the oldest writer by whom Rama is mentioned.* Bernard visited the Holy Land in the ninth century. Oriental geographers describe it as the metropolis of Palæstine, In this place the famous tutelar Saint of our ancestors in England is said, by some, to have suffered martyrdom; although, according to most authors, his reliques reposed in a magnificent temple at Lydda or Diospolis. We observed the remains of very considerable edifices within this desolated city: no one was present to give us any information concerning them; even the monastery, which for centuries had entertained pilgrims at Rama,* ** was deserted and left to ruin. Its distance from Jerusalem, usually estimated at a day's journey,ff is described by Phocas as equal to thirty-six or thirty-seven miles.‡‡ Phocas distinguishes Armathem, the native place of the prophet Samuel, from Ramola, or Rama, with which Adrichomius seems to have confounded it; and places the Church of St. George within the latter city; which position, although disputed by Reland and other authors, not only seems to coincide with the testimony already given from the Alexiad of Anna Comnena, but also with the evidence afforded by Bernard the Monk, who mentions a monastery of St. George near Ramula.|||| There is not a part of the Holy Land more fertile than the plain around Rama; it resembles a continual garden; but cultivation had been neglected at the time of our arrival, on account of the dreadful plague with which the whole country had been infested. Rama and Lydda were the two first cities of the Holy Land that fell into the hands of the Christians, *Palæst, Illust. tom. II. p. 959. Utr. 1714. A. D. 870. His Itinerary was published by Mabillon, in the " Acta Sanctorum Ordinis Benedicti," printed at Paris in 1672. It follows Areulfe's Itinerary, as given by Adamnanus, abbot of Iona. These are Bernard's words: “Deinde venerunt Alarixa; de Alarixa in Ramula, juxta quam est Monasterium beati Georgii Martyris, ubi ipse requiescit." Bernardus de Locis Sanctis, ap. Mabill. p. 524. "Abulhasen Persa in geographia sua MSta vocat Ramolam caput Palaestinae." Rel. Pal. Illust. tom. 11. p. 959 Utr. 1714. § Εἶτα ἐκεῖθεν κατέλαβον τὸ Ῥάμελ, ἐν ᾧ καὶ ὁ μεγαλομάρτος Γεώργιος μεμαρτύρηκε. "Postea tamen in Ramel transeunt, ubi magnus Martyr Georgius martyrium subiit." Annae Comnenae Alexiad. lib. xi. p. 328. Par. 1651. See the long account given by Adamnanus, de Loc. Sanet: lib. iii. c. 4. Apud Mabillon, Acta Ord. Benedict. Saec. 3. p. 520. Par. 1672. Also Quaresm tom. II. P. 9. Antv. 1639, &c. **Hospitantur enim Peregrini in ea domo, quae Nicodemi Christi oceultidiscipuli fuit. Haec domus in Monasterium fuit co-aptata, nunc et Monasterium, et Hospitium, Peregrinorum est." Bonifacius, lib. ii. de Perenni Cultu Terrae Sanctae. tt Abesse ab urbe Hierosolymitana iter unius diei." Rel. Pal. Illust. tom. II. 960. Utr. 1714 ‡‡ Phocae Descript. Terr. Sanct. c. 29. p. 44. Colon. 1653. Theatrum Terr. Sanct. p. 29. Colon. 1628. mola." Lyddam sive Diospolin intelligit, quae patria est S: Georgii non longe a Ra- when the army of the Crusaders arrived. Rama was then in its greatest splendour; a magnificent city, filled with wealth and abundance of all the luxuries of the east. It was exceedingly populous, adorned with stately buildings, and well fortified with walls and towers. The princes and generals of the Christian army, having despatched the Count of Flanders, with five hundred cavalry, to reconnoitre the place, and sum. mon the city to surrender, found the gates open; the inhabi tants, alarmed by the sudden approach of so powerful an army, had abandoned their dwellings and all their property during the preceding night. In consequence of this, a genesal rendezvous of the Christian forces took place in Rama, where they remained during three entire days, regaling themselves upon the abundance the place afforded. During this time, Robert of Normandy was elected bishop of Rama and Lydda, to which bishopric all the revenues of the two cities and their dependencies were annexed; the whole army joining in thanksgiving to St. George, the Martyr and patron Saint of Diospolis and Rama, to whom the auspicious commencement of the enterprise was attributed. Hence probably originates the peculiar consideration in which St. George* was held by the inhabitants of England, during the early periods of its history. A more revolting sight can hardly be imagined than was presented during all the rest of our journey to Jaffa. The road was entirely strewed with dead bodies. Not a plantation was to be seen but traces of the deadly contagion were also visible. In the general mortality, a valuable and much lamented British officer, General Kleber, of the artillery, attached to the suite of the Vizier, together with his wife, be came its victims. They had visited Jerusalem; and had occupied the apartment afterward allotted to our use, in the convent of St. Salvador. Upon their return to Jaffa the fatal symptoms