Eight Years in Syria, Palestine, and Asia Minor from 1842 to 1850

Front matter

INTERESTING VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. PUBLISHED BY MR. COLBURN. NARRATIVE OP AN OVERLAND JOURNEY ROUND THE WORLD. By SIR GEORGE SIMPSON, Governor-in-Chief of the Hudson's Bay Company's Territories in North America. 2 vols-, 8vo, with Map, &c., bound . 11. 11s. 6d. L'AC ADIE ; Or, Seven Years' Explorations in British America ; with Sketches of its Natural History, Social and Sporting Scenes, &c. By SIR JAMES E. ALEXANDER, K.L.S., &c. 2 vols., post 8vo, with Illustrations, bound . . II. la. NARRATIVE OF THE TEN YEARS' VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY ROUND THE WORLD OP H.M S. "ADVENTURE" AND "BEAGLE," under the command of Captains King and Fitzroy. Cheaper Edition. 2 large vols. Svo, with Maps. Charts, and upwards of Sixty Illustrations, by Landseer, and other eminent Artists, bound, 1?. 11s. 6d. THE WANDERER IN ITALY, SWITZERLAND, FRANCE, AND SPAIN.

By ADOLPHUS TROLLOPE, Esq. 1 vol., post Svo, bound . . 10s. Gd. ADVENTURES IN GEORGIA, CIRCASSIA, AND RUSSIA. By Lieut-Colonel G. POULETT CAMERON, C.B., K.T.S., &c. 2 vols., post Svo, bound, 11. is. MR. ROSS'S Y/ACHT VOY/AGE TO DENMARK, NORWAY, AND SWEDEN, IN LORD RODNEY'S CUTTER, " THE IRIS." Second Edition. 1 vol., bound 10s. 6d. PETERSBURGH AND MOSCOW ; A Visit to the Court of the Czar. By R. SOUTHWELL BOURKE, Esq. 2 vols., post Svo, bound . . .1/. Is. TRAVELS IN KASHMERE, &c. By G. T. VIGNE, Esq., F.G.S. Cheaper Edition. 2 vols., Svo, with a valuable Map, and 22 Illustrations, bound . 11. is. ADVENTURES ON THE COLUMBIA RIVER; Comprising the Narrative of a Residence of Six Years on the Western side of the Rocky Mountains, &c. By ROSS COX, Esq. Cheaper Edition. 2 vols., Svo, with Plates .... 16s. MR. BREMNER'S NORWAYr, DENMARK, AND SWEDEN. 2 vols. 8vo, with Portraits, bound II.

Is. A WINTER IN ICELAND AND LAPLAND. By the HON. ARTHUR DILLON. 2 vols., post 8vo, with Illustrations, bound . . . 11. Is. EXCURSIONS IN WESTERN AFRICA. By SIR JAMES E. ALEXANDER, K.L.S., &c. Second Edition, with Additions. 2 vols., 8vo, with Maps and numerous Plates 15s. STEAM VOYAGES ON THE SEINE, THE MOSELLE, AND THE RHINE, with Railroad Visits to the Principal Cities of Belgium. By M. J. QUIN, Esq. 2 vols., small 8vo, with Illustrations, bound 10s. TRAVELS AND TRAVELLERS. By MRS. TROLLOPE, Author of "Domestic Manners of the Americans," &c. 2 vols., post Svo, bound . . 10s. A SUMMER IN GERMANY. Dedicated to LADY' CHATTERTON. 2 vols., post 8vo, bound 10s. A WINTER IN ITALY. By MRS. ASHTON YATES. 2 vols., post 8vo, bound Ii. Is. AN AUTUMN IN SWITZERLAND. By MRS. ASHTON Y'ATES. 1 vol., post 8vo, bound ' 10s. 6d. HENRY COLBURN, PUBLISHER, 13, GREAT MARLBOROUGH-STREET.

