ACRE. Q 
Djezzars power. " You will not like to begin chap. 
your reign," said he, " by slaughtering them; - 
observed in the walls larje pieces of Verd-antique, aud specimens of 
many different kinds of marble: the ornaments within are light, and 
painted in very g^ay colours : the whole building has more the appear- 
ance of a fine theatre, than a place for devotion. We were not per- 
mitted to ascend the minaret : here it is the office of a blind person to 
call the people to prayers, that there may be no opportunity from this 
elevated situation to observe the women in the Pasha's Charem. 
Before bein^ admitted into the Mosque, we were obliged to purchase 
thin slippers, and wear them as a mark of respect, leaving our boots at 
the entrance. The court of the Mosque, in the centre of which is a 
neat fountain, and a small plantation of palm and cypress trees, is 
surrounded by a sort of cloister, and small apartments, in which are 
deposited the books of Djezzar. These also serve as lodging-places 
for the chief people of the law. Under the Mosque is a large reser- 
voir for water ; and we were informed, that, at present, a ten years' 
supply of water for the town is collected in the different cisterns. 
Without the gate of the Mosque, and opposite to the entrance of the 
Seraglio, is a handsome fountain, with basons of white marble, and 
furnished with drinking cups, very convenient for the inhabitants. 
Since the campaign of the French in Syria, the fortifications of Acre 
have been repaired, and considerably increased : those which have 
been abided are much more substantial than the old; the masonry, 
though not finely wrought, is solid and well executed ; the stones 
which compose it are taken from the walls and foundations of the 
antient Ptolema'is. The whole of the ramparts are surmounted with 
a sort of battlement, which Djezzar told us was very useful when the 
enemy mounted to the assault : for these stones, being loosened, were 
tumbled down upon the French, and occasioned very great confusion. 
When the French besieged Acre, their attack was directed on the 
Bourge Ait, at the north-east angle; and the besiegers took advan- 
tage of irregularities in the ground, of the garden walls, aud of a 
small ravine, and more particularly of the remains of an aqueduct 
which once conveyed water to Acre. — Djezzar, profiting by this expe- 
rience, has entirely levelled the aqueduct near the town, and is deter- 
mined that, for the future, the enemy shall not have the smallest 
shelter. 
" The Bay of Acre, or Caiffa, is seven miles in width, and perhaps a 
league 
