besieged in vain by Saladin, and retained by the Christians until the final overthrow of Acre; when, in 1291, its inhabitants, terrified by the fate of the latter place, embarked on board their vessels, and abandoned it to the Mahomedans, who reduced it to the wretched condition in which it has remained to the present day.

Maundrell, Volney, and several other authors adduce, in corroboration of the spot now occupied by the modern town having once been an island, that the soil of which the isthmus is formed, appears of a different nature from that of the main land and of the opposite extremity of the peninsula; such certainly is the case, and it appeared to me to be composed of successive deposits of accumulated sand-which is now thickly covered with débris, ruins, and broken pottery,whilst the sand has drifted up to, and been suffered to remain in many places, within a few feet of the summit of the modern wall which encloses the city on the land side.

* See note at the end of this volume,

1

The present town may be about one mile in circumference, and has nothing remarkable to attract the attention of the traveller, unless it be an appearance of extreme wretchedness, and a few beautiful pillars of red syenite, lying partly buried in the ground, some of which I found to measure three feet in diameter, and twenty-seven feet in length, besides that portion of them which was concealed by the soil. Traces, though but faint ones, may also be seen, of the site of the old port, where of yore proudly rode those navies which carried civilization and commerce to the extremities of the known world — circumnavigating Africa, visiting the coasts of Britain, and founding colonies at Utica, Carthage, Cadiz, and Malaga.

Ruins of foundations of walls, constructed on prostrate pillars, of apparently still earlier date, were also visible on the sea-shore, along the southern face of the isthmus,-from amongst which I picked up several pieces of glass, whose invention is said (though it more probably belongs to Egypt) to have taken place here, that useful article having

been first manufactured of sand brought from the mouth of the river Belus, which flows into the sea at the bay of Acre.

Besides the inventions of glass and of writing, for which credit has been given to Cadmus, Tyre claimed also that of the purple dye, so much famed in all the ancient world. On this subject a late French author gives the following information :—

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Many controversies have taken place as to the means employed by the Tyrians to extract this colour from the shell. However, a custom, which from time immemorial has existed in the neighbourhood of Tyre, might perhaps tend to solve the question. From the month of June to the middle of July, the sea throws up a quantity of shells, perhaps of the species termed murex purpureus -they are found at the depth of scarcely a foot under water on the sandy beach,-at this period is celebrated the feast of Sheikh Machou, a ruined Santon on a small mound near the remains of the ancient aqueduct. The children collect these shells, which as soon as they are withdrawn from the water

emit a slimy matter, of a pale violet colour, with which on white cloths they form regular stripes; to this is added a little saltwort and lime juice, when the linen becomes tinged with the brightest colours-and, at the feast of Sheikh Machou, every child carries on the end of a stick one of these variegated banners."

These

The present garrison of Tyre consisted of nearly fifteen hundred Turks,--who had already began to shew the cloven foot by exercising the greatest exactions on the inhabitants, (about one thousand in number,) composed chiefly of Mutualis and Greek Catholics, but their oppressive measures were as usual chiefly directed against the Christian part of the community. barbarians by a premature want of common prudence, at this early stage of proceedings, appeared but ill to observe their favourite proverb which runs thus:-" Lick the hand which thou canst not sever: lick it, even till thou findest an opportunity of seizing it with thy teeth," and scarcely had they once more grasped their old possessions in

Syria, than they undisguisedly and without delay fixed in them the

grinding fangs of tyranny and oppression! The Arab language has a saying most appropriately applied to the Turk :-"Should the Osmanli convert himself into the most precious of perfumes to find a place in thy bosom-rend thy best garment to rid thyself of the poisonous drug, which will otherwise soon become a burning brand, with whose insidious fire thou wilt be speedily consumed."

In the East every Frank is considered a "hakeem" or doctor; many used to be the applications made to me in that capacity; and when not able otherwise to get rid of importunate patients,-for the most part labouring under imaginary disorders,--a few bread pills or a small quantity of Epsom salts would generally quiet the applicant, and send him or her away perfectly contented.

On our way through Sour we lodged with some relations of my dragoman, Giorgio, and the lady of the house, a pretty young woman of two or three and twenty, who was