A full and just account of the present state of the Ottoman Empire in all its branches; with the government, and policy, religion, customs, and way of living of the Turks in general ... from a serious observation, taken in many years travesl thro' those countries / [Aaron Hill].

Aaron Hill

Date:: 1710

Credit: A full and just account of the present state of the Ottoman Empire in all its branches; with the government, and policy, religion, customs, and way of living of the Turks in general ... from a serious observation, taken in many years travesl thro' those countries / [Aaron Hill]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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$2$2 Bums of the Philiflincs Temple. Samp fen's Fo*e>. An Old Cs.- file. Afcahn&s- fcrib’d. T HERE yet remain upon the Hill, the fplendid Ruins of a MaiTy, Arch’d and Lofty Piece of Architecture, which is generally faidto have been anciently the Place, where Sampfon, Handing blind betwixt the Pillars, to make Sport for the Philijtine Noblemen, pull’d down the Houle with hid¬ den force, and with himfclf, deftroy’d juch mighty Numbers ol that \> ar¬ il ke People. ’ THEY fhow the Field, wherein the juft nam’d Sarny] on ty’d the Foxes Tati to Taily and burnt the /landing Corn of the Philiflines; and among the many Places, Famous in his Memory, oblige you to take notice of a very ftccp and cras^y Hill^ to wlucli^ wlicn lie had been dnluib d in CidZadj lie afeended, with the City Gates upon his Brawny Shoulders. T HERE is a Caftle now remaining, Founded by KJng Baldwin, in the Tear One Thou]and. One Hundred and Forty Eight, a very mean and defpicable Fabrick, where the Great Sangiack ot Gazr a nas Ins Refidence, and Rides the City and the Country round it, with an uncontroul'd and arbitrary Ty- ranny. ABOUT twelve Miles South-Eafl of Gazr a, clofe upon the Sea, is built the City Afcalon, now call’d Schalon, Inhabited by 7 urks,^ and guai ded by a kind of Forty wherein thev keep a ragged Garrifon. 1 his Place deferves Re¬ mark, in that it was of Old the City, where was built the Celebiated Tern- yle of the Great Philijline Jdoly Dagon, part of whofe decay d Foundations they pretend upon Inquiry, to point out to T ravellers. T. is now a kind of m- confiderable Village, worth regard for nothing, but the Garrifon, the Turks maintain to guard their Caftle. J 0 P P A, Famous in the Scriptures for a Sea Port Town, is ill accom¬ modated with a dangerous Haveny open to the fury of the Northern Tempefls ; all her Buildings are of Mud, or an unpolifh’d kind of Stone, of an-appea- rance, not agreeable. I he Place is Peopled by promiicuous Numbers of the Turks And Christians. Certain Merchants have their Dwellings here, in order to Export fuch quantities ot Cottony as they can procure about the Country. Other Merchandizes they are feldom ftock’d with. Annual^ Numbers of the Chrijtian PilgrirnSy Travelling to vifit the Sepulchre of Cbnfty and other Sacred Rehelites at Jerufalem, are landed here, and by their frequent Pailages maintain, but not enrich the miferable Natives of this Worthlefs City, which is Famous for the boajled height ot her Antiquity, re¬ ported to have been firjl built by faphet, NoalPs Son, or as fome fay, before the Deluge. Acre deicrib’d ACRE is a Sea Port Town, direTly equidiftant from Jerufalemznd Tripo- lis of Syria, ’tis built upon a Plain, its Form Triangular, two fides whereof the Sea for ever wafhes; Once it was a Place of Strength, Impregnable, and Fortified by all the Helps of Art and Nature, which the mighty Runts, ftitt remaining, like ftupendious Mountains well demon/lrate. SUCCESSIVE Seas of Blood were {bed between th oTurks and Chri- flians in the Hof War, each fide alternately poffefjing, and oblig’d tc) quit the fatal City ; It is now entirely govern’d by a Turkijb Sangiack, and Inha¬ bited by Men of pretty good Condition, on account of the Conveniency, the Sea affords them, of a Tracle with Britain, Holland, France, and every other Navigating Part cl Cbrijlcnaom. TT R V S, the Fam’d Metropolis of Old Phoenicia, Celebrated anciently for rrdeferib’d. ]Vealth and Power, and particularly Famous for her Purple Dye, which lives fo frequently in many of the Works of former Writers, is at prefent Subject to Jopf» de. IcribM. How much Blood has been died$