LETTER XII.
Beyrout.—Protestant college and schools.—Embark for Constantinople.—Island of Cyprus.—Mount Olympus.—Sea of Marmora.—Arrival at the Turkish Metropolis.—Greek Independence Day.—At Athens.—Classical ruins.—Peculiar Greek customs.—Funeral ceremony.
Athens, Greece, April 12th, 1873.
Editor Deseret News:
In my last I closed with our arrival at Beyrout. The locality of Beyrout is very beautiful: it stands on a promontory of a triangular form, the apex projecting into the Mediterranean, and its base extending along the foot of the Lebanon mountains. Groves of pine and mulberry are seen on the rising hills, and covering the mountain acclivities; and here and there groups of palm and cypresses. Our hotel, situated close upon the shore, commands a splendid view of the Bay of St. George, on which are floating ships and steamers, the Mediterranean, the finest portion of the city, and some of the picturesque scenery of Lebanon. It is a mental luxury to look from my window, or out from the open balcony, and contemplate these lovely scenes, wrought by the hand of God, and by His inspirations in man.
The city contains over fifty thousand inhabitants—one-third of these are Mussulmen, the rest, Christians, Jews and strangers. Its numerous shops, capacious warehouses, its busy quay and numbers of bazars, ships and steamers, exhibit life and commercial enterprise, forming a striking contrast with the old, threadbare, worn-out and moth-eaten systems of doing business, still practised in the towns and cities of Palestine. With regard to foreign trade and commerce, Beyrout stands foremost in Syria; the largest imports are for Damascus, it forming the seaport for that city. The chief article of export is raw silk, the trade in which is fast increasing, and every year becoming more important. In the vicinity of the city, and through the region of Lebanon, the country is being filled with mulberry orchards, and little doubt is entertained of its proving a permanent source of business and profit.
The new portion of the city is handsomely built, the private dwellings and public edifices are chiefly constructed of stone, substantially built, with some artistic display. Some of the streets are broad and well paved, and nearly everywhere signs of improvement and enterprise are visible, insomuch that one could almost fancy himself in a European city.
American and English missionaries have established a Protestant college and several schools in Beyrout and in Lebanon. These institutions are accessible to students of every sect and party who are willing to conform to the regulations, which are skilfully arranged with a view to proselyting. All boarders are required to be present at morning and evening prayers, and attend Protestant worship, and college classes upon the Scriptures during the week. The Bible is also used as a text book for common instructions, etc. These educational departments are sustained by contributions from Europe and America. Some seventy students attend the Protestant college. The British Syrian schools at Beyrout number over six hundred scholars, and including the branch schools in Lebanon, rising one thousand.
March 25th, we embarked on an Austrian Lloyd steamer for Constantinople. We passed the Island of Cyprus; had a view, from the deck, of Mount Olympus, the summit of which was once crowned with the celebrated Temple of Venus; passed the island of Rhodes, where we saw the fortifications of the "Knights of St. John," their bastions, battlements, overhanging buttresses and lofty towers. The Island of Patmos was pointed out in the distance, where the Revelator John received his wonderful visions. We called at Smyrna, the city honored with many euphonious names—"The Ornament of Asia," "The Crown of Ionia," "Sweet smelling Smyrna," etc.; passed the Island of Mytilene, Tenedos; went through the Dardanelles, and were shown the place where Leander, and afterward Lord Byron, performed feats of swimming; then steamed over the Sea of Marmora, and at length arrived at Constantinople, the celebrated capital of the Ottoman empire.