I.

CHAP. of striking an Arab, unless with power to put him instantly to death; adding, "If you had been anywhere but in Djezzar's dominions, and under his protection, you would not have lived to tell the story. I know the inhabitants of this country better than any man, and have long found that they are not to be governed by halves. I have been deemed severe; but I trust you have found my name respected, and even beloved, notwithstanding my severity." This last observation was strictly true; for, in spite of all his cruelty, such was the veneration in which they held the name of Djezzar in the Holy Land, that many of the Arabs would have sacrificed their lives for him. As we were about to take leave, he acknowledged, for the first time, that he did not feel himself well, and complained of want of sleep; asking us if we perceived any change in his health. His Interpreter told us that he had never before known an instance of a similar confession; and augured, from this circumstance, that he would not long survive it; which proved to be true, although his death did not immediately follow'. His last moments

(1) He was afterwards visited by Colonel Squire, in company with Major Leake of the Artillery, and Mr. Hamilton. The last of these gentlemen, it seems, as Private Secretary of the Earl of Elgin, had some diplomatic arrangements to make with Djezzar, and wished to

gain

were characteristic of his former life. The person whom he fixed upon for his successor was

gain information with respect to the commerce and condition of Syria. These circumstances are related in Colonel Squire's MS, Journal, from which the following is an Extract.—The party sailed from Alexandria, on Monday, April the 5th, 1802; and came to anchor off the town of Caiffa on the morning of April the 9th.

At noon (April 9th) we went on shore, and endeavoured to see the Sheik (Governor) of Caiffa. At this moment we could not see him; for the day (Friday) being the Mohammedan Sabbath, he was engaged at the Mosque. In the interval, we proposed to make a small tour without the town; but we were told that the gates were then shut, and that they would not be opened until the prayers at the Mosque were ended: this, as it appears, is a custom in many parts of the East; for they fear that while the Mussulmen are engaged in the duties of their religion, the Christians may enter secretly, and take the place by surprise :-indeed, they have a tradition to this effect. After the noon-prayer was concluded, we had an audience of the Sheik, in a miserable smoked chamber; the key of which, after a great search and inquiry, was with some difficulty procured. He regaled us with coffee; and as there was only one extra pipe for the accommodation of his guests, it was passed from one person to another; and we smoked alternately. During our conference, an unfortunate swallow, which had taken up its abode in the Sheik's mansion, was constantly hovering over our heads*. In the course of conversation, the Sheik observed, that he was born near England, as he was a native of Algiers: he alluded to our fortress of Gibraltar; for the Turks consider all our foreign possessions as England. Ismael Pasha, a respectable Turk, declared he had been in England, because he had once visited Gibraltar. After coffee and pipes, we proceeded towards Mount Carmel. This mountain, which may perhaps be two hundred feet above the level of the sea, is covered with a variety of shrubs and aromatic plants, which may render the air as wholesome as it is fragrant and agreeable: the ascent was by a slope; and this, although now covered with weeds and brambles, appears to have been, formerly, a regular

⚫ For the universality of the superstition with regard to the swallow, the Reader is requested to refer to p. 265, and Note, of Vol. II. of these Travels, 8vo. edition; also to v. 149 of the Electra of Sophocles, where the same bird is called Alòs ǎyyeλos. See the end of Chap. vii. Vol. IV.

CHAP.

I.

CHAP. among the number of his prisoners. Having sent for this man, he made known his intentions

I.

a regular road to the Convent on its summit. In the beginning of the ascent, we observed a sort of grotto excavated in the rock. On the point immediately above the sea, are the remains of a well-built Monastery, which, since the appearance of the French in these countries, has been entirely destroyed by the Turks. Below this there is a smaller Convent. It is inhabited by a Turk, and its church has been converted into a mosque: it is excavated from out of the solid rock; being about fifty feet long, twenty-five feet wide, and twenty feet in height. On our return to Caiffa, along the sea-shore, at the foot of the mountain, we observed a range of Catacombs in the rock, which had probably been the burying-place of an antient town in the neighbourhood: on the floor of these Catacombs were cavities for the reception of bodies. Near this place is a tower of masonry, with five embrasures in the lower part, for the defence of the anchorage: at present, no guns are mounted there.

Cuiffa itself is a miserable village, close to the sea-side, and opposite to Acre: it is of an oblong figure; its longest side, parallel to the sea, being about two hundred yards; and its shortest, one hundred and fifty yards in length. It is completely inclosed by a stone wall about fifteen feet high, with square towers at the angles. On a small eminence immediately above the town, and completely commanding it, is a square tower, which, as well as the towers of Caiffa itself, has been dismantled of its guns by the Pasha of Acre, since the arrival of the French in Syria. From the summit of Mount Carmel the view of the Bay of Caiffa was picturesque in the extreme. On the opposite side was Acre; and beyond, the towering heights of the Anti-Lebanm, with a small chain of mountains intervening, which seemed to retire and lose themselves in the interior of the country. Bordering on the bay appeared an extensive plain, with the River Kishon meandering through the middle of it. From the roof of the Convent on the summit of Mount Carmel, Acre bore N. E. by N. distant seven miles; Mount Saphet, E. and by N. distant fifteen miles; a town on a projecting point on the coast, s. s. w. distant four miles. Mount Carmel consists of hard limestone, varied sometimes by thin strata of flint." On the 12th of April, Colonel Squire sailed from Caiffu for Acre. His Journal then continues.