Preface

I had often for amusement taken notes of my lengthy wanderings in Syria, Palestine, and Asia Minor ; and these, through a lapse of years, still increased, though I not unfrequently lost far more valuable portions of my baggage. When, however, a friend sought information regarding any of the routes I had taken, or the towns in which I had sojourned, an extract from my note-book furnished him an itinerary, at least more satisfactory than a map. Collected in another form, they are now given to the public, and I trust may prove useful to travellers of every class in the East ; while the sketches introduced of Eastern society, with which preface. my long residence rendered me familiar, may, I hope, afford some entertainment to that larger circle of wanderers, who visit other lands only in books. F. A. N. CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME.

Chapter I

Gaza — Character of the inhabitants — Its trade — Haunted houses — A cruel Pasha — Lazaretto and Quarantine establishment — Eccentricity of English travellers — Insolent dragomen — Rides round the Lazaretto — Gaza of the Philistines ....... 1

Chapter II

A Turkish entertainment — Moslem fanaticism — Dancing Dervishes — Caravans — Turkish coasters — Pilgrims to Mecca — Boshneck, the Arnout — Arab marauders — Nabal's retreat — Wilderness of Maon — Adventure in a cavern — Skirmish with Arabs — David's hiding-place. X CONTENTS.

Chapter III

Turkish pic-nics — Harem recreations — Anecdotes of a Greek lady — Excursion round the coast — Sea-side caves — Goatherds — Mirage — The ruins of Askalon . . 36

Chapter IV

The forbidden delicacy — Perilous adventure of a gourmand — The sanitary cordon — A fracas — Hebron — Tomb of Abraham and Sarah — Touching devotion of Jewish pilgrims — Ramlah — A sporting exploit — Monastic luxury — A jovial friar — Story of a baronet — A funeral and a wedding . . . . . . . .47

Chapter V

Jaffa — An unpleasant lodging — An Oriental cook — The cauldron of soup — Shipping grain — The convent — Sufferers from plague— The soup vendor— Simon the Tanner— The English Consul— Story of an Italian doctor ....... 80

Chapter VI

Journey to Jerusalem— Our caravan— Fatiguing march— Water in the Desert— The pilgrims' birds— Bishop Heber— The Holy City— Hotel de Palmir . . CONTENTS. XI

Chapter VII. The Relics Of Jerusalem

The Temple of Solomon — The Holy Sepulchre — Armenian superstition — Celestial fire — Priestly imposition — Pilate's Judgment Hall — Greek women — Story of a treacherous husband — Protestant Cathedral — The English Consul — The Dead Sea, Jordan, and Bethlehem — Advice to travellers . . . . . . . .126

Chapter VIII. Caipha And Mount Carmel

Caipha — The rising town — Character of the population — Struggle for lighters — Ludicrous situation of an English Captain — Description of the scenery — Disappointment — The Custom House — A Syrian Casino . .154

Chapter IX

Mount Carmel — The Convent — Its history and its founder — Story of a monk's ambition — Frere Clementi — Elijah's cave — An industrious brotherhood — Monastic albums — Descent from the mountain . . .172 CONTENTS.

Chapter X. Acre Or St

JEAN D'ARCA. St. Jean d'Acre — Description of the fortress — A renegade Pole — The Pasha — His reception of an English lady — The trade of Acre — Strange operation on a horse — Arabs and their steeds — A Turkish traveller — The Reis . 183

Chapter XI. Sidon And Tyre

Sidon and Tyre — The landing-place of Sidon — Ideas respecting English travellers— The French Consul- Walk through Sidon 198

Chapter XII

Beyrout— Its rapid rise— Refinement of the inhabitants- Grand balls — Custom-house obstructions — The promenade — Batista's Hotel — Night prowlers . . 208

