1 18
2 of Mecca), and that the inhabitants of Damascus had been de-
3 feated. The Sultan despatched immediately five pashas to Acre,
4 in order to bring the heads of Abdula Pasha, of Emir Beshir,
5 and of the new governor at Tripoli, the above-mentioned Barber,
6 for having taken part in the war, by sending his own troops to
7 join the main army. Ali Essat Bek took advantage of the
8 moment, having his partisans at Tripoli ; he came down from
9 Akar, blockaded and bombarded that town, and forced it to
10 capitulate. Meanwhile, Barber betook himself to the citadel, in
11 which he surrendered under certain conditions. The five pashas
12 arrived so suddenly, that Emir Beshir had only time to escape,
13 and embark between Seida and Berout, in a French vessel, which
14 conveyed him to Egypt, where, by the interference of Mahomet
15 Ali Pasha, he obtained from the Sultan his own pardon and
16 that of Barber and his superior, Abdula Pasha, which, by
17 the by, cost each of them an immense sum of gold. At London
18 I was recently told, by the missionary, Dr. J. Wolf, that Abdula
19 Pasha and the Emir Beshir were residing at Constantinople,
20 but since then the public journals have announced the death
21 of the latter, and that one of his sons had embraced Mahom-
22 medanism.
23 I was present at the siege of Acre, and found an opportunity
24 of employing myself in surgical attendance and operations ;
25 as the garrison used to make nightly sallies, and do a great deal
26 of mischief. I had a dozen native surgeons, or rather barbers
27 (jerahs), as assistants, to whom I gave theoretical and practical
28 information.
29 Tigers are rarely to be met with on Mount Lebanon, yet
30 during my stay an order was issued by Emir Beshir, that the
31 muzzle of every slain tiger should be sent to the government,
32 in order to prevent the use of it as a poisonous drug. This
33 strange order induced me, when at Lahore, to examine its virtue,
34 the results of which I refer to in the second volume of this work,
35 under the denomination of Tigrineum .
36 My passion for antiquities prompted me to undertake a
37 voyage to Alexandria; accordingly I made a trip, which