L

PART Married women are much more eager after ornaments than unmarried. The former also adorn themselves more elaborately, and endeavour to add to their Fondness beauty by wearing gay flowers, by painting their cheeks, putting kahl around of married their eyes, and arching their eyebrows with the same, and by staining their hands and feet with henna. It is considered indelicate for the unmarried thus to deck themselves, and conveys an impression highly injurious to the girl's

women

for ornaments.

Inequality

moral character. They do not even wash their faces, or at least not openly. It is one of the strange anomalies of Oriental society that the tailors make the ladies' dresses; but, as their garments are infinitely large, and never designed to fit, there is no measuring needed, nor trying on of garments under the hand and eye of the tailor. This, in some degree, removes the objections on the score of delicacy, but not on that of propriety and economy.

Oriental women are never regarded or treated as equals by the men. This of women. is seen on all occasions; and it requires some firmness to secure to our own ladies proper respect, especially from men-servants. They pronounce women to be weak and inferior in the most absolute terms; and in accordance with this idea is their deportment toward them. Even in polite company the gentlemen must be served first. So the husband and brothers sit down and eat, and the wife, mother, and sisters wait and take what is left. If the husband or the brothers accompany their female relatives anywhere, they walk before, and the women follow at a respectful distance. It is very common to see small boys lord it over both mother and sisters in a most insolent manner, and they are encouraged to do so by the father. The evils resulting from this are

IX.

incalculable. The men, however, attempt to justify their treatment of the CHAPTER women by the tyrant's plea of necessity. They are obliged to govern the wives with the utmost strictness, or they would not only ruin their husbands, but themselves also. Hence they literally use the rod upon them, especially The rod. when they have, or imagine they have, cause to doubt the wife's fidelity. Instances are not rare in which the husband kills the wife outright for this cause, and no legal notice is taken of the murder; and, in general, the man relies on fear to keep the wife in subjection, and to restrain her from vice. She is confined closely, watched with jealousy, and everything valuable is kept under lock and key; necessarily so, they say, for the wife will not hesitate to rob her husband if she gets an opportunity. There are many pleasing exceptions,. especially among the younger Christian families. But, on the whole, the cases are rare where the husband has not, at some time or other, resorted to the lash to enforce obedience in his rebellious household. Most Neglect of sensible men readily admit that this whole system is a miserable compensa- education. tion to mitigate evils flowing from the very great crime of neglecting the education of females; and, during the last few years, a change has taken Improveplace in public sentiment on this subject among the intelligent Christians in ment. Lebanon and the cities along the coast, and a strong desire to educate the females is fast spreading among them.

Among these minor manners and matters, we are always struck with their writing materials, and their mode of using them. They do not carry inkhorns now, as the prophets and scribes of old did, but have an apparatus consisting of a metal or ebony tube for their reed pens, with a cup or bulb of the same material, attached to the upper end, for the ink. This they thrust through the girdle, and carry with them at all times. When they are to write a letter, for example, they open the lid of the ink-bulb, draw out a long reed pen from the tube, double over the paper, and begin from the right side of the page, holding the paper in the hand without any other support. They have a stereotyped introduction, overloaded with flowers and compliments, and richly seasoned with love, no matter to whom they are writing, friend or enemy. After this rigmarole, which, if it have any mean

WRITING MATERIALS.

ing, is an egregious lie, they make a formal epitome of the letter which they are to answer, repeating it, word for word, as is so often done in the Bible. They date at the bottom, but rarely mention the place; and I have often been at a loss to discover who the writer was, and where to address my reply. Young men of business in the cities are adopting our mode of dating. Nearly every

Writing apparatas

PART

I.

An open

letter.

Sandals of females.

Sitting at

work.

body wears a seal-ring, on the finger, suspended from his watch-chain, of attached to his purse, having his name engraven upon it; and this he affixes to all important letters and papers-another Biblical custom preserved in all its extent. If you wish to be very respectful, you must take a large sheet, and the lines should incline upward toward the left corner of the paper. It must be folded long, like documents on file, placed within a nicely-cut envelope made for the occasion, and the address written across the letter. It must be sealed. The open letter, therefore, or paper sent by Sanballat to Nehemiah (vi. 5) was an insult. Arabic books, both manuscript and printed, begin where ours end, their first page being our last.

The females in many places wear only sandals, which they easily drop whenever they step on a mat or rug. In other places they walk on "kubkobs," a wooden sandal, elevated on upright bits of board, sometimes, as in Damascus, a foot high, which make a great clattering and stamping on the pavement. These are dropped at the door of the room, and the lady descends from what seems rather a perilous elevation. The Damascus kubkobs are very prettily ornamented with mother-of-pearl, and the band which passes over the foot is often worked with pearls and other rich ornaments.

