ACRE. 
CHAP, among the number of his prisoners. Having 
V i,yi,; sent for this man, he made known his intentions 
a regular road to the Convent on its summit. In the beginning of 
the ascent, we observed a sort of grotto excavated in the rock. On 
the point immediately above the sea, are the remains of a well-built 
Monastery, which, since the appearance of the French in these coun- 
tries, has been entirely destroyed by the TiirJts. Helow this there 
is a smaller Convent. It is inhabited by a Turk, and its church has 
been converted into a mosque : it is excavated from out of the solid 
rock ; bein? about fifty feet long, twenty-five feet wide, and twenty 
feet in height. On our return to Caiffa, along the sea-shore, at the 
foot of the mountain, we observed a range of Catacombs in the rock, 
which had probably been the burying-place of an antient town in the 
neighbourhood : on the floor of these Catacombs were cavities for the 
reception of bodies. Near this place is a tower of masonrj-, with fire 
embrasures in the lower part, for the defence of the anchorage : at 
present, no guns are mounted there. 
" Caiffa itself is a miserable village, close to the sea-side, and oppo- 
site to Acre : it is of an oblong figure ; its longest side, parallel to the 
sea, being about two hundred yards ; and its shortest, one hundred 
and fifty yards in length. It is completely inclosed by a stone wall 
about fifteen feet high, with square towers at the angles. On a small 
eminence immediately above the town, and completely commanding 
it, is a square tower, which, as well as the towers of Caiffa itself, has 
been dismantled of its guns by the Pasha of Acre, since the arrival of 
the French in Si/ria. From the summit of Mount Carmel the view of 
the Bay of Caiffa was picturesque in the extreme. On the opposite 
side was Acre ; and beyond, the towering heights of the Anti-T^bannn, 
with a small chain of mountains intervening, which seemed to retire 
and lose themselves in the interior of the country. Borderin" on the 
bay appeared an extensive plain, with the River Kishon meandering 
through the middle of it. From the roof of the Convent on the sum- 
mit of Mount Carmel, Acre bore n. e. by n. distant seven miles ; 
Mount Saphet, e. and by n. distant fifteen miles ; a town on a pre- 
lecting point on the coast, s. s. w. distant four miles. Mount Carmel 
consists of hard limestone, varied sometimes by thin strata of flint." 
On the 12th of April, Colonel 5y?/He sailed from Caiffa {or Acre. 
His Journal then continues. 
" Wind E. s. E. light breezes. At half past six a. m. weigh anchor; 
and 
