Century._

[28] _There is only one reference to Acre in the Old Testament (Judges
i, 31), and one in the New Testament (Acts xxi, 7), under the name of
Ptolemais. It was taken by the Crusaders in A.D. 1102, and held till
1187, as a port of the Kings of Jerusalem. After a siege it was
re-taken from Saladin in 1191, and held for a century. It was here that
the Knights of St. John, after they had been driven from every other
part of Palestine, prolonged for forty-three days their gallant
resistance to the Sultan of Egypt and his immense host; 60,000
Christians were on that occasion slain or sold as slaves. Napoleon
besieged Acre in 1799, but was prevented from taking it by the British
under Sir William Sidney Smith. It was bombarded in 1840, by British
and Turkish Fleets, when an explosion of a magazine destroyed the
town._

CAPTURE OF DAMASCUS.[29]

After another day spent at Haifa, back again the Division went (leaving the
"S.R.Y." as a garrison), along the same road by which they had come, as
far as the top of the hill above the river. Here we branched off to the
left through Beit Lahm (a German colony), and Seffurie to Kefr Kenna, four
miles north-east of Nazareth on the Tiberias Road, said to be the "Cana of
Galilee" where the water was turned into wine[30]. The latter part of the
road was very narrow and rocky, being in parts merely a goat-track. Our
animals had no water that day--it being quite unobtainable in spite of
previous advices.

At 02.00 the next morning (September 26th) the Division started for
Tiberias[31]. "No. 1" Section going with the advance guard, the remainder
of the Squadron following the Deccan Horse. The 14th Brigade reached the
shores of Lake Tiberias[32] (Sea of Galilee) just north of the town at
08.30 and halted until 12.00 to allow the Australian Mounted Division to
pass through on their way towards Damascus. Here, horses were "off-saddled"
and watered twice during the halt, the water being quite fresh and clear.
Being upon the shore, which was gently shelving, they were able to walk in
and drink to their hearts' content. A number of men also took the
opportunity to bathe; it was fairly hot, being 680 feet below the level of
the sea.

The River Jordan runs right through the lake, and it is interesting to know
now that this point was 64 miles (as the crow flies), up the river from the
site of the late Squadron camp when it was previous