6

The moun

of Sion; was called by the Sidonians Sirion; and by the Amorites Shenir . . . Very early it received the appellation of the snowy mountain.' tains on the plain of Esdraelon, sometimes called the Little Hermon,' have erroneously been considered by some travellers as the true Hermon of the Scriptures.1

"The usual estimate of the height of Jebel EshSheikh is 10,000 feet above the Mediterranean. The top is partially crowned with snow, or rather ice, during the whole year, which however lies only in the ravines, and thus presents at a distance the appearance of radiant stripes around and below the summit. In one part it is cultivated, and has several villages."See ROBINSON's Researches, vol. iii. pp. 81, 190, 344, 345, 357.

ACCHO, ACRE, OR PTOLEMAIS. ('AKKA.)

SCRIPTURE NOTICES.

"NEITHER did Asher drive out the inhabitants of Accho."-Judges i. 31.

"And when we had finished our course from Tyre, we came to Ptolemais, and saluted the brethren, and abode with them one day."-Acts xxi. 7.

Acre, anciently called Accho, is a sea-port, and fortified town of Palestine, about twenty-seven miles south of Tyre. It is situated on the coast of the Mediter

In the

ranean, or the bay to which it gives its name. book of Judges we read that the children of Ashur I could not subdue it. In after times, being much increased in importance by Ptolemy of Egypt, it received, in compliment to that prince, the name of Ptolemais. Acre was early favoured with the light of the gospel, and with the disciples there St. Paul remained a day when going to Cæsarea.

Acre was successively under the dominion of the Romans and Moors-and has been a chief seat of war in all the wars in Syria. During the time of the Crusades it was the scene of a variety of most bloody contests (between the Christians and the Saracens), and was the last place from which the Christians were driven. It was given by Richard of England to the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, and thence called St. Jean d'Acre. The order of the garter is supposed to have been first instituted by Richard I. of England, at the siege of Acre; where he caused twenty-six knights who had assisted him to wear thongs of leather about their legs. In 1291 the Saracens laid siege to it with thousands of cavalry and also of infantry, when the Knights of Jerusalem defended it, but were overwhelmed by the superiority of numbers, and it was nearly destroyed... In 1759 a dreadful earthquake took place, and the following year five thousand inhabitants were swept off by the plague.

In modern days, Acre has become famous as a seat of war between France and England, when our countryman, Sir Sidney Smith, aided by the celebrated Pacha, Djezzar,' repulsed the French under Napoleon Buona

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1 This governor may truly be said to be celebrated for his crimes. A dreadful celebrity, indeed! The details of his atrocities are too shocking to relate. Mr. Wilson's account conveys a faint idea of their nature. "Nothing." he writes, can be more distressing to the sight, and revolting to human nature, than the number of deplorable objects to be met with here, whose faces have been disfigured by that implacable tyrant of the day, the former pacha of

parte. Acre may be said to be the key of all Galilee, and of the Holy Land generally; and this, together with its having the best port, and being fortified, may account for the violent efforts made by the French to get possession of it. It is remarkable that France and England should have disputed for the palm of victory on that very spot, where, during the time of the Crusades, under their respective monarchs, Philip and Richard, they fought as allies.

Respecting the siege of Acre in 1799, Mr. Wilson says, "This siege gave a fatal blow to Buonaparte, who was completely foiled in his reiterated attacks upon the fortress. He was, it is understood, resolved at all hazards to make himself master of it, on account of the Pacha having given offence to him, and set his power at defiance. Sir Sidney Smith, in the Tigre, of eightyfour guns, being near to the bay to assist in the defence of the town, captured a whole French flotilla, laden with artillery, which supplied about fifty pieces of cannon, that were mounted on the ramparts and in gun-vessels. Napoleon succeeded so far as to make a breach in the wall, to which he directed several desperate efforts, for the purpose of carrying the place by assault; but he was repulsed in all of them, with prodigious slaughter on both sides. During this disastrous contest, which was prolonged for two months, great part of his army was annihilated, and eight of his principal officers cut off, when he saw the necessity of abandoning the attempt as fruitless; and, committing his baggage to the flames, decamped, ascribing to the British commander the glory of his defeat. The breach was pointed out to me where the gallantry of our brave tars

this country The appellation of Djezzar is synonymous with that of cutter or butcher, which he so justly merited, from the frightful catalogue of atrocities of which he was the author ... At every other step, indeed, in going along the streets, I met some person or other, old or young, who exhibited marks of his vengeance, being disfigured in one way or other."

was so signally conspicuous, and where Napoleon had heaped the dying and the dead, himself at one time narrowly escaping a shell from our vessels, which alighted at his feet; upon which occasion two soldiers embraced him, thus forming a protection to him against its effects. It exploded, and overwhelmed all three with dust; or, in the expression of a French writer, 'it happily missed the whole group.' Never, however, was Napoleon so near finishing his ambitious career."

But, even during the last few years, there have been fierce contentions around Acre. "The name of 'Akka," writes Dr. Robinson, "recalls many a deadly struggle," of the time of the Crusades. "There, too, Napoleon was baffled, and driven back from Syria; and, in our own day, torrents of blood have flowed within and around its walls, during the long siege and subsequent capture of the city by the Egyptian army, A.D. 1832.

"The ink with which these few lines were penned," continues Dr. Robinson, "was hardly dry, when the coasts of Syria were again visited by war; and 'Akka became the closing scene of the struggle, between the allied English and Austrian fleets, and the forces of Muhammed 'Aly. On the 3d November, 1840, 'Akka was bombarded for several hours; until the explosion of a magazine destroyed the garrison, and laid the town in ruins."-Robinson's Researches, vol. iii. p. 234.

The situation of Acre is one of the most advantageous that can be desired. An extensive and fertile plain stretches out towards the north and the east; the waters of the Mediterranean flow round the west; and, on the southern side, a capacious bay spreads from the city walls to the base of Mount Carmel.

The harbour of Acre is dangerous for vessels to enter, on account of the number of rocks, and its being ex

posed to the south-west wind. "The port," says Mr. Buckingham, "is formed by the jutting out of a

1 Pasha of Egypt.