34 NOTES ON A SOJOURN IN THE LEVANT. 
supplied by the Beyrout Waterworks Co., which brings the water 
of the Dog River into the town. Beyrout is said by some to be 
mentioned in the Bible in two places: namely, 2 Samuel viil. 8, 
where it is called ‘* Berothai’’; and Ezekiel xlvii. 16, where it is 
called ‘‘ Berothah”; but it is doubtful if it is Beyrout that is 
referred to in either place. The Roman name of the town was 
Berytus. It was destroyed by Tryphan, the usurper of the Syrian 
throne, in B.c. 140. Afterwards the elder Agrippa built there a 
theatre and amphitheatre, baths and porticoes. The Emperor 
Titus here celebrated the birthday of his father, Vespasian, by 
shows and gladiatorial contests. After this, during the troublous 
times that followed the disruption of the Roman empire, Berytus 
became celebrated as a school of Greek learning, especially of 
law. It was a great object of contention in the Crusades, and was 
captured by Baldwin the First, and afterwards by Saladin. 
The present population of the town is estimated at from 45,000 
to 60,000, but it is always difficult to estimate the population of an 
Oriental town. The chief industry is silk growing and weaving, 
and this is a considerable one. The mulberry leaves for feeding 
the silkworms are grown for the most part on the lower slopes of 
the Lebanon hills, not many miles from Beyrout. It is no 
uncommon thing in riding about the slo pes to come across, 
every now and then, a mulberry garden laid out in terraces which 
rise in tiers one above the other, and are planted with nothing but 
mulberry trees, which, when I saw them, looked like rather tall 
standard rose trees with the leaves growing in a bunch on the top. 
But it is also to its position as the port of the ancient and im- 
portant town of Damascus, and as the general port of supply for 
the whole of Syria, that Beyrout owes its size and importance. 
Three first class lines of steamers call there, the French “ Messa- 
geries Maritimes,” the ‘‘ Austrian Lloyd steamers,’’ and a line of 
Russian steamships, and besides the weekly calls from these 
vessels several other less known lines of steamships call at 
irregular intervals. 
Let us turn now to the inhabitants of the country. The great 
bulk of the present inhabitants of Syria are Arabs—Syrian Arabs. 
