being employed for purposes of royal state as well as convenience. * The breed of cattle reared in Bashan and Gilead were remarkable for their size, strength, and fatness.

In ornithology, the eagle, the vulture, the cormorant, the bittern, the stork, the owl, the pigeon, the swallow, and the dove, were familiar to the Jews. Hasselquist enumerates the following from his own observation: the vulture, two species, one seen near Jerusalem, the other near Cana in Galilee; the falcon (falco gentilis and falco tinnunculus), near Nazareth; the jackdaw, in numbers in the oak-woods near Galilee; the green wood-spite (picus viridis), at the same place; the bee-catcher (merops apiaster), in the groves and plains between Acra and Nazareth; the nightingale, among the willows at Jordan and olive trees of Judea; the field-lark, every where ;' the goldfinch, in the gardens near Nazareth; the red partridge (tetrao rufus), and two other species, the quail (tetrao coturnix), and the quail of the Israelites (tetrao Israelitarum); the turtle-dove, and the ringdove. Game is abundant; partridges, in particular, being found in large coveys, so fat and heavy that they may easily be knocked down with a stick.† Wild geese, ducks, widgeon, snipe, and water-fowl of every description, abound in some situations.

The Holy Land is at present infested with a frightful number of lizards, different kinds of serpents, vipers, scorpions, and various insects. Flies of

Judges v. 10; x. 3, 4; xii. 13, 14. 2 Kings iv. 24.

+ Travels of Ali Bey, vol. ii. p. 210.

Dr. Clarke, however, states that the maritime districts of Syria and Palestine are free from noxious reptiles and venomous insects, which he adduces in proof of the salubrity of the climate. Travels, part ii. sect. x. chap. 3.

every species are also extremely annoying. Ants are so numerous in some parts, that one traveller describes the road to Jaffa, from El Arisch, as, for three days' journey, a continued ant hill.*

The general outlines of the surface of the country may be thus laid down. The Jordan, or river of Dan, which rises under the lofty peaks of the Antilibanus, and flows in a direction almost constantly southward, with the lake of Tiberias, through which it passes, and that of Asphaltites (the Dead Sea) which it forms by its discharge, divides Palestine completely from north to south. In the western division, between the Mediterranean and the lake of Tiberias, lie the two Galilees. The plain of Esdraelon, which occupies the greater part of this tract, being two days' journey, or nearly fifty miles in length and twenty in breadth, is described by Dr. Clarke as one vast meadow, covered with the richest pasture. This plain is enclosed on all sides by the mountains, and not a house or a tree is to be discovered in it. It is completely commanded by Acre, so that the possessor of that port is the lord of one of the richest territories in the Holy Land. To the south of Galilee lies the district of ancient Samaria, now chiefly inIcluded in the district of Nablous: it is mountainous, but well cultivated, and forms at present the most flourishing part of the Holy Land. Judea Proper comprises the territory extending from the Dead Sea to the Mediterranean, and is composed of a range of limestone hills, rising by stages from the level of the coast, and becoming more rugged and rocky as you approach Jerusalem from Jaffa. Between Jaffa and Gaza, westward of the mountains of Judea, lies the

Travels of Ali Bey, vol. ii. p. 210.

tract distinguished as the plain of the Mediterranean Sea, the ancient territory of the Philistines, including the five cities of Gaza, Askelon, Ashdod, Gath, and Ekron.* This district still bears the name of Phalastin, + and forms a separate pashalic; it may be distinguished as Palestine Proper.

Having taken this general view of the country, we shall now proceed to describe it more in detail, by tracing some of the principal routes. Those most frequently taken are, in coming from Egypt, from El Arisch, by way of Jaffa, to Jerusalem; in landing from Europe, from Acre, by Nazareth, to Jerusalem; in coming from Syria, from Damascus to Jerusalem; and the route from Damascus to Mecca.

ROUTE FROM ACRE TO JAFFA.

Dr. E. D. Clarke, who visited Palestine in the summer of 1801, landed at Acre, then under the dominion of the notorious Djezzar Pasha-an appellation explained by himself as signifying the butcher. This execrable tyrant, whose name carried terror with it over all the Holy Land, at one time, shut up in his fortress at Acre, defied the whole power of Turkey, deriding the menaces of the Capudan Pasha, though he affected to venerate the authority of the sultan. His real name was Achmed. He was a native of Bosnia, and spoke the Sclavonian language better than any other. At an early period of his life, he sold himself to a slave-merchant in Constantinople, and being purchased by Ali Bey in Egypt, rose from

Joshua xiii. 3. 1 Sam. vi. 17. Josephus, Antiq. lib. vi. cap. 1. + Volney, vol. ii. p. 327.

the humble situation of a Mameluke slave to be governor of Cairo. In this situation, according to his own account given to Dr. Clarke, he distinguished himself by the most rigorous execution of justice; realizing the stories related of Oriental caliphs, by mingling in disguise with the inhabitants of the city, and thus making himself master of all that was said concerning himself, or transacted by his officers. So far back as 1784, when M. Volney visited the Holy Land, he was pasha of Seide (Sidon) and Acre.* At that time, his cavalry amounted to 900 Bosnian and Arnaut horsemen; by sea, he had a frigate, two galiots, and a xebeck; and his revenue amounted to 400,000%. At the time of Dr. Clarke's arrival, he was upwards of sixty years of age, and vain of the vigour which he still retained. Of forty-three pashas of three tails then living in the Turkish empire, he was, by his own account, the senior. "We found him," says Dr. Clarke, "seated on a mat, in a little chamber destitute of the meanest article of furniture, excepting a coarse, porous, earthenware vessel for cooling the water he occasionally drank. He was surrounded by persons maimed and disfigured," some without a nose, others without an arm, with one ear only, or one eye; marked men, as he termed them persons bearing signs of their having been instructed to serve their master with fidelity. "He scarcely looked up to notice our entrance, but continued his employment of drawing upon the floor, for one of his engineers, a plan of some works he was then construct

* Dr. Clarke says: "He has been improperly considered as pasha of Acre: his real pashalic was that of Seide, but, at the time of our arrival, he was also lord of Damascus, Berytus, Tyre, and Sidon." Burckhardt, however, represents the pashalic of Seide to be the same as that of Akka.

ing. His form was athletic, and his long white beard entirely covered his breast. His habit was that of a common Arab, plain, but clean, consisting of a white camlet over a cotton cassock. His turban was also white. Neither cushion nor carpet decorated the naked boards of his divan. In his girdle he wore a poniard set with diamonds; but this he apologised for exhibiting, saying it was his badge of office as governor of Acre, and therefore could not be laid aside. Having ended his orders to the engineer, we were directed to sit upon the end of the divan; and Signor Bertocino, his dragoman, kneeling by his side, he prepared to hear the cause of our visit." *

The port of Acre is bad, but Dr. Clarke represents it as better than any other along the coast. That of Seide is very insecure, and the harbour of Jaffa worse than any of the rest. All the rice, which is the staple food of the people, enters the country by Acre: the lord of that city, therefore, has it in his power to cause a famine to be felt over all Syria. This consideration led the French to direct all their efforts towards the possession of Acre; the key of a public granary being the mightiest engine of military operation. "Hence," observes Dr. Clarke, "we find Acre to have been the last place in the Holy Land from which the Christians were expelled; and this it was that gave to an old man, pent up in a small tower by the sea-side, the extraordinary empire he possessed."

Djezzar was the Herod of his day. At one period, having reason to suspect the fidelity of his wives, he put seven of them to death with his own hands. person in Acre knew the number of his women, but

* Travels in various Countries, part ii. § i. chap. 3.

No