FROM ACRE TO NAZARETH. 
259 
hurt ■■■through''"the midst of contagion,* Certainly, the danger 
is not so great as it is generally believed to be. The rumour 
prevalent in the neighbourhood of Asiatic towns, where the 
plague exists, of the number carried off by the disorder, is al¬ 
ways false; and this gaining strength, as it proceeds to any 
distance, causes the accounts winch are published in the ga¬ 
zettes of Europe, of whole cities being thereby depopulated. 
The towns of the Holy Land are, it is true, often emptied 
of their inhabitants, who retire in tents to the environs when 
the plague is rife; but they quickly return again to their ha¬ 
bitations, when the alarm subsides. A traveller in these coun¬ 
tries, will do w ell to be mindful of this ; because, were he to 
halt or turn back upon the event of every rumour of this na¬ 
ture, he would soon find his journey altogether impracticable. 
We had reason to regret that we were thus prevented from 
visiting BafFa in the isle of Cyprus. In a subsequent part of 
our travels, we were often liable to exaggerated reports con¬ 
cerning the plague. They are something like the stories of 
banditti, in many European mountains inhabited by a race of 
shepherds as harmless as the flocks they tend. The case is cer¬ 
tainly somewhat different in Asia, especially in the Holy 
Land, where banditti are no insubstantial phantoms, that yan- 
ish whenever they are approached. The traveller in this 
country must pass “ the tents of Kedar, and the hills of the 
robbers.” So il is concerning the plague; he will sometimes 
find the reality, although it be inadequate to the rumour. We 
visited several places -where'-the inhabitants were said to die 
by hundreds in a day; but not an individual of our party, 
which was often numerous^ experienced in any degree the con¬ 
sequences of contagion. The French, from their extreme care¬ 
lessness, were often attacked by it, and as often cured* The 
members of the medical staff, belonging to their army in Egypt, 
seemed lo consider it as a malignant,” and therefore dangerous 
fever; but with proper precaution, by no means fatal. 
^ The author knew a Mahometan of high rank,, who when his wife was attacked by 
the plague, attended her, with impunity, until she died. He would not suffer any of 
his slaves to approach her person ; but: gave her food and medicines with his own 
'hands..; and, in the hour of death, impressed a parting kiss upon her lips,, as he wept 
over her. In a similar state of indifference as to the consequence of his temerity, 
the celebrated Dr. White, physician to our army and navy, when in Egypt, resided in 
the plague hospital at Grand Cairo, and escaped, until he actually inoculated himsil* 
tab the purulent virus of-the disorder, 
