MY HOME IX PALESTIXE. 109 



nised. It is true that at the present moment there 

 are only two places on that coast which offer the 

 requisite accommodation, and this only on a limited 

 scale ; but the supply would meet the demand if a 

 beginning were once made. 



These two places are Beyrout and Haifa. At 

 Beyrout there are a couple of excellent hotels. There 

 are now nearly 300 public carriages plying for hire : 

 the neighbourhood furnishes most picturesque drives 

 along good roads. Persons deciding upon spending 

 the winter could find other and cheaper accommoda- 

 tion than that of the hotels. The better class of 

 houses are well built of stone and generally situ- 

 ated in a garden. There is a street of European 

 shops, besides a well-stocked native bazaar, where 

 all the necessaries, and most of the luxuries, of life 

 can be obtained ; while for those who desire to vary 

 their lives with the excitement of travel and explora- 

 tion, the valleys of the Lebanon offer attractions un- 

 surpassed by mountain scenery in any part of the 

 world. And every facility exists at Beyrout for 

 making it the best point of departure for expeditions 

 to all parts of Asiatic Turkey. Those less dependent 

 upon society and the resources of civilisation may, 

 however, find in Haifa the charm which attracted 

 me to that spot in preference to any other upon the 

 eastern shore of the Mediterranean. 



Four years ago I arrived at Haifa from Nazareth, 

 on my way to Beyrout by land ; and struck by the 



