ACRE. 
with diamonds; but this he apologized for exhibiting, sayingit 
was his badge of office, as governor of Acre, and therefor© 
could not be laid aside. Having ended his orders to the en¬ 
gineer, we were directed to sit upon the end of the divan; 
and Signor Bertocino, his dragoman, kneeling by his side, he 
prepared to hear the cause of our visit. 
The conversation began by a request from the Pacha, that 
English captains, in future, entering the bay of Acre, would 
fire only one gun, rather as a signal, than as a salute, upon 
their arrival. “ There can be no good reason,” said he, for 
such a waste of gunpowder, in ceremony between friends. 
Besides,” he added, “ I am too ok! to be pleased with ceremo¬ 
ny : among forty-three pachas of three tails, now living in 
Turkey, I am the senior. My occupations are consequently, 
as you see, very important,” taking out a pair of scissars, and 
beginning to cut figures in paper, which was his constant em¬ 
ployment when strangers were present: these he afterward 
stuck upon the wainscoat. “ I shall send each of you away,” 
said he, “ with good proof of old Djezzar’s ingenuity. 
There,” addressing himself to Captain Cuiverhouse, and offer¬ 
ing a paper cannon, “ there is a symbol of your profession 
and while 1 was explaining to the captain the meaning of this 
singular address, he offered me a paper flower, denoting, as 
he said, “ a florid interpretation of blunt speech As often as 
we endeavoured to introduce the business of our visit, he af¬ 
fected to be absorbed in these trifling conceits, or turned the 
conversation by allegorical sayings, to whose moral we could 
find no possible clue. His whole discourse was in parables, 
proverbs, truisms, and oriental apologues. One of his tales 
lasted nearly an hour, about a man who wished to enjoy the 
peaceful cultivation of a small garden, without consulting the 
lord of the manor, whenever he removed a tulip; alluding, 
perhaps, to his situation with reference to the grand signior. 
There was evidently much cunning and deep policy in his 
pretended frivolity. Apparently occupied in regulating the 
shape of a w atch paper with his scissars, he was all the while 
deeply attentive to our words, and even to our looks, anxious 
to discover whether there was any urgency in the nature of 
our visit ; and certainly betraying as much ostentation in the 
seeming privations to which he exposed himself, as he might 
have done by the most stately magnificence. He w as desirous 
of directing the attention of his visiters to the homeliness of 
ills mode of living: “ If I find,” said lie, “ only bread 
