20 MEMOIR. 



tempered Damascus scimitar had shorn off one man's bayonet as 

 if it had been but a carrot ; the other man transfixed him before 

 he could recover himself to give another blow. 



Operations were carried on very briskly in the meantime. 

 The ships were all distributed up and down the coast bombarding 

 the towns, taking forts, and driving the enemy out of every 

 position that they held near the coast. A camp was formed at 

 a place a little north of Beyrout called Djourna Bay, or St 

 George's Bay (being the spot where St George is said to have 

 killed the dragon). This little army consisted of a large body of 

 marines, field-pieces manned by parties of bluejackets, and several 

 regiments of Turks. For some time we were stationed off the 

 Dog River to defend the bridge in case the enemy should attempt 

 to surprise the camp, and we were at the same time distributing 

 a vast number of muskets among the friendly mountaineers, the 

 tribes that inhabited the mountains of Lebanon. The Emir 

 Beshir, the prince of one of these clans, paid us a visit, and 

 while he was being entertained in the captain's cabin, one of his 

 officers amused us in the gun-room by displaying his skill in the 

 use of their admirably-tempered Damascene blades. Drawing 

 two chairs within a few feet of each other, he placed a teacup 

 at the extreme edge of each ; he then rested the end of a 

 tolerably thick broomstick across the nearer edge of each cup, 

 then flourishing his sabre over his head for a moment, it descended 

 like lightning, cutting the stick clean in two without in the least 

 displacing the two cups, much less knocking them off the chairs. 

 The scabbards of these scimitars are split or open down the back 

 for half their length, otherwise it could not be drawn in and out 



