From Rhodes we steered direct for the opposite coast of Asia, and, entering into a passage of some length, between two high hills, we wondered where we were going, for we did not see any place in this opening fit for ships to lie in, and the land on both sides was rocky hills, covered with wood, (except where the rocks were completely bare of soil,) and appeared to be the habitations of wild beasts. When we arrived very near the head of the inlet, we were surprised to see a ship that was a little ahead of us, get out of our sight almost in an instant; but when we had got a little farther, we found a passage which turned to the right, round a very perpendicular hill, as suddenly as if it had been the corner of a street. Into this passage we sailed. It was but short, and in a few minutes we entered into one of the largest and finest bays, it is said, in the world. Here we cast anchor on the 29th December, 1800, and lay until the 23d February, 1801, making arrangements for our attacking the French in Egypt; procuring horses for the use of the artillery and cavalry: and cutting wood for fuel, and for making fascines and pallisades in case they should be needed after we landed. The bay is nearly surrounded with high hills, which, except in and about the small town of Marmorice, are covered with wood, in general very thick. There are great numbers of wild beasts in the woods, which make so much noise in the night time as to be heard over the whole bay. There was a small plain on one side of the bay, where we pitched tents for those that were sick; but there was a necessity to have a guard, to keep on fires in the rear of the tents, during the night; and some nights the noise of the wild beasts indicated their being so near the tents, that the sentinels fired to keep them at a distance. Some seamen belonging to one of the war ships, who were cutting wood at one place, ventured to stay all night on the shore; they were killed by the wild beasts before morning. We were not long in this place until a market was erected on shore, and vessels from the adjacent coast soon found their way to it, with all kinds of fruit, and sheep and goats, and other useful articles; so that that part of the shore assumed the appearance of one of our country fairs. The soil around the bay is to all appearance fertile; but cultivation has been on the decline for a long time past, which has allowed the wood to extend, in several places, to the very shores. At some distant period the shores seem to have been better peopled, and the wood to have been farther back. I found the ruins of a house upon the top of a small eminence, pretty far back in the woods. The walls were partly standing; trees were growing out of the floor; a plot of ground, which had been levelled for a garden, still retained its shape, and had a fine spring of water running through it. Land turtle is in plenty in the woods.