EGYPT, AND SYRIA. 359 
After a navigation of five days, I arrived at Yaffe. The firfl: 
land we had difcovered was the mountain of Ghaza. 
Yaffe prefents an obje£i: rather extraordinary in the Levant, 
a good wharf. The fituation of the town is fo unequal, that 
the ftreets are paved in fteps. The air, formerly deemed in- 
falubrious, has, by the draining of fome adjacent marfhes, been 
rendered perfectly healthy ; but, on the other hand, the ex- 
tenfive groves of orange and lemon trees, which adorned the 
vicinity, have been deftroyed in the fieges undertaken by Ali 
Bey and his fucceifor Mohammed Abu-dhahab, the latter of 
which was particularly deftrudive ; the Mamluks having ufed 
thefe trees for firing. The government is now mild, and the 
population, gradually increafing, may be eftimated at fix or 
feven thoufand fouls. It is walled, and has two principal gates 
and a fmaller one ; the .latter and one of the former yet remain ; 
the other is fhut up. Yaffe is commanded by an eminence on 
the North, within mufket-fhot, where Ali Bey pitched his 
camp. Though there be a fmall river in the proximity, water 
is fcarce, being carried by the women : one of the governors 
engaged to remedy the inconvenience, but was ftrangled by 
order of Jezzar, Pafha of Damafcus, before he could accom- 
plifti his purpofe. 
Ships cannot come up to the wharf, and there is no port, 
nor even fecure place of anchorage. The commerce is incon- 
fiderable, being folely with Egypt, and with a few pilgrims 
who pafs to and from Jerufalem. Yaffe is governed by an 
officer appointed by the Porte. 
There 