"Wind E. S. E. light breezes. At half past six A. M. weigh anchor;

and

to him; telling him, at the same time, that he CHAP. would never enjoy a peaceful dominion while

and at half past seven, bring to at the entrance of the harbour of ACRE. A boat came from the town, which undertook to bring the vessel into the harbour. Our pilot, it appeared, was a sort of harbourmaster, and has constantly twenty men employed for his assistance. As soon as the vessel was moored, the Captain of the port stripped himself, made a dive under the vessel's bottom, and told us there were four feet of water between the keel and the anchoring ground. The man was extremely old; and we were surprised at his activity and attention: however, upon inquiry, he said, that he obeyed the orders of Djezzar, who would immediately take off his head should an accident happen to any ships moored in the harbour of Acre. After a salute of thirteen guns, which was returned by Djezzar's batteries, we landed, with a view to pay our compliments to the Pasha. Djezzar was sitting in a small apartment at the farther extremity of a court in the upper floor of the Seraglio. The court was planted with orange and lemon trees, and other shrubs; and one side was occupied by the Charem.

66 Djezzar received us in a very gracious manner; saying, that he had always loved the English, because they were a brave nation; and seemed to insinuate that his friendship was perfectly disinterested; that he was independent of all; that he had plenty of guns and troops of his own; in short, that he was able to defend himself without the assistance of others. When we inquired with respect to the march of the Vizier through Syria, and his return from Egypt to Constantinople, he replied, 'I know not which way he is gone; they say he ' is now at Damascus; he will scarcely leave a beard or mustachio in 'any town that he passes through. When he was at Cuiro, be desired me to send timber for his army: my reply was, I am not a seller of wood! So that Djezzar fully explained his situation and his politics; continually launching forth in his own praises; at the same time that he abused the Vizier and his creatures. The Vizier (said he) 'has rich dresses and precious ornaments in abundauce; but he carries all his wealth on his person. I am a Bosniac, a rough unpo'lished soldier, not accustomed to courts and politeness, but bred in camps and in the field. I have no handsome pelisses nor fine shawls my troops, however, are well paid, and numerous. I am expert (added he) in the management of a sabre: with a single " stroke of my sword, 1 baye cut in two the barrel of a musket.'

“Djezzar

CHAP. certain of the princes of the country existed.

I.

These men were then living as hostages, in

"Djezzar sat in the upper corner of the apartment: close to his hand was a four-barrelled pistol, very richly mounted; behind him were two muskets, a sabre, and an axe; a silver spitting-cup was in his left hand; and in another part of the room, a drinking-mug of 'wood, made by himself, and always kept in the apartment: the ceiling was ornamented with landscape-painting of his own invention. The Divan (the part raised a few inches above the floor) was covered with a thin common carpet; the other part of the chamber with a mat. Djezzar leans on a low crutch, placed under his right arm, which he said he had always used instead of the fine downy cushions of the rich and indolent. He was dressed in an old darned pelisse, with blue cloth trowsers, in the Turkish style; and a red shawl on his 'head as a turban. He remarked, that he was sleeping when we fired ́our salute; that he had been rather unwell; that the report of the guns awoke him, and that the grateful sound had revived him from his indisposition.

"Djezzar may be between seventy and eighty years of age: he has 'lost the greater part of his teeth, has a respectable grey beard, and a *prominent nose; and though, when he smiles, he may impose upon one the appearance of good-nature, the ordinary cast of his counte'nance, with his wrinkled brow, sufficiently denotes his well-known familiarity with conspiracies and assassination. After taking our leave, we visited the fortifications of Acre, towards the land, with the Dragoman of Djezzar; who pointed out to us the position of the French camp, and the different points against which the attack was directed. The camp was in the plain, about two miles south-east 'from the town, extending itself, from the sea, as far as the remains of a church near the aqueduct which once conveyed water to Acre. Part of this building was destroyed by Buonaparte: that part which was near the town has been levelled by Djezzar since the departure of the French, that he might render the defences of his works as open and clear as possible. With the same view he has levelled most of the trees in the neighbourhood." [N. B. Here Col. Squire enters into a very detailed account of the fortifications of Acre.]

"The Mosque, built by Djezzar about fifteen years ago, has a large dome, and both outside and within is very richly ornamented. We

observed