to accompany us during the expedition, and to render us every assistance in his power. CHAP. The air of Acre is much better than that of Climate. Cyprus; and a similar remark applies generally to all the coast of Syria and Palæstine. The maritime districts of these two countries consist 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 observed neither toads nor mosquitoes, nor even locusts; although it be 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 the author's own experience; namely, that unwholesome air prevails, during certain seasons, over all the shores of the inland seas, from the Straits of Gibraltar 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-aria3. But (3) According to Volney, even that of Acre is unwholesome in summer. He speaks of infectious vapours from lakes in the low grounds; III. CHAP. generally speaking, all the shores of the Mediterranean, of the Archipelago, of the Sea of Marmora, the Black Sea, and the Sea of Azof, have their periodical vapours of pestilence and death. Many of them are never free from bad air; and numberless are the victims who, unconscious of the danger, have been exposed to its effects. Some attention should be paid to proper caution in visiting countries so circumstanced; especially since it has been affirmed by our great Moralist', that "the grand object of travelling is to see the shores of the MediterOn those shores," said he, "were the four great empires of the world; the Assyrian, the Persian, Greek, and Roman. All our religion, almost all our laws, almost all our arts, almost all that sets us above savages, has come to us from the shores of the Mediterranean." Yet, in exploring countries so situate, among the ruins of antient cities, and in the very midst of objects to which a literary traveller would most eagerly direct his attention, the danger to be apprehended from bad air is particularly imminent. Stagnant water, owing to ruined aqueducts, to neglected wells, and ranean. grounds; (vol. II. p. 227.) thereby differing from the statement made by the author, who is not, however, disposed to alter the account given above; owing to the proofs by which the opinion is maintained. (1) Boswell's Life of Johnson, vol. II. p. 61. Lond. 1791. to many other causes, proves fatal, by its exhalation. This is so true, with regard to antient ruins in the south of Europe, that the inhabitants of the neighbouring districts generally caution strangers against the consequences of visiting them during the summer months; consequences far more dangerous than any other accident to which travellers may fancy themselves exposed in foreign countries. By the introduction of these remarks, the author is sensible of repeating observations already made; but the importance of the caution they convey cannot be too much enforced. Places infected by such dangerous vapour may be distinguished, at the setting or rising of the sun, by thick and heavy mists of a milky hue; these may at that time be observed, hovering, and seldom rising high above the soil3. The mildest diseases inflicted by this kind of air, are quartan and tertian fevers; and sometimes it occasions instant death. The inhabitants of the Gulph of Salernum and the Coast of Baia, as well as those resident in the Pontine Marshes, suffer violent contraction of (2) See Chap. VIII. of the Third Volume, p. 290. (3) The air of any place is seldom salutary where flies are found in great abundance. Another criterion of the sources of mephitic exhalation is, the appearance of the arundo phragmites. This plant, in warm countries, may generally be regarded by travellers as “a warning buoy." (4) A mal-aria prevails at Rome during summer; particularly in the Transtibertine suburbs of the city. This seems alluded to by Pliny, CHAP. III. CHAP. the joints, and appear in the most decrepid Pliny, in a letter to Clemens, wherein he describes the residence of beings who inhabit those fearful regions are CHAP. strangers to its influence. III. State of Condition The external view of Acre, like that of any Present other town in the Levant, is the only prospect Acre. of it worth beholding. The sight of the interior exactly resembles what is seen in Constantinople, and in the generality of Turkish cities: narrow dirty lanes, with wretched shops, and as wretched inhabitants. Yet the early travellers Former speak of its pristine splendour, and of the of Acre. magnificent buildings by which it was once adorned'. In the discordant accounts that have been published concerning its present state, some describe it as interesting in its remains of former grandeur; while others relate, that the Saracens, after the final expulsion of the Christians, left not one stone upon another. It is a very common error to suppose every thing barbarous on the part of the Moslems, and to attribute to the Christians, in that period, more refinement than they really possessed. A due attention to history may shew, that the Saracens, as they were called, were in fact more enlightened than their invaders; nor is there any evidence for believing that the former ever delighted in works of destruction. Whatsoever degree of severity (1) Vid. Theatrum Terræ Sanctæ Adrichomii, p. 6. Colon. 1628. |