Jezzar died in 1804, and, since then, Acre has had no history, excepting in 1840, when the English fleet bombarded the town, and drove out the forces of Ibrahim Pacha, who had taken it in 1832. There are many inhabitants who can well remember the short, sharp engagement, and the terrific explosion of the powder magazine, which killed 2000 Egyptians. Since this disaster, the prosperity of the place has dwindled more and more, so that it now contains only some 8000 inhabitants. Should Palestine, however, be destined to form the theatre of future military operations, the name of Acre will no doubt be often heard again in English mouths. CHAPTER VII. SHARON. The preceding chapters bring down the history of the Survey to the end of the campaign of 1872. In the winter Mr. Drake’s health became so much affected that he was obliged to try the effect of a sea voyage to Egypt. Thus, on the 1st of February, he left me alone for a month. On the 26th I marched out from Haifa, and again took the field, our intention being to fill in the broad tract of plain and low hills between Carmel and Jaffa, and from the sea to the Samaritan mountains previously surveyed. Our first camp was at a village not marked on any map and much wanted, for it was known that a place called Geba of Horsemen, which Herod’s veterans colonised, must have existed near Carmel, and here we found the required spot in the present Jeb’a at the foot of the hill. All round us were places of interest. The village had rock-cut tombs, and a fine olive-grove, amongst the trees of which sat the little “boomehs,” or Athenian owls only some ten inches high. By day their peculiar cry, a sort of mew, is the only indication of their lurking-place, but by night their big eyes can be seen in the branches. To the south-east we discovered a large volcanic outbreak at Ikzim, which appears to have been a submarine crater according to the geologist’s verdict on our specimens.