The people of this country sit at all kinds of work. The carpenter saws, planes, and hews with his hand-adze sitting on the ground or upon the plank he is planing. The washer-woman sits by the tub; and, in a word, no one stands where it is possible to sit. Shopkeepers always sit; and Levi sitting at the receipt of custom is the exact way to state the case. There are no ladies' saddles in Syria, and the women ride just as do the men,-which appears to us not only ungraceful, but not even modest. Though Orientals Knocking. are very jealous of their privacy, yet they never knock when about to enter your room, but walk in without warning or ceremony. It is nearly impossible to teach an Arab servant to knock at your door. They give warning at the Standing outer gate, or entrance, either by calling or knocking. To stand and call is a very common and very respectful mode; and thus it was in Bible times, and to it there are many very interesting allusions. Moses commanded the holder of a pledge to stand without, and call to the owner thereof to come forth.2 This was to avoid the insolent intrusion of cruel creditors. Peter stood knocking at the outer door,3 and so did the three men sent to Joppa by Cornelius. The idea is that the guard over your privacy is to be placed at the entrance to your premises. But this discussion of manners and customs has taken a very wide range, and grows heavy on our hands. It is a topic, however, which will be constantly suggested by what passes before our eyes, and it is well to become familiar with it at the outset.

1 Matt. ix. 9

2 Deut. xxiv. 10.

3 Acts xii. 13, 16.

Acts x. 17, 18.

EVERY vestige of yesterday's commotion has disappeared, and we are riding Sea along this celebrated "coast of Tyre and Sidon," with "the body of heaven in storms. his clearness like a paved work of sapphire" overhead, and the Mediterranean, but now so agitated and angry, lying at cur feet gentle and calm as infancy asleep. No wonder that Hebrew poets refer to sea and storm to illustrate the might and majesty of Jehovah.

sions.

Yes; and it was this very sea that kindled their inspiration-this Mediter- Bible allu ranean, lashed into fury by such a storm as we have witnessed, that made the sweet singer of Israel exclaim, "The floods have lifted up, O Lord, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their waves. The Lord on high is mightier than the mighty waves of the sea. Thou stillest them."1

David, I suppose, was no sailor, never saw the ocean, and yet his sea-storm in the 107th Psalm is unrivalled in beauty, fidelity, and spirit: "They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters; these see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep. For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof. They mount up to heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble. They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wit's end. Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses. He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven." And how appropriate the closing reflection:

[The travellers proceed along the sea coast towards Sarafand. the representative of Zarepliath or Sarepta of the Scriptures.-ED.]

1 Ps. xciii. 3, 4.

PART

I.

A storm in 1840.

Acaciatrees.

of gold

coins.

"O that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, for his wonderful works to the children of men!"

It is indeed sinple, natural, devout. David had witnessed the beginning, middle, and end of just such a storm as has been raging on the Mediterranean for the last fifteen days, or he would not have written this very graphic picture; and yet this is not the wildest specimen which our sea can offer. During the last days of 1840, there was one far more terrific and destructive. The British and allied fleets were then riding at anchor in the roadstead at Beirût, and the largest three-deckers were tossed about by the mighty billows like bits of cork. Many ships were thrown out on to the shore in that sort of contempt which means "there let him lie," according to Byron. The snow also came down the mountains, at that time, nearly to the shore, while now there is none on these lower ranges, though they are a thousand feet high and more. Let me call your attention to this curious avenue of acacia trees, the largest of the kind, I venture to say, that you have ever seen.

They are certainly remarkable specimens of vegetable architecture. Their crooked stems and muscular arms bend and twist in all directions after a fashion altogether original.

You may connect them in your memory with a circumstance which made no Discovery small stir in our good city of Sidon. About three years ago, some workmen, digging over the ground of this garden on our left, found several copper pots, which contained a large quantity of ancient gold coin. The poor fellows concealed the discovery with the greatest care, but they were wild with excitement, and, besides, there were too many of them to keep such a secret. The governor of the city heard of it, apprehended all who had not fled, and compelled them to disgorge. He recovered two of the pots, placed them beside him, and required them to refill them with coin. In this way he obtained between two and three thonsand, but it is certain that there remain hundreds, if not thousands, which he could not get. The French consul told

me that the whole number was over eight thousand. They are all coins of Alexander and his father Philip, of the most pure gold, each one worth a little more than an English sovereign. As there is no mixture of coins later than Alexander, the deposit must have been made during his reign, or immediately after. I suspect it was royal treasure, which one of Alexander's officers concealed when he heard of his unexpected death in Babylon, intending to appropriate it to himself, but, being apprchended, slain, or driven away by some of the revolutions which followed that