_Beyroot, December 18, 1836._
I think I have mentioned in several of my letters, that the mulberry
tree is much cultivated in this region, principally for the raising
of the silk-worm. At times vegetables are raised on the same lot,
but generally nothing else is allowed to grow among them, and the
weeds are carefully removed. The trees are planted in rows, and the
plough is passed among them several times in the year. I now find
that the tree serves another purpose, and one of some importance,
though secondary to the making of silk. They gather the leaves from
the trees in the fall and beginning of winter, to feed their sheep
and cows. The first crop of leaves is eaten by the silk-worms; by
the time the worms begin to spin their silken shrouds, the trees are
nearly bare; the branches are then all cut close to the body of the
tree, and used for fuel. In a few days new branches shoot out, which
are soon covered with leaves. They gather the leaves with their
hands, put them in baskets, and give them to their sheep and cows.
They appear, indeed, to be the chief food of these animals for many
months in the autumn and beginning of winter. The entire absence of
rain during the long hot summer burns up what grass may have been
on the ground in the spring and early part of the summer, but the
mulberry trees, which have much care taken of them, and watered,
when it can be done, by a channel from a stream, or by the hand,
retain their greenness, and serve the important purpose of food for
the cattle. So far as I have observed, they were always fed with
the green leaves, at least I have not seen any dried and preserved
in that state, excepting the fibres of the new leaves, that the
silk-worm rejects, which are carefully collected and preserved
for the animals. The mildness of the climate causes the leaf to
retain its freshness much longer than it would in the northern and
middle parts of the United States. We have entered on the month of
December, and yet the leaf of the mulberry is as green and fresh
as it was in midsummer; true, most of the trees near us are nearly
bare, not, however, by the fall of the leaf, but by their having
been gathered for the animals. The horses, mules, and donkeys,
are fed with barley and straw, which is cut fine by their mode of
threshing out the grain. For a few weeks in the spring of the year
they are kept on the green barley. I have generally seen the camel
fed on weeds, which are gathered for that purpose.
I mentioned that some rain fell, about the time I set out on my
tour to Jerusalem. The showers were light, and but few of them.
Small showers fell from time to time during the month that I was
travelling, but not in such quantities as to give us much annoyance.
This was a matter greatly to our comfort, as we had to sleep nearly
every night out under the canopy of heaven, and as we wished to
travel without much incumbrance, we did not carry a tent with
us. During the month of November there was a great increase of
clouds and cloudy weather, but not much rain. There were, however,
occasional showers, and some of them fell in snow on the upper parts
of Mount Lebanon. It was not until the first part of the present
month that it began to rain in good earnest, and for some days
it has rained as if the "windows of heaven" were opened; great
quantities of water have fallen, and the earth, thirsty from the
long, dry summer, seems to drink it in as if it would never say--It
is enough. Still, I have not yet seen a long, cloudy period, as we
often have in the United States, of many days and weeks, in which
the sun is seldom seen. Not a day has past in which it has not
contrived to find some opening in the clouds through which to show
itself. Indeed, the rain generally comes in showers; large masses of
black clouds are driven over us, often with strong winds accompanied
with thunder and lightning, and pour down water as if from buckets;
then there is an intermission, and possibly the sun shines forth,
and then comes another cloud loaded with water, which it pours out
and passes away. Thus, "the clouds return after the rain." For
a day or two the rains have ceased, and the weather is fine, a
little colder and more chilly, as might be expected from the great
fall of water, but not to the degree that I expected. The higher
parts of Mount Lebanon are covered with snow. They have a singular
appearance, two or three thousand feet of the top, especially the
highest peak, called the Sunneen, is covered with snow, while the
lower parts are bare. Snow may be found at all times on some of
these high points, from whence it is brought down during the summer
in considerable quantities, for the use of those who will pay the
pretty good, though not unreasonable price, that is asked for it.
The rains have caused the grass to spring forth, and whole districts
that were before dry dust, or stubble, are now fresh with verdure.
The face of the land looks like spring, so wonderfully does the rain
operate to give beauty and fertility to the earth. The heat without
the water will not do it, nor the water without some degree of heat;
but when both are united, they make vegetation spring forth, and
give food for man and beast.
The troops which marched from this place to the Houran, a few months
since, have returned. It is now said they were sent there to aid
in killing the young locusts, which had appeared in great numbers,
and threatened to destroy the crops. Last year the troops were thus
employed towards Aleppo, and with great advantage to the country. It
is, however, a new kind of warfare for a regular army to be engaged
in.
It would be inexcusable in me to omit mentioning honey, an article
still to be obtained in abundance, and which deserves notice for its
delicious flavour. Bees are kept in various parts of the country.