CHAPTER XIIL

The Hummum — An Oriental dressing-room — Adventure of a Turkish lady — An Eastern auctioneer — The CONTENTS. XIII favourite lounge — Perilous feat — The Marina— The Sisters of Charity — The American Missionaries — The Protestant burial-ground — English residents — The Barracks ........ 226

Chapter XIV. Tripoli And Ruad

Description of Tripoli — Its gardens and fountains — Fertility of the soil — Character of the Syrians — Doctor N. — The Union Jack — A Consul's consternation — A contrast — The ague — Unpleasant incident — Departure from Tripoli — Arrival at Ruad — Its inhabitants — Enormous cistern — Tortosa 250

Chapter XV

Gibili — Sultan Ibrahim- — Tobacco-packers — The Mutzellim — Monsieur R 270

Chapter XVI

Latachia — Turkish fanatics — Attack on the Latin Monastery — Cruel persecution of Christians — Their character aud condition — Ignorance of the population — An eccentric Consul — A frail widow — Laodicea. . . 276 VOL. I. b CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XVIL

Route to Antioch — A pleasant companion — Sport in the mountains — A ' mountain village — Gathering of the villagers — The story of the Two Brothers . . AND ASIA MINOR.

Chapter I

Gaza — Character of the inhabitants — Its trade — Haunted houses — A cruel Pasha — Lazaretto and Quarantine establishment — Eccentricity of English travellers — Insolent dragomen — Rides round the Lazaretto — Gaza of the Philistines. " El Sherif," or " Kudhis," are the orthodox names by which Jerusalem is known to the Chris tians, Mahomedans and Pagans of the Levant. It is approachable by four distinct routes to Europeans visiting the East. Such as make Egypt their starting point, reach the " Holy City" by way of Hebron or Gaza. Those coming from Syria, proceed by land vid Damascus, or by the VOL. I. B AND sea coast, or take shipping from Beyrout direct to Jaffa. During the latter period of my travels and up to August, 1850, 'The Grand Turk' steamer plied from port to port along the Syrian coast, which greatly facilitated the last-mentioned route to those that wished to avoid a hot and tedious journey by land.

To wander and to wonder in the pathways of Jerusalem was to me the object of a long cherished desire : at length I was so far towards the envied attainment of my wishes, that I found myself in Gaza. I remained some months in that town, as a guest of Doctor Esperon, the medical officer in charge of the quarantine establishment, whom I had known intimately in Syria some years before. Gaza, a large, but straggling town covering as much space as a city of twenty times its population, is situated within four miles of the extreme southern limits of the Turkish dominions. Its houses are strangely constructed, consisting of a confused mix ture of ancient and of the rudest modern architecture : ruins of magnificent palaces dating from the times ofthe Caliphs, rudely patched up with mud and brambles to shelter their present uncouth tenants ; in the intervals appear the Bedouin's hut plastered with cow-dung, and the well-smoked tents of the Zingari or gypsy tribes.

If the outward appearance of these dwellings be unprepossessing, their interior is repulsive beyond conception. The streets are irregular and filthy, and the mass of vegetable and impure matter collected in them, well adapted to breed pestilence in its most direful form. In perfect keeping with this is the appearance of the native Mussulmen themselves who form the great majority of the population — a poor impoverished race, sunk into the basest slothfulness, ill-fed, worse clad, and, possibly from the great scarcity of water, literally unacquainted with ablu tion ; and even in those cases rendered indispensable by the injunctions of the Koran, such as washing the hands and feet before praying, and before and after meals, sand is substituted for water. The surrounding country, though anything but fertile, yields abundant supplies of grain, the greater portion of which is either transported by camels to Jaffa, or shipped at Gaza itself, for Algiers and other ports of the Mediterranean.