were speedily manifested. Other artillery officers, who were also stationed in Jaffa at that time, informed us, that General Kleber soon became delirious, and very ungovernable, insomuch that they were compelled to confine him to his chamber. His lady, from the inevitable consequences of the pious offices she rendered to the general, was seized nearly at the same time; and, although unable, like another Eleonora, to save the life of her husband, by taking to herself the morbid venom, was not less conspicuous as an example of conjugal vir Cry-God for Harry! England! and St. George Hen: V. act 3. stene 3. tue. They expired together, insensible of the horrors of their situation, and were thereby spared the agonizing spectacle of each other's sufferings. Jaffa appeared to be almost in as forlorn a state as Rama; the air itself was still infected with the smell of unburied bodies. We went to the house of the English Consul, whose gray hairs had not exempted him from French extortion. He had just ventured to hoist again the British flag upon the roof of his dwelling; and he told us, with tears in his eyes, that it was the only proof of welcome he could offer to us, as the French officers, under Buenaparte, had stripped him of every thing he possessed. However, in the midst of all his complaints against the French, not a single syllable ever escaped his lips respecting the enormities supposed to be committed, by means of Buonaparte's orders or connivance, in the town and neighbourhood of Jaffa. As there are so many living witnesses to attest the truth of this representation, and the character of no ordinary individual is so much implicated in its result, the utmost attention will be here paid to every particular likely to illustrate the fact; and for this especial reason, because that individual is c our enemy. At the time we were in Jaffa, so soon after the supposed transactions are said to have occurred, the indignation of our consul, and of the inhabitants in general, against the French, were of so deep a nature, that there is nothing they would not have said, to vilify Buonaparte, or his officers: but this accusation they never even hinted.* Nor is this all. Upon the evening of our arrival at Jaffa, walking with Captain Culverhouse along the shore to the south of the town, in order to join some of our party who *Some years after. Captain Wright, who is now no more, waited upon the author at Ibbotson's hotel, in Vere street, London, to give an account of what he jocosely termed his scepticism upon this subject; when these and the following particulars were related to him, and an appeal made to the testimony of Captain Culverhouse, Mr. Cripps, Mr. Loudon, and others who were with us in Jaffa, as to the fact, Captain Wright still maintained the charge; and the author, finding the testimony affarded by himself and his friends Ilable to give offence, reserved all he had to say upon the subject until it should appear in its proper place, as connected with the history of his travels; always, however, urging the same statement, when appealed to for information. A few months after Captain Wright's visit, Captain Culverhouse, who had been employed in a distant part of the kingdom, recruiting for the navy, came to London, and meeting the author in public company at table, asked him, with a smile, what he thought of the reports circulated concerning the massacre, &c. at Jaffa. The author answered by saying, that it had long been his intention to write to Captain Culverhouse upon the subject, and that it was very gratifying to him to find the purport of his letter so satisfactorily anticipated. Captain Culverhouse then, before the whole company present, expressed his astonishment at the industrious propagation of a story, whereof the inhabitants of Jaffa were ignorant, and of which he had never heard a syllable until his arrival in England. The author knows not where this story originated; nor is it of any consequence to the testimony be thinks it now a duty to communicate. were gone in search of plants and shells, a powerful and most offensive smell, as from dead bodies, which we had before experienced more than once, in approaching the town, caused us to hesitate whether we should proceed or return. At this moment the author observed the remains of bodies in the sand aud Captain Culverhouse, being in doubt whether they belonged to human bodies or to those of cattle, removed a part of the sand with his sword, and uncovered part of a hand and arm. Upon this, calling to our friends, we told them what we had discovered; and returning to the consul's house, asked him the cause of the revolting spectacle we had witnessed. He told us, that these were the remains of bodies carried thither, during the late plague, for interment; but that the sea, frequently removing the sand which covered them, caused them to be thus exposed; and he cautioned us in future against walking that way, as the infection might possibly be retained, not only by those bodies, but by the clothes and other things there deposited. Joppa, called also Japha, and now universally Jaffa, owes all the circumstances of its celebrity, as the principal port of Judæa, to its situation with regard to Jerusalem. As a station for vessels, its barbour is one of the worst in the Mediterranean. Ships generally anchor about a mile from the town, to avoid the shoals and rocks of the place.