DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5504#0033
hi 1817 and 1818.
127
at the foot of Mount Carmel.* We had to cross the bay,- in a.
boat, to land at Saint-Jean-d'Acre. The sea was still rough,
with high surges, so that we had great difficulty in reaching
the small port.
The high walls of the pier have fallen down in an irregular
manner j but a part of the breastworks, surmounted by battle-
ments, are still standing. We entered by a breach to avoid the
surf which covered the mole, the work of the crusaders, with
its foam.
Saint-Jean-d'Acre, the ancient Ptolemais, is surrounded by
high walls and deep moats : the new fortifications now form a
double enclosure, terrassed and flanked by bastions. It is also
defended by the old ramparts thrown up by the Christians, and
by the recent works of European engineers: its form is that of
a semi-circle, having the sea in front. The waves break on the
towers with which the beach is lined.
In this city, a mixture of gothic ruins and modern construc-
tions is every where to be seen : here, a church in an entirely
ruinous state meets the view; there, monasteries, a palace, and
hospital, alike abandoned; still further, a new, rich, and ele-
gant mosque; minarets, the bases of which rise from amid
heaps of rubbish; and, lastly, the seraglio, the gardens of
which, laid out in terraces, separate the ramparts. Sycamores,
orange-trees, and the finest palms, nod their heads gracefully over
this motley assemblage ; and this view alone softens the sadness
and disgust which a residence at Saint-Jean-d'Acre inspires.
The streets are narrow and filthy; the houses, built of free-
stone, low, huddled, with flat roofs, and small doors, resemble,
prisons. The terraces of the different habitations communi-
cate with each other by clumsy arcades.
The European consuls reside in the kans,* which are large
square buildings, having in the centre a court, and which, in
times of difficulty, become fortresses. In the interior, the as-
cent to the upper apartments is by steep and narrow stair-
* The name of Syria, bestowed bv the Greeks on the country where I
landed, is probably derived from that of Assyria, a celebrated empire of Asia,
the limits of which were extended to this coast at the time the Assyrians of
Ninevah made this part of Syria a province of their empire.
Syria, at that epoch, did not comprehend either Phenicia or Palestine. It
is named by the Arabs Bdrr cUCham, or the country to the left; for it is in this
way diatthey distinguish all the space comprehended in the area from Alex-
andrctta to the Euphrates, and from Gaza to the Desert, taking the Mediterra-
nean as the base of this area.
Damascus, the reputed capital of Syria, is by them called el-Cliam. Mecca
therefore becomes the centre between the Yemen, or country to the right, and
Ban- el-t'ham, or the country to the left.
t Likewise known by the name of okeh.
127
at the foot of Mount Carmel.* We had to cross the bay,- in a.
boat, to land at Saint-Jean-d'Acre. The sea was still rough,
with high surges, so that we had great difficulty in reaching
the small port.
The high walls of the pier have fallen down in an irregular
manner j but a part of the breastworks, surmounted by battle-
ments, are still standing. We entered by a breach to avoid the
surf which covered the mole, the work of the crusaders, with
its foam.
Saint-Jean-d'Acre, the ancient Ptolemais, is surrounded by
high walls and deep moats : the new fortifications now form a
double enclosure, terrassed and flanked by bastions. It is also
defended by the old ramparts thrown up by the Christians, and
by the recent works of European engineers: its form is that of
a semi-circle, having the sea in front. The waves break on the
towers with which the beach is lined.
In this city, a mixture of gothic ruins and modern construc-
tions is every where to be seen : here, a church in an entirely
ruinous state meets the view; there, monasteries, a palace, and
hospital, alike abandoned; still further, a new, rich, and ele-
gant mosque; minarets, the bases of which rise from amid
heaps of rubbish; and, lastly, the seraglio, the gardens of
which, laid out in terraces, separate the ramparts. Sycamores,
orange-trees, and the finest palms, nod their heads gracefully over
this motley assemblage ; and this view alone softens the sadness
and disgust which a residence at Saint-Jean-d'Acre inspires.
The streets are narrow and filthy; the houses, built of free-
stone, low, huddled, with flat roofs, and small doors, resemble,
prisons. The terraces of the different habitations communi-
cate with each other by clumsy arcades.
The European consuls reside in the kans,* which are large
square buildings, having in the centre a court, and which, in
times of difficulty, become fortresses. In the interior, the as-
cent to the upper apartments is by steep and narrow stair-
* The name of Syria, bestowed bv the Greeks on the country where I
landed, is probably derived from that of Assyria, a celebrated empire of Asia,
the limits of which were extended to this coast at the time the Assyrians of
Ninevah made this part of Syria a province of their empire.
Syria, at that epoch, did not comprehend either Phenicia or Palestine. It
is named by the Arabs Bdrr cUCham, or the country to the left; for it is in this
way diatthey distinguish all the space comprehended in the area from Alex-
andrctta to the Euphrates, and from Gaza to the Desert, taking the Mediterra-
nean as the base of this area.
Damascus, the reputed capital of Syria, is by them called el-Cliam. Mecca
therefore becomes the centre between the Yemen, or country to the right, and
Ban- el-t'ham, or the country to the left.
t Likewise known by the name of okeh.