The whole of the grain produced, is the property of a few of i *ie wealthier ayans or Turkish nobles ; who after B ANb laying by a sufficiency for their own household wants, sell the remainder of their crops to merchants, who warehouse some portion of it for the consumption of the town itself, and the rest is disposed of to speculators ; but so indolent and impoverished is the greater mass of the population, that whole families of them exist entirely for eight months in the year upon the fruit of the prickly pear, which in Gaza attains a perfection unrivalled even in India. The Arabs call the prickly pear saboor, which also signifies ballast and the name is singularly applicable in this instance. Many a morning, strolling in the environs of Gaza, I have wondered to see the complacent air with which an Arab and his family, decidedly in dis tressed circumstances, would squat themselves under the shade of a prickly pear hedge — and each furnished with a stick having a crook at the end, set earnestly to work gathering the ripe fruit, and pealing them in such a scientific manner as could only be accomplished by long experience.

Thev were in fact ballasting themselves for the day, and had evidently nothing better in expectation. During the winter months, these poor creatures subsist on marshmallows and many edible herbs and grasses unknown even to cattle. These they boil down into a pulp, which being seasoned with pepper and salt, and perhaps an onion, they ren der palatable, and it answers the same end as the saboor. Owing to these facilities in supporting life by the spontaneous produce of the soil, I never saw a man begging. The mildness of the winter also in a great measure accounts for this, they have no fear of frost before their eyes, no bitter biting cold to dispirit them, no forethought for those two indispensable requisites in colder climes, fuel and clothing. Were Gaza built in a more compact manner, were its streets even as clean as those of Beyrout or Damascus (neither of which are very creditable on this score), such is the nature of its position, so pure the breezes that are wafted over it from seaward during the summer months, so balmy the desert winds that blow during the winter, that there is little doubt it would become the healthiest settlement in Syria or Palestine, after Latachia and Antioch ; indeed, in Palestine there is no town that could compete with it.

Olive-trees are plentiful in the neighbourhood of Gaza, and olive oil proportionably cheap. A small quantity of cotton and sessame seed is also grown, but the staple article of trade is soap, which is exported in large quantities to Egypt. The population is estimated at about fifteen thousand souls, principally composed of runaway Egyptians and Copts. Daily caravans arrive at Gaza from Egypt, con sisting of whole villages migrating from the grinding sway of the Viceroy to place themselves under the milder despotism of the Turks. The Greeks are about fifteen hundred in number, the Armenians are very few, and there are no Jews ; a remarkable fact considering the proximity of Gaza to Jerusalem, and one which says little for the commerce of a town. Gaza is the least fanatical town I ever visited in Turkey ; they allowed me freely to enter the mosques even with my shoes on.

One of these structures had been in by-gone days a Chris tian Church, and a cross hewn out of the centre of the cieling, which was exceedingly lofty, had baffled all the efforts of the Turks to erase it — a fact which drove a few of the more intolerant to the verge of insanity. The Turks and their Christian neighbours agree remarkably well ; they seldom or never dispute, and the insults and injuries generally heaped upon Christians by Moslems are rarely heard of here. The Mosques, the pretended site of the city-gates, the spot where Sampson drew destruction upon himself and his enemies, and even Delilah's grave are assiduously pointed out by the native guides of the town. But the bee which sipped sweetness from flowers to lay up its hoard in so unseemly a hive as the lion's carcase — the rose that gave its dew-distilled nectar to zephyrs that came to announce the dawn — these have long ceased to exist.

The very lion has forsaken his haunt, and the fox burrows no more midst waving corn-fields. I saw two things at Gaza that made me wonder exceedingly. One was a camel eating prickly pear-leaves, biting off and crunching, as though they were cucumbers, direful-looking leaves a foot long and two inches thick covered with thorns as big as spike-nails ; the other was the incredibly large flight of doves that came across the sea about the latter end of August. Quails I had often seen in flights, but doves never. These birds arrived in such an exhausted state, that they alighted by thousands on the beach, and there fell an easy prey to the natives. Twenty sold for ten paras (about a halfpenny). Men who had well nigh forgotten the taste of meat, fell to and had a feast of a fortnight's duration ; and when this strange fall of flesh was over, they went back to grass again.

