ACME, 
2 2i 
passes around him,’ 5 Finding it impossible to pacify him upon 
this subject,* we turned the conversation, by .stating the cause 
of our visit to Acre, and requested a supply of cattle for the 
use of the British fleet. He agreed to furnish an hundred bul¬ 
locks, but upon the sole condition of not being offered payment 
for them in money.-f He said it would require some time to 
collect cattle for that purpose: we therefore persuaded Cap¬ 
tain Culverhouse to employ the interval in making, with us, a 
complete tour of the Holy Land. Djezzar, having heard of 
our intention, promised to supply us with horses from his own 
stables, and an escort, formed of his body guard, for the un¬ 
dertaking; ordering also his dragoman, Signor Bertocino, to ac¬ 
company us during the expedition, and to render us every as¬ 
sistance in his power. 
The air of Acre is much better than that of Cyprus, and the 
same may be said generally of all the coast of Syria and of 
Palestine. The maritime districts of these two countries con¬ 
sist of the finest territories in the Levant. As a proof of the 
salubrity of their climate, may be mentioned the absence of 
noxious reptiles, and of those venomous insects which, by their 
swarms, peculiarly characterize unwholesome air. We observ¬ 
ed neither toads nor mosquitoes, nor even locusts ; although it 
is probable that the last of these have not altogether forsaken 
a region where their visits have been occasionally calamitous. 
There are few exceptions to an observation which has, in a 
certain degree, been confirmed by my own actual experience ; 
narneiy, that unwholesome air prevails, during certain seasons* 
over all the shores of the inland seas, from the Straits of Gib¬ 
raltar to the marshes of the Don. We are told, indeed, of the 
salubrity of the south of France ; and certain situations may be 
pointed out along the coast of Syria, uninfected by any summer 
mal'aria.\ But, generally speaking, all the shores of the 
Mediterranean, of the Archipelago, of the sea of Marmora, the 
# The Rev. J. Palmer, Arabic professor in the University of Cambridge, has 
visited Acre since the death of Djezzar. Being at the place of his successor, Djez- 
Zar’s secretary confessed to him, that his master had“ long made up his mind to put 
Sir Sidney to death , whenever the means men: in his porv r.'’ Considering Ihe open un¬ 
suspecting frankness of Sir Sidney, in all his dealings with the Arabs, it is wonderful 
this was not e Tec ted. 
t The only remuneration required by Djezzar, for the supplies he twice sent to 
our fleet, was a few pieces of artillery taken by our army from the French in Egypt, 
or a little ammunition. It is said, however, that no payment of any kind was ever 
made to him, 
X According to Volney, even that of Acre is unwholesome in summer. He speaks 
of infectious vapours from lakes in the low grounds: (vol. ii. p, 227.) thereby con¬ 
tradicting the statement made by the author, who is not, however, disposed to alter 
the account gives above; owin* to the proofs whereby the opinion is maintained, 
* 
