concerning the improvements he imagined himself making in the fortifications of Acre, we took that opportunity to retire. Some notion may be formed of his talents in fortification, by simply relating the manner in which those works were carried on. He not only repaired the memorable breach caused by the French, and so ably defended by Sir Sidney Smith, but directed his engineers to attend solely to the place where the breach was effected, regardless of all that might be wanted elsewhere. "Some persons," said he, putting his finger to his forehead, "have a head for these matters, and some have not. Let us see whether or

Alluding to the predestinarian doctrines of the Mahometans, who consider all endeavours to escape coming events as impious and heretical,

† We supposed that, by these balls. Djezzar alluded to mineral concretions, of a spheroïdal form, found in that mountain. As the Turks make use of stones instead of cannon shot, it is probable that Djezzar, who was in great want of ammunition, had determined upon using the stalagmites of Carmel for that purpose. Maundrell, however, speaks of having seen, in the fields near Acre, "large balls of stone, of at least thirteen or fourteen inches diameter, which were part of the ammunition used in battering the city; guns being then unknown." See Journ. from Aleppo to Jerusalem. p. 54. Oxf. 1721. Egmont and Heyman saw, within the walls of the castle," several large stone bullets, thrown into it by means of some military engine now unknown." Trav through part of Europe, &c. vol. i. p. 335. Lond. 1759.

not Buonaparte will make a breach there again. A breach is a breach, and a wall is a wall!"

The bath of Acre is the finest and best built of any that we saw in the Turkish empire. We all bathed here, during our stay. Every kind of antique marble, together with large pillars of Egyptian granite, might be observed among the materials of its construction. A great quantity of cotton is exported from this place. The country abounds in cattle, corn, olives, and linseed. In almost every town of Syria there is a fabric for the manufacture of soap; but every thing depends upon the will of the pacha: the produce of the land was exported, or not, as it pleased Djezzar, who cared very little for consequen ces. His avarice, it is true, prompted him to increase the income of his custom houses, but his ignorance, as it was observed of him by Baron de Tott, prevented his discovering, that "speculations of revenue, when they strike at industry, cannot, for that reason, ever be calculated on any principles of commerce."

*

CHAP. XIII.

THE HOLY LAND-ACRE TO NAZARETH. Commencement of the Author's Journey in the Holy LandCamp of Djezzar Pacha's Cavalry-Cavalcade for the Expedition-Syrian Tents-River Belus-Plants-SHEFHAMER-Reception by the Agha-Grave of an Egyptian form -Plain of Zabulon-SAPPHURA, or SEPPHORIS-MedalsDruses-State of Christianity in the Holy Land-Church of St. Joachim and St. Anne-Gothic Remains-Discovery of Ancient Pictures-Their probable Age-Country be tween Sephoury and Nazareth-Dress of the Arabs-Alarm of the Plague-NAZARETH-Condition of the InhabitantsFountain of the Virgin-Custom illustrating a saying of our Saviour-Franciscan Convent-Pretended Miracle-Superstitions of the Country-Empress Helena-Other Objects of Reverence in Nazareth-Mensa Christi-Environs of the Town-Ordinary Penance of Travellers in the Holy Land. Uron the third of July, we began our journey to Jerusalem; intending first to visit all those places in Galilee rendered re

*Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 326. ed. Lond. 1785,