Among a people so morally and physically de praved as the inhabitants of Gaza, superstition of course held an all powerful sway. The very nature of the lives they led, the dark mysterious old places that immediately surrounded them, the croaking of ravens, hooting of owls, yelling of hyenas and jackals, and the other discordant sounds that interrupted the deep stillness of night in an Arabian town, served to impress them with awe and reverence towards the many traditionary ghost tales that were handed about from house to house. They thoroughly believed Gaza to be densely popu lated with ghouls and ogres, and the restless spirits of wretched mortals who had come to an untimely or unnatural end. The Doctor's house in par ticular, was celebrated for the multitude of goblins it was supposed to shelter.

This house had been, in days of yore, the harem of a powerful and iniquitous old Turk, who had possessed as many wives and vassals during his wicked lifetime, as might serve to colonize and populate a modern Australia. Very beautiful houris danced before him in bangles and anklets of gold, with a small treasury of coins suspended from their tresses, and even the duennas looked hideously grand in their courtly attire. These latter were alternately dis posed of by many whimsical ways and means, and their vacancies supplied by other aspirants. Several of the victimised old ladies are said to have deeply lamented the want of some friendly stream, in which they might effectually have quenched their sighs and their sorrows ; but, alas ! no river is there within many a mile of Gaza. Water is a scarce article, and the despot thought that the wells would not be improved by the con tinued soaking of old women.

True, there was the sea close at hand, and this had been tried, but the restless waves, like an evil conscience, were continually raking up unpleasant reflections, so that when the old Pasha rode along the beach of an evening, as he was wont, strange things came up to look at him ; damp things ! that made him quake exceedingly and relinquish this plan for ever. He had other and pleasanter means of relieving himself of encumbrances. Square miles b of burial places were at his command, and arsenic and other drugs easily procurable ; so the duennas went out like the snuff of a candle, but speedily reappeared, as the tradition goes, in the congenial forms of night-hawks and owls. As for the houris, jealousy and the sword made short work of many of them, and these were transformed into doves and butterflies ; a more desirable trans migration than that which the Chinese allot to poor poets, who after singing themselves into a state of starvation and death in the human form, are condemned to an eternal hopping to their own music, in the size and shape of a grasshopper.

But to return to the Doctor's antique residence : it was fast crumbling away to native earth. Six habitable rooms remained, and of these he was but too glad to get possession, till such time as the house he was building near the quarantine establishment should be completed. Strange dark rooms they were, with vaults underneath, that there was now no possibility of entering, and flights of steps, leading to all appearances into the bowels of the earth. The rooms were all vaulted, and smelt damp and earthy, and there was no door of communication between any two of them. The cook in his kitchen had a small journey to perform to get into the neighbourhood of the dining-room ; and though I never met a spectre on my way to my bed-room of a damp night, I had ample opportunities of being one myself, from exposure to humidity and unwhole some vapours.

Fortunately, my visit was during the summer. In its pristine condition this palace had spread itself over nearly half a mile of ground. The whole of the central part had been demolished by an earthquake, and the extremities or wings alone remained, the one being occupied by the Doctor, the other by the Mutzellim, or governor of the town, and these two, though decidedly the best houses in Gaza, came' in for an ample share of the nauseous exhalations. The room allotted to me had a window that overlooked what was dignified by the appellation of " The Garden," which consisted of some fifty square yards of sandy ground, fenced in by an impenetrable prickly pear hedge, containing half a dozen fig and as many palm trees. On the branches of one of these, in the immediate vicinity of my window, were nightly perched a couple of discordant hoot owls, that used to blink and nod and hoot at me in bed in a most appalling way.

