OF SEVERAL PARTS OF WESTERN ASIA. 349 



American Missionary at Beyroot.' I have been allowed, also, 

 to have access to several rare specimens deposited in the Collec- 

 tion of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mis- 

 sions in Boston. 



Most of the gentlemen whom I have named, would disclaim 

 all pretensions to practical skill in geology. But of one of them, 

 from whom I received the largest number of specimens, I may 

 speak with more freedom, since he is no longer among the living. 

 I refer to the Rev. Story Hebard. Were this the proper place 

 and occasion, it would afford me great pleasure to bear public 

 testimony to his amiable and gentlemanly character and high 

 moral worth, as a tribute to the memory of a beloved pupil and 

 friend. It is, however, proper to say, that, having devoted him- 

 self to the profession of a teacher, he gave special attention to 

 chemistry, mineralogy, and geology. With this view, he be- 

 came my assistant in the laboratory, and in the geological 

 survey of Massachusetts. When he went out to Syria, there- 

 fore, I could not doubt that he would give special attention to 

 the geological structure of that country, so far as he could, con- 

 sistently with the higher duties of his benevolent mission. And 

 the box of specimens which I received from him, gave ample 

 evidence of the extent of his researches, especially on Lebanon 

 and Anti-Lebanon. I have reason to suppose that he was en- 

 gaged in a systematic examination of that region, with the inten- 

 tion of giving the result ultimately to the world. But whether 

 he left any notes on the subject, I am not informed. I am not 

 without fears, however, that the imperfect notices which I shall 

 give in this paper, may prove almost the only public memento 

 of this department of his labors. He was just commencing a 

 course of lectures on geology and natural history to the Ai'abic 

 youth, in the seminary of which he was the head. But an inscru- 

 table Providence has terminated, in a manner that seems to us 

 premature, his worldly plans and labors, and the expectations of 

 his friends ; leaving to them only the melancholy duty of gath- 

 ering up the fragments of his scientific efforts, and dedicating 

 them to the dead. 



In giving an account of the specimens and facts in my pes- 



