THlRTY-FIVE YEARS IN THE EAST. jg 



5 was recently told, by the missionary, Dr. J. Wolf, that 

 Abdula Pabha and the Emir Beshir were/esiding at Constan- 

 tinople, but since then the public journals have announced the 

 death of the latter, ;and that one ^of his sons had embraced 

 Mahomedanism. 



I was present at the siege of Acre, and found an 



opportunity of employing myself in surgical attendance 



and operations ; as the garrison used to make nightly 



sallies, and do a great deal of mischief. I had a dozen 



native surgeons, or rather barbers ( jerahs ), as assistants, 



to whom I gave theoretical and practical information. 



Tigers are rarely to be met with on Mount Lebanon, 

 yet during my stay an order was issued by Emi^- Beshir, 

 that the muzzle of every slain tiger should be sent to the 

 government, in order to prevent the use of it as a poisonous 

 drug. This strange order induced me, when at Lahore, to 

 •examine its virtue, the results of which I refer to in the 

 second volume of this work, under the denomination of 

 Tigrineum. 



My passion for antiquities prompted me to undertake a 

 voyage to Alexandria ; accordingly I made a trip, which 

 was attended with a very fortunate result. I went on to 

 Damascus, via Haspeye and Rasheye, from whence I conti- 

 nued my journey to Homs and Hama, in Syria, with the 

 caravan of hajjees ( pilgrims ). At the latter places I 

 purchased a considerable collection of old coins, in crold. 

 silver and copper, as also several engraved gems. I made 

 my way back to Beyrout, via Akar and Tripoli, where I em- 

 barked on board an English vessel for Alexandria. This 

 short journey had also its peculiar adventures ; for it happen- 

 ed in a period when, after the revolution in Greece, the 

 Mediterranean was infested by numerous pirates. In the 

 evening of the same day on which we lost sight of the 

 snowy summits of the Lebanon, we discovered, by the light 

 of the moon, that we were surrounded by five ships-of-war. 

 Our captain was, in insulting language, summoned by 

 the respective captains of these vessels to come on board 

 their ships, so that he was at a loss which of them to 

 7 