Often of a moonlight night, when the rioting of these birds, coupled with the stifling closeness of the atmosphere, had effectually driven sleep from my pillow, have I sat for hours at this window, and meditated on the dreary landscape before me. Heaps upon heaps of crumbling ruins were there, with desolate sand hills, thinly interspersed with stunted palms, thorn trees and branches, thistles and noxious weeds ! All shrubs that flowered sweetly, all trees yielding luscious fruits — birds bright in plumage and rare in song — the brighter and richer gifts of nature were, alas ! no longer extant. " Gaza shall be forsaken,"* was the direful denunciation of the Prophet Zachariah, and most fearfully has this prophecy been fulfilled. The new Lazaretto and quarantine establishment at Gaza are eligibly situated on a plain, about three hours distant from the Egyptian frontiers, commanding an extensive view of the surrounding country and high roads, and suffi ciently distant from the town to be free from its local miasma, without suffering inconveni- * Zachariah, ii, 4. ence in deriving the necessary articles of daily consumption from its bazaars.

This vast edi fice, constructed at great expense by the Turkish Government, was completed in April, 1850. If the question of the expediency of quarantine being established against Egypt be admitted, then is this establishment to be considered the greatest boon that could possibly have been conferred upon European travellers ; for however well provided with tents and all the necessaries, and many of the luxuries of life, still a tent is no screen in this chmate to the piercing heat of a summer's sun, and certainly not proof against the violent storms of wind and rain that are here prevalent in the winter months. The apartments allotted to Europeans in the quarantine are so constructed as to be airy and wholesome in the summer, and warm and comfortable in winter. Great credit is due to Doctor Esperon, by whose plan, and under whose immediate direction, it was constructed.

It is built in an oblong form, surrounded by walls thirty feet high. Parallel with, and some four yards separated from these walls, run the apartments allotted to strangers ; the magazine for baggage, the armory, baths and incense rooms. These again are railed off from the offices of the Director or Nazir, the Doctor, the clerks, guardians, and officer commanding the detachment of troops; besides which there is a parlatorio, a bazaar, and a kitchen. There is but one entrance gate, which is of immense thickness, and this is guarded day and night by a soldier with a loaded musket. The whole of the interior is paved, and in the centre there is a well of very excellent water ; but which, from its excessive depth, would be utterly useless were it not for a costly machine, brought from France, which has been erected over it, and by the aid of which two men can, in half an hour, fill a cistern sufficiently large to supply the wants of the numberless wayfarers, and the large body of men attached to and in the employment of the quarantine.

The charges made on the wealthier class of travellers are very trifling, and the term of their incarceration is five days, in which, however, is in cluded the day of entry, and that on which they obtain pratique. Those in indigent circumstances are not only exempt from any charge, but they are even supported at the expense of Government, the only return expected being that they should make themselves generally useful by drawing water, sweeping, &c. ; and, considering the daily influx of Egyptian villagers who are flying from the Vice roy's territories, the haul upon the treasury purse strings must be very considerable indeed. The Nazir or director of the quarantine, in September, 1850, was Achmet Effendi, a Turkish gentleman of very affable manners, who had been educated in Italy, spoke and wrote Italian fluently, was very accomplished, and, amongst other things, played admirably on the flute from note, a strange phenomenon to me, who had been accustomed to the ordinary run of pipe-smoking pompous Effendis of Syria.

Both he and the Doctor complained sadly of the trouble and difficulty, occasioned by the greater mass of our countrymen visiting the East. Spanish grandees, Italian nobles, German barons, and Frenchmen, whose families had pedi grees more antediluvian than Noah, were wont to submit calmly to the rules and regulations of the establishment, and quitted it on an intimate footing of friendship with the authorities ; but no sooner was the proximity of a caravan of Englishmen an nounced, than every one was thrown into a state of excitement ; and all the twenty soldiers, with their truculent lieutenant, were immediately drawn up in battle array. The two hundred guardians looked hot and fierce; ferocious-looking camel drivers were pressed into the service. The Nazir twirled his huge moustachios, and the Doctor, to be prepared for an emergency, had a table placed in the gateway, on which he made a diabolical display of surgical instruments.

