1895.] ESSAYS. 49 



fruit. The date palms are very graceful, and the fig trees are common. 

 It is quite an experience to eat a ripe fig taken from the tree. When 

 they are fully ripe, they burst open, showing the seeds ; they are 

 sickish sweet, and I much prefer them when dried. The olive tree is 

 very plentiful in all parts of Syria. The oil is used extensively in 

 cooking and for various purposes. The color of the tree is a light 

 green, similar to the willow. We passed camels heavily laden with 

 stone, and a caravan of gypsy-lookiug carts carrying produce to 

 Damascus. 



We were invited to the home of our consignee, the wealthiest mer- 

 chant in Beirut. The residence was palatial, the ceilings very high 

 aud the floors of mosaic marble. 



The furniture was covered with silk from Damascus. I wns 

 admitted to the apartments of the merchant's wife. She was smok- 

 ing a nargileh aud ordered the servant to bring one to me. I thanked 

 her very kindly ; but there was as much tobacco in the cup when I 

 finished smoking as there was 'when I began. Those who are accus- 

 tomed to smoke, enjoy these water-bottles very much. We were taken 

 to ride in the merchant's carriage, a magnificent affair from America. 

 The houses are built of stone, with flat roofs, where the families gather 

 in the evening, and smoke their cigarettes and nargileh, and sleep 

 beneath the awnings. The streets are narrow, and arched in some 

 parts of the city. The feuces are of prickly pear or cactus, whicH 

 bears a red fruit. 



We invited the merchant's two sons on board to dine with us. 

 When they sat up to the table I was much distressed to notice that 

 they did not remove their hats, or fez as they call them, so I very 

 politely invited them to do so. They informed me that a Turk never 

 removes his hat while eating. I felt more comfortable after hearing 

 that. 



The young men were very highly educated, and were very agreeable 

 aud entertaining. They could converse in several different languages, 

 but as Bayard Taylor remarks, in describing a Turk who fascinated 

 him by the noble elegance of his manner, " In any country but the 

 Orient, I should have pronounced him incapable of an unworthy 

 thought ; here he may be exactly the reverse." It is not thought 

 necessary to educate the young ladies. When the father of a family 

 is absent from home, he addresses his letters to his oldest son, instead 

 of his wife. 



Bidding adieu to Beirut, we sailed up the coast, where we looked 

 upon the snow-covered mountains of Lebanon and many small 



