THE CEDABS OF LEBANON. 
199 
and San Jose with nothing but my mule and saddle-bags, and 
slept under the trees. Coffee and chiboucks finished the 
evening. The clouds had been threatening for some time, 
and, before we were comfortably in bed, they began to pour 
down upon us such a torrent of rain that we soon found the 
tent but a poor protection, and the wind blew in gusts so sud¬ 
den and violent that we momentarily expected to be covered 
up in a ruin of canvas. At last we had to make a retreat 
to a khan down on the beach, where we were fortunate enough 
to get a tolerable room. The khans, or houses for the accom¬ 
modation of travelers throughout Syria, are usually large stone 
buildings, without furniture, and filthy to an extreme. Of 
course Frank travelers only resort to them when the weather 
does not permit of living in tents ; and many prefer suffering 
from cold and rain to encountering the vermin with which 
the khans are infested. It is always best, however, when the 
season is at all unfavorable, to sleep in houses ; for whatever 
may be the inconveniences of living among mules, asses, fleas, 
and smoking Arabs, they are not so great as those of sickness 
in a foreign land, where no assistance can be had. Many a 
traveler has laid his bones in Syria in consequence of wet 
nights and sunshiny days. We here took the precaution, as 
in all future cases, to have the first layer of fleas swept out, 
leaving the partially dormant layer below ; and thus w T e com¬ 
menced our first night of Syrian travel. For hours I lay 
musing over the many scenes I had passed through during 
the last few years, but the fitful moaning of the wind, mingled 
with the measured break of the surf upon the beach, at length 
lulled me to sleep, and I slept well by their familiar music. 
It rained hard most of the night. Toward morning the wind 
had moderated, yet several small vessels in the port hove up 
their anchors and stood out to sea as if they expected worse 
weather. This was not a cheering prospect for our contem¬ 
plated tour. We had, in starting from the khan, the first 
trial of patience to which, in common with all who travel in 
the East, we were doomed to be frequently subjected—I mean 
the loss of time. The Arabs, Turks, and indeed all the 
Oriental races, are singularly independent of time ; in fact, 