After a great deal of excitement and impatience, a little cloud of dust proclaimed the arrival of these dreaded individuals. First, came a couple of guardians, with drawn swords and very hoarse voices, having been wrangling with the dragoman all the way from the outpost. Then one, or perhaps two, nondescript looking animals — in costumes hitherto unheard of — sinister faces, and moustachios nine inches from point to point. These were the dragomen or interpreters who always accompany 'milords' on their travels, speaking a little English, just sufficient to misunderstand what you say, and make themselves a little useful at times, in amends for which sacrifices they are exceedingly skilled in the art of fleecing or pluck ing, which their employers find out eventually to their discomfort. After these hybridous individuals the milords themselves heave in sight, generally wearing large felt hats covered with calico, the whiteness of which contrasts admirably with their own highly inflamed countenances.

Naturally of a rubicund complexion, exposure to the sun and desert sands, has shaded this into a deep ver million, and once arrived opposite to the quarantine gates, a violent argument instantly ensues. The orator on these occasions is generally the dragoman, for the travellers are too weary and hot to take any active part. The first concession for which the fiery interpreter contends is, that they may be permitted to pitch their own tents in the vicinity of the quarantine, and be allowed to stroll as far as the beach (accompanied by guardians) for the sake of healthful recreation. This point is vainly combatted by the authorities, who " shoiv cause why" such privileges should not be allowed them, viz., such as the wind accidentally blowing a bit of straw or a rag against some passenger, causing the said unhappy individual to be imme diately arrested and incarcerated as impure.

Finally, the camels on which the tents are laden are forcibly seized and dragged into the quarantine' which act settles this question eternally ; but there are others to be arranged, and these are combatted step by step, and inch by inch. The first set of guardians who are placed to guard the separate. apartments of the strangers are forthwith kicked out of their rooms. But the uproar that ensues when the travellers and their servants are disarmed, and their guns, pistols, and swords taken from them and lodged in the armory — this, I was told, beggars all description. The interpreters on such occasions became maniacs ; they lie on the flat of their backs, and kick and bite like monkeys, till, over come by numbers and their injured feelings, they go into fits, and come out of them again, the very points of their moustachios hanging down in despair, and they slink about hke dogs in a strange street, ' effendeing' and cringing to every one they came across.

In some instances the unhappy travellers turned out to be very demure, quiet people, who, from their entire ignorance of every other language but the mother tongue, were forced tacitly to submit to the arrangements and rascalities of their dragomen. Mr. Noakes, a retired butcher, with Messrs. Jones, Smith, Stokes, and Brown (who were something in the soap and tallow line) possibly formed this caravan ; and not being con versant with French and Italian were subjected to every imaginable evil. There were others, however, who were worse inside than they were outside of the walls of the quarantine. They played whist, and drank punch, and sang comic songs till five o'clock in the morn ing ; and having bought some land tortoises on their journey, would spend half the day in making them race, betting to a large extent on the winner.

One. gentleman, of a musical turn, used to get out of bed and alarm the neighbourhood at one o'clock in the morning, by executing morceaux from the choicest operas on a key-bugle ; while another, who had brought a chained monkey into quarantine with himself, let Pug at liberty during the night, who, hopping from room to room, placed half the establishment in quarantine, and would have com promised the whole town of Gaza, had not a timely bullet from the sentry's musket put an end to his mischievous career. Such are a few of the many anecdotes related to me of English travellers. The local authorities had vainly applied for the nomination of an English consular agent who might prove of incredible service in checking the insolent vagaries of the interpreters, and, indeed, prevent some serious mischief which must eventually arise if matters continue as they are ; for I am persuaded that nothing will intimidate the quarantine authorities from acting up to the strict letter of their instruc tions, at least so long as this establishment is under the control of its present doctor and director.