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ready to slip their cable the first wind, because the 
coast is very open and dangerous. 
On the day of my arrival I embarked after sun-set in 
a boat which set sail at nine in the evening, though the 
wind and tide were unfavourable, and anchored the fol- 
lowing day, Friday the 31st July, at three o'clock in 
the afternoon, in the port of St. Jean D'Acre. I landed 
immediately. 
St. Jean D'Acre, which the Mussulmen call Akka, 
is a little town, which, by its port and its geographical 
situation, acquired a certain renown at the period of the 
Crusades. It distinguished itself latterly under the or- 
ders of Djezzar Pacha, by its vigorous resistance to the 
attacks of the French, which justified the high opinion 
that military men entertained of this post. 
The fortifications have been considerably increased 
since the last siege. Formerly there were only the castle, 
or the palace of the Djezzar, at a short distance from 
the wall on the land side; and the outward ramparts; to 
these have since been added a new line of walls of a 
considerable thickness, after the European manner, 
which encompass the former lines. The newly- con- 
structed bastions have very short flanks. Their projec- 
tion is entirely open to the fire of the enemy, because 
the angles at the back or of the flank, as well as the 
curtain, are too obtuse. The walls are defended by a 
scarp, a ditch, a lined counterscarp, and a small glacis 
or esplanade, the elevation of which is not proportioned 
to the height of the wall, from whence it results, that 
the fire from the ramparts will injure the glacis in a 
certain degree. Besides this fault in the defensive dis- 
positions of the town, the system of the new fortifica- 
tions is still incomplete. There are neither covered 
ways, palisadoes, nor any outward work. Only half 
