Show AROUND very early on the inot I 1 left haifa in company with elder charles U locander for bey routh owing to a heavy gale no steamer was able to make port at haifa wherefore in order to gain time we had to go overland to beyrouty Bey routh our road along the coast led us over about miles of the old phoenician coast the whole coast so to speak is covered with ruins pieces of carved stone smoothened by the hand of time and a goodly number of tombs all showing that the country was once the seat of a high state of civilization sur bur ancient tyro tyre is located about 30 miles north of haifa it is now a small trading place place for the arabs and has only a few few thousand inhabitants it is built on the spur of a sand ridge and is quite insignificant nothing of its former greatness beyond a few rocks in the sea being visible about 25 miles farther north we find old sidon familiar to all bible readers its present name is saida this place is somewhat larger than sur bur and its location is far superior asa As a seaport it has many advantages above other places I 1 ces on the syrian coast of the oa mediterranean but the pro dacies delivered by the servants 03 of god must be fulfilled sidon though sitting like a queen upon the ocean said the prophet shall be destroyed etc of sidon which in the days daya of alexander the great was an wand island and carried on a great commerce on the mediterranean and which so severely tried his patience and ingenuity to conquer there is nothing left but a few lonely rocks a few hundred yards from shore over hach the sea gulls and the white foaming breakers of the stormy sea seem to take their respective spec tive turns in reigning undisputedly put edly saida is located on a sand ridge like sur and has a high hill upon which an old fortification all in ruins is located this ruined fortification together with many others of the kind is supposed to have been built by the crusaders the mountains to the east the foot hills of lebanon are also terraced thus showing that the country was once well cultivated on our way from saida to bey routh a distance of 27 miles we were accompanied part of the distance by three real sons of the desert 11 the three nobles were from mecca and although they were from the holiest hollest shrine according to maholm edan faith they felt in duty bound to make a pilgrimage to shem damascus located a few miles southeast from beyrouty Bey routh where they believe christ is to come in the last days their company pleased us very much because the arabs we here see are far from being the true type tm being so much mixed with other races but as they only spoke arable arabic and our Turk turkish lili was of but little use we could not learn leam anything from mecca which would have pleased us much they were mounted on tolerably fine horses and on a sandy beach they gave us a slight exhibition of the fleetness of their steeds these they managed well and appeared to keep well they were dressed in white underclothes and covered with a dark mantle of a light home homemade made material about their heads they had a white gold embroidered handkerchief tied in the same way as an american lady would tie her scarf with this addition they had a cord about three fourths of an inch thick closely wrap wrapped in 11 W what a appeared to be gold threads systematically fastened twice aroun around their heads beads the ends hanging down their back under their cloaks they displayed a large pistol heavily mounted with glittering material their manner was pleasing but very dignified and bespoke much fi firmness of character they are not unlike our american indians save in the color of the skin which is very dark they are of medium height and though slender yet appeared strong and capable of enduring great fatigue their features are intelligent and earnest the writer only re regretted re ted that he could not converse be better r with them and have told them what god is doing to redeem his children so that they might have carried ahe the good news to mecca on arrival at beyrouty Bey routh we put up at a khan the next day being sunday and our neighbors hearin hearing we were mormons cormons Mor mons called in ang and asked us to preach to them with which request we gladly complied we explained to them the first principles of the gospel and how god through his angels had restored the gospel and its blessings they listened very respectfully but seemed disappointed that we did not tell them how they could obtain a plurality of wives this was wae however no part of ox oa mission beyrouty Bey routh is the chief shi shipping p 1 g point for syria and as a mat matter r of course is a very fast place casinos and dens of vice being quite prominent some fine houses are to be found in the consular cons ulars quarters it Is a great pity ity that as civilization advances t the t e poor heathen must be ruined by the train of wickedness following in its trail here at beyrouty Bey routh several thousand marosites Maro have left mount lebanon for america but as the government has haa forbidden emigration to america the boys overcome this small obstacle by giving the police one and a half turkish liras per e r man as the police f let e t them pass unmolested in the dark and once on the french steamship I 1 they are out of danger nn one e needs no extra amount of f explanation to understand how weak a government must be whose officials can with such impunity override its mandates here we boarded the french steamship Mes messina oina yesterday we called at cyprus an island in the mediterranean under the english government its port regulations furnish a fine contrast with those of turkey and an old scotch gentleman a fellow passenger whose nose indicated that he he was a better judge of wine than ot of navigation said what an effect the flag manhave on th the weather eweather immediately on crossing from syria to cyprus we have english weather at once cyprus is fertile but the inhabitants seem to think it is not much better off for progression now than in the hands of the turks save that they are more sure ana and free in their possessions cyprus has about inhabitants all told the most of them are greek and a few protestants te the remainder being As many of the servants of god have had to do before it also became our lot to take deck passage we have therefore our places laces on the deck where our bed is s spread out and we have a fine opportunity of studying the character and disposition i tion or of our fellow passengers ve we have to watch our things closely as the people are not very scrupulous about belting helping themselves when they think thin they are unobserved one bad feature is their noise when conversing it appears to us from their gestures and manner that they are quarreling but everything soon seems to be quiet and tranquility again reigns opposite to us we see the good ol 01 old d arab praying and performing his devotions to allah without the least embarrassment the greeks playing cards and the turks smoking their narcilla nar gilla while the europeans walk around and wonder how we can all live in our humble condition one swiss passenger evidently wib wishing ing to 8 show ow us a little con contempt ampt said id to me 1 I would ra rather er stay y at home and pound stones on n the road for my krow krout than travel in this way I 1 volunteered a little information for his consideration i e that these people he here saw were thoroughly at nome home the ship was quite clean the weather fine and they had their furniture with them a mat no other furniture as a rule graces races their homes kence hence I 1 said atey they were not so much to be pitted pitied and we were fast learn learning lug to b be content with the same a mode of travella travel traveling ln n not t to be refused when one wis wishes es to combine a cheap journey with comfort of its kind P F P F HINTZE ox ON board the maevis mediterranean march 1889 |