and rather beneficial than injurious to others, the inebriation of the Christian is as pernicious to society as it is disgraceful to his profession.

We continued obscured in an atmosphere of smoke, and stunned with the vociferations of twenty tongues in motion at once, until near midnight, and even then not more than half the party had dispersed. We had talked during the day, when we were all sober, on the best mode of proceeding in my intended journey from hence to Aleppo; and now like the Scandinavians and our British progenitors, we entered on the second discussion of the subject in

our cups.

My friend, Sheikh Ibrahim*, had recommended me, in his letter of instructions for the voyage, to procure the firman of the Pasha of Acre or Damascus, to secure my passage through their dominions; and the propriety of this precaution had been confirmed to me here by the advice of all whom I had consulted on the subject. Even now, when every heart was stout and brave, it was the unanimous opinion that, in the present state of the country, it would be an imprudent risk to travel without such a document. The circumstance of the moment which rendered this the more necessary was, that the Pasha of Damascus having died within the last few days, Suliman, the present Pasha of Acre, had pretended to have received orders from the Sultan of Stamboul to succeed to the possession of the vacant pashalic, and had, accordingly, sent the whole of his moveable force there to execute the mandate.

In consequence of this general movement, and probable division of the soldiery into opposite parties, it was thought to be impossible to pass any where without strict examination; besides being every hour liable to have our beasts pressed for the public service, if not protected by the Pasha's firman.

As this could not be obtained without my presenting myself to

• The late accomplished and enterprising traveller Mr. Buckhardt.

him in person, since there was no consul or other official character here to obtain it for me, it was necessary that I should go to Acre; and for that journey preparations were accordingly made.

The hour of our dispersion approached; and the next necessary step was to defray the expenses of our stay here. It was no sooner hinted than a long paper was produced, the contents of which sufficiently explained the motives of the supposed hospitality with which we were received, and the gathering together of the multitude to feast and make merry at our safe arrival.

A bill that would have disgraced a Portsmouth tavern, for the entertainment of midshipmen fresh from a long and successful cruize, was then read over to us, the gross amount of which, for the benefit of those who had fed at our expense, was seventy-four piastres for two days. I could scarcely hide my indignation at such a gross imposition, and hardly knew whether I felt most at the insult offered to my understanding, or at the hypocritical fawning of those who were vile enough to think it would succeed.

I did not fail, however, to give them an appropriate lecture on such a reception of a stranger, thrown by stress of weather on their coasts; and to confirm to them my opinion of their meanness, I laid the half of the sum before them, telling them that, even for that, they would gladly see another Englishman among them; but that no pains should be wanting, on my part, to warn all I might meet against the dear-bought hospitality of Soor. After this, they were base enough to kiss my hand, and beg a thousand pardons.

JANUARY 8. 1816.

We were stirring with the dawn; and, as our two mules were already waiting for us below, we mounted them, each carrying his own small portion of baggage beneath him, in hair-bags slung across the cloth, for saddle or bridle there was

none.

We were accompanied by the muleteer, on a miserable

donkey; and each of us being armed with musket, pistols, and sword, we quitted the gate of Soor as the sun rose.

Passing over some heaps of scattered rubbish, the wreck of former buildings, and leaving the isolated tower, before described, to the southward of us, we came in a few minutes to a square building of similar construction, at which women were drawing water from wells within.

From hence we crossed over to the northern edge of the isthmus, and, pursuing our way on that side in an easterly direction, we began soon to trace the remains of the ancient aqueduct by which Tyre was supplied with water from fountains to the southeast of it.

From the centre of the isthmus we commanded a view of the bay and harbour, on each side; and it suggested itself to me, on the spot, as highly probable that while Tyre was yet an island, the entrance through its strait was made from the southward ; first, because the passage there is broader, deeper, and more clear of rocks; and next, because the southerly and south-west winds, the most favourable for entrance, prevail so generally here as to occasion a reversion of the natural order of terms in speaking of places on the coast, both seamen and landsmen calling the southward up, and the northward down, as in the islands of the West Indies, where these terms are regulated by the wind.

Since the formation of this isthmus, however, the southern port can have been but little frequented. It is now never visited; because, from these same prevailing winds, it affords but a partial shelter, while all along its beach beats a continual surf, which has contributed, no doubt, to the present elevation of the isthmus itself, by the fine loose sand that it constantly throws up.

The northern port is, on the other hand, rendered still more secure than it could have been originally, by the intervention of this barrier to break off the force of the southern and south-west winds and seas; and, indeed, when once entered here, vessels may ride secure from the gales of every quarter.

This alone would be an advantage of the highest kind, if the entrance to the port were less confined and dangerous than it now is; and as there can be no doubt that it has constantly grown worse in the hands of such improvident masters as its present ones, so it may be presumed that, at the period when the isthmus was constructed, the access to the port was sufficiently free to justify the shutting up of the southern passage into it by the neck of land which still remains.

Pursuing our way along the traces of the aqueduct spoken of, we passed, besides the visible foundation nearer the city, a large detached fragment of it, consisting of three perfect arches, still erect; and, soon afterwards, a second detached mass, under the brow of a small hill, on which were conspicuous the whitened domes of a mosque or a saint's tomb. This elevation is thought by some to be the rock on which Paletyrus was built, and by others the mount which Nebuchadnezzar, in conformity to the prophecies, threw up against it in the siege, though it is a small natural hill, and no vestiges of any old city are to be traced near it.

As far as this, the aqueduct led from the city in an easterly direction, for about half a mile, across the isthmus; when, being on the firm land of the continent, it turned off southerly in the direction of the coast.

We pursued its traces through a barren and stony ground, finding it in some places entirely dilapidated; in others, its foundations and supporters remaining; and, in others, its arches, mouldings, and channel for the water above, still perfect.

The workmanship throughout was uniform in its proportions, and well-finished in its details; and ruined as it now was, it presented a solidity of construction that evinced it to have been executed by very able hands. The materials were a calcareous stone, from the neighbouring hills, and a cement of admirable firmness, while the channel was lined throughout by a coating of plaster formed of lime and fine sand. Masses of stalactites, still preserving the tubular form in which the liquid element leaked