y isolated hill, has a most
peculiar appearance. The lower street is surrounded by a wall, and
appears sufficiently broad; the remaining streets run up the face of
the hills, and seem at a distance to be resting on the houses below.
Viewing the town from our boat, I could have sworn that people were
walking about on flat house-tops.

As Joppa boasts neither an inn nor a convent which might shelter a
traveller, I waited upon the Consul of the Austrian Empire, Herr D---,
who received me very kindly and introduced me to his family,
which comprised his lady, three sons, and three daughters. They
wore the Turkish costume. The daughters, two of whom were
exceedingly beautiful, wore wide trousers, a caftan, and a sash
round the waist. On their heads they had little fez-caps, and their
hair was divided into fifteen or twenty narrow plaits, interwoven
with little gold coins, and a larger one at the end of each plait.
A necklace of gold coins encircled their necks. The mother was
dressed in exactly the same way. When elderly women have little or
no hair left, they make up with artificial silk plaits for the
deficiencies of nature.

The custom of wearing coins as ornaments is so prevalent throughout
Syria, that the very poorest women, girls, and children strive to
display as many as possible. Where they cannot sport gold, they
content themselves with silver money; and where even this metal is
not attainable, with little coins of copper and other baser metals.

The Consul and his son were also clothed in the Turkish garb; but
instead of a turban the father wore an old cocked hat, which gave
him an indescribably ludicrous appearance. A son and a daughter of
this worthy patron of the semi-Turkish, semi-European garb, had but
one eye, a defect frequently met with in Syria. It is generally
supposed to be caused by the dry heat, the fine particles of sand,
and the intense glare of the chalky hills.

As I reached Joppa early in the afternoon, I proceeded in company of
the Consul to view the town and its environs. In dirt, bad paving,
etc., I found it equal to any of the towns I had yet seen. The
lower street, near the sea, alone is broad and bustling, with loaded
and unloaded camels passing continually to and fro. The bazaar is
composed of some miserable booths containing common provisions and a
few cheap wares.

The neighbourhood of Joppa is exceedingly fertile. Numerous large
gardens, with trees laden with all kinds