* In ancient times it was the only place resorted to as a seaport, in all Judæa. Hither Solomon ordered the materials for the temple to be brought from Mount Libanus, previous to their conveyance by land to Jerusalem. A tradition is preserved, that here Noah lived and built his ark. Pliny describes it as older than the deluge. In his time they pretended to exhibit the marks of the chains with wich Andromeda was fastened to a rock: the. skeleton of the sea monster, to whom she had been exposed, was brought to Rome by Scaurus, and carefully preservedt *"Minus tutus est, et non nisi parva navigia admittit. Nec etiam celebris est, quoniam propter portus incommoditatem haud multae merces illuc advebuntur." Quaresm Eluc. T. S. tom. II. p. 5. Anty. 1639. Joppe Phonicum, antiquior terrarum inundatione." Hist. Nat. lib. v. č. 13. tom. I. p. 262. L. Bat. 1635. Julius Solinus in Polyhistor. cap. 37. Norimb. 1777. The ribs were forty feet in length; and from the account given of the animal, it was probably a whale. Vid. Abulensis in cap. 14. Exod. quaest. 11. Quaresm. Eluc. T. S. tom. II. p. 5. Antv. 1639. Strab. Geog. lib. i. et xvi. Pomponius Mela, lib. i. cap. 11, &c. Thus we have evidence of whales in this sea, without having recourse to the testimony of sacred scripture. Mr. Briant, however, in his "Observations upon some passages in scripture, which the enemies of religion have thought most obnoxious," &c. 4to. pp. 243, 244, 245, is of the opposite opinion. But if he be right with respect to the single whale in the Mediterranean, how came that fish, from earliest times, to have been proving that every church has had its reliques, so universal is a passion for the marvellous. Some authors ascribe the origin of Jaffa to Japhet, son of Noah, and thence derive its name. However fabulous such accounts may be now deemed, they afford proof of the great antiquity of the place; having been recorded by historians, for so many ages, as the only traditions extant concerning its origin. Jaffa is also celebrated as the port whence the prophet Jonas embarked for Nineveh.* Here also St. Peter restored Tabitha to life.† In the time of St. Jerom it was called Japhot Doubdan gives a long account of its history in later times. It was fortified in the beginning of the thirteenth century, by Louis, king of France.|| An Arab fisherman at Jaffa, as we were standing upon the beach, came running to us with a fish he had just taken out of the water, and, from his eagerness to show what he had caught, we supposed it could not be very common. It was like a small tench, but of a dark and exceedingly vivid green colour, such as we had never seen before nor since; neither is it described by any author we are acquainted with. We had no means of preserving it, and therefore would not deprive the poor man of an acquisition with which he seemed so delighted, but gave him a trifle for the gratification its very extraordinary ap pearance afforded us, and left it in his hands. Notwithstanding the desolate appearance of the town, its market surprised us, by the beauty and variety of the vegetables it exhibited. Melons of every sort and quality were sold in such number, that boats from all the coast of Syria came to be freighted with them. Among these, the watermelons were in such perfection, that, after tasting them at Jaffa, those of any other country are not like the same fruit.** Finding that the vessel sent by an object of worship at Joppa, unless, as Pliny relates, Joppa had been founded before the deluge. See p. 24. But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish." Jonah i.. 3. † Acts ix. 40. Adrichom Theat. Terr. Sanct. p. 23. Colon. 1628. Voyage de la Terre Saincte, p. 496. Paris, 1657. A. D. 1250. Vid. Adrichom. Theat. T. S. ubi supra. **We found near Jaffa four undescribed plants, with several others that were rare The new species were as follow: I. A non-descript species of PLANTAGO, with flat linear curved leaves, about two, or two and a half, inches long, bristly on both sides, and at the edges the flower stalks hoary, with flat pressed hairs, and rising above the leaves: the spikes cylindrical, a little curved. from one to two inches and a half long: the stamens longer than the blossom, but much shorter than the woolly style. This species seems to come nearest to the plantago cylindrica of Forskahl, which is unknownto us. We have called it PLANTAGO SETOSA. Plantago foliis linearibus planis strinque marginibusque setoso-asperis; scapis pilis adpressis canescentibus folfie |