s at Harish, as the shore
is bad and full of reefs. Corn and fruit often come by ship from Jaffa,
and sometimes timber for building purposes, but this does not happen
very often, as most of the timber required at Harish is brought from
Wadi. Altogether, ships do not come more than fifteen or sixteen times
in the year, when they are either laden as described, or simply
ballasted, and return with cargoes of melons, dates, and Agua dates.
Sometimes shipwrecks occur on these inhospitable coasts. As has been
already mentioned, the postal service between Harish and the outer world
is provided for by a weekly mail to Kantara, by means of a dromedary.

I will now give some description of the place itself. Harish lies along
the side of an undulating hill fronting the sea, at the foot of the
large quadrangular castle, a substantial building of calcareous
marlstone. The only entrance to the castle is by a great gate opening
from the town, and, therefore, upon the side next the sea. On either
side of the gate is a round tower, with a marble pillar--the capital of
which is inverted--built into the stone. Above are five marble tablets
with inscriptions. A sixth tablet stands below the loophole, from which
the standard-bearer (whose grave will be mentioned presently) was killed
by the French. From the lower inscription we learn that the castle is
327 years old, and was built by the Sultan Suleiman. The upper tablets
bear the name of the Sultan Selim. A gate with iron mountings leads into
the T-shaped entrance-hall, in the centre of which is an oval cupola,
and on either side slightly pointed arches. At the entrance is a
circular arch, and a similar one at the opposite end of the hall, in
which a lamp is suspended, and where there are three marble steps
leading up to the mosque. This is a very simple edifice, covered by a
flat roof of palm-leaf stalks, and containing two rows of four pointed
arches, with four ancient marble pillars built into the stone. To the
left of the Mihrab, which has two marble pillars, and is also
distinguished by simplicity, is a mural inscription. The Mem Ber is of
the same character, and is constructed of red and green painted wood.
Four men are set apart for the service of the mosque, one only of whom
is a priest.

Passing out through a side-door to the left, we found, opposite to the
Jama, an old Egyptian sarcophagus of black granite, now used as a water
trough, covered within and without with very small h