old man suddenly in his house, and murdering him in the night. But Abdallah never thought afterwards of building any new fortification. The version given by _Rabbi_ Joseph Schwarz (1804‒1860) in his _T’buoth Ha’arez_ (Jerusalem, 1845) is somewhat different in details, but the facts are essentially the same. Another traveller, Professor J. M. A. Scholz (1794‒1852), happened to be at that time in the neighbourhood of Acre, and he confirms the first version. He gives also the precise date of the assassination: the 24th August, 1824. Peaceful and loyal as the Jews in the East were, this monstrous crime seems to have put an end to their great patience. The brothers of Haim in Damascus arranged to send an expedition of revenge. This was the first time for several centuries that Jews had gone forth as fighters in their own cause. The _Pashas_ of Aleppo and Damascus concluded a treaty, and supported the expedition arranged by the Farhis. They besieged Acre, and had it not been for a spy sent to the camp of the Farhis, who succeeded in treacherously poisoning Solomon Farhi, the expedition would have had an excellent chance of success. The death of Solomon, however, put an end to the expedition, of which he was the organizer and leader. The last survivor of Haim’s brothers was Raphael. He also was a distinguished statesman. He was Minister at Damascus in 1820, and after the restoration of Ottoman rule in Syria was elected to the Council of that town. Rev. John Wilson¹ gives a further account of his visits to Damascus in 1843. “6th June.――Mr. Graham and I visited the house of the chief _Rabbi_, Haim Maimon Tobhi. He had been eighteen years resident at Damascus, but is a native of Gibraltar. He had obtained, he said, an English passport, entitling him to British protection, from Lord Palmerston (1784‒1865); and he had been elected to office on account of the privilege which he thus enjoyed, it having been conceived by the Jews, that the name of an English subject, borne by him, would give weight to his dealings with the Turkish Government” (_Ib._ 330). “On the second day of our excursions among the Jews we visited one of the princely mansions of the Farhis, the richest bankers and merchants of Damascus.” In a footnote Wilson quotes [Sir John] Bowring’s [F.R.S.] (1792‒1872) _Report on Syria_, _p._ 94: “As a class, the Jewish foreign merchants of Damascus are the most wealthy.... The two most opulent are believed to be Mourad Farhi and (Raphael) Nassim Farhi, whose wealth in trade exceeds one and a half millions each. Most of the Jewish foreign houses trade with Great Britain.” In the first of these mansions Wilson admired the library, containing nearly the whole of Jewish literature, to which Jewish students had free access for purposes of study. He met there some of the _Rabbis_, who told him that the Jews of Damascus were supposed to number 5000 souls, and those of Aleppo 6000. He and Mr. Graham, who accompanied him, were