Milk can generally be obtained without much difficulty, although it
may be said of it, as of honey, that the land does not literally
"flow" with it. The Arabs, I think, do not often use milk in a fresh
state: they convert it into an article called lebban, not unlike
bonny-clabber, and eat it with rice, bread, &c. Some cheese is
made, but of an inferior kind; it is generally white, and made in
small pieces. A considerable quantity is imported from Cyprus. The
process of churning in skins I have before alluded to; most of the
butter thus produced is boiled, and thereby converted into more of
an oily substance. It is much used in cooking, but the Arabs do not
spread it upon their bread, as is our custom. In the spring, the
produce of the churn can be procured in Jerusalem and its vicinity
without having been boiled; this, by picking out the hairs, washing
thoroughly, and salting, can be made very palatable.
The Irish potato, as it is usually called, is grown about Tripoli,
and succeeds well. It is of a good size, dry, and of a good flavour.
The sweet potato is not known in this country; this is much to be
regretted, as there is reason to believe that the soil and climate
would suit it, and it would be a most valuable addition to the
vegetables already cultivated. I hope that some one will make an
effort to introduce it. The principal vegetables are the cabbage,
cauliflower, onion, cucumber, lettuce, and radish, which are all of
an excellent quality; the coosa, a small kind of squash; beans of
an inferior kind; bammey, a mucilaginous pod, which, when cooked
with butter and the juice of a lemon or pomegranate, forms a very
pleasant article; addice, a kind of bean much used in a dried state;
turnips of a diminutive size and an inferior quality; bateinjan, a
kind of egg-plant much esteemed by the natives; beets of a superior
kind, and tomatoes of a rich and fine flavour. The first notice
that I ever met with of the sugar-cane was in the account of the
crusaders, who found it on this coast, and it is _here yet_. Below
Sidon, there are places where it is cultivated, but not for making
sugar. When ripe, it is cut and brought from time to time into the
towns, and sold in the stalk. The people buy it and chew the stalk;
children especially are fond of it. Boat-loads of it are brought
up to Beyroot, and sold in the market. Much of the sugar used here
comes from France, and is the fine loaf-sugar made from the beet,
and is sold cheap; brown sugar, the product of the West Indies, may
be occasionally procured. The flour which is used here comes in part
from Damascus, but more from the plain that lies between the Lebanon
and Anti-Lebanon. Some of the wheat is grown on the mountains, and a
good deal comes from about Acre, and from some other quarters. Much
of the flour, however, is ground in the neighbourhood, and the bran
separated from the flour with a common sieve. I know not that there
is such a thing as a bolting-cloth in the whole country. Meal made
of Indian corn is usually found in the market at Beyroot, and is
called smeed. It is much used in the Frank families, not, however,
in the form of bread, but in that of hasty-pudding, here called
smeed. Very good French flour may at times be had, and sometimes
wheat is brought from Constantinople, raised probably about the
Black Sea. Rice forms a considerable article of diet, and is brought
from Egypt.
The principal meat used is mutton, which is certainly the best
I have ever eaten. The beef is poor, and is not much prized by
the natives; and pork is an abomination to most of the people in
this land. I have seen a few swine, but am told they are kept by
foreigners. The chickens are mostly small, and not much encumbered
with fat. Geese and turkeys are exceedingly rare. Great quantities
of sparrows are found in the towns, and they sometimes visit the
houses, and build about them to such a degree as to become an
annoyance. The singing of birds is not often heard in Palestine;
there are a few species of birds with a gaudy plumage, but
their notes are not melodious. The sweet, plaintive note of the
nightingale is sometimes heard, but oftener the harsh cawing of the
crow. But few wild animals are now found in the country, excepting
the jackals, immense numbers of which are found in this vicinity.
They are gregarious, and a most noisy animal. They are like a small
dog, with short, upright ears, and a short tail; all that I have
seen were of a light-brown colour. We often hear them in the gardens
and near our houses.
The natives have a taste for flowers; the females cultivate a
variety in pots, and are fond of ornamenting their turbans with
them. They are generally decked with a profusion of them on their
bridal days. They also place them about and upon the dead bodies
of their friends, as mementos of affection. It is a common saying,
that, in making their visits, they never go empty-handed. At such
times, it is not uncommon for them to take from their pockets, an
appendage with which each person seems to be furnished, either
an orange, a sweet lemon, a few nuts, a piece of sugar-cane, or
something of the kind, and present the person visited. At other
times, they will bring you a beautiful nosegay of rosebuds,
carnation pinks, geraniums, jessamines, &c., which they arrange and
tie together very tastefully. A rich profusion of wild flowers are
found in the spring.
It is amusing to one not accustomed to the sight, to observe how
partial the people are to a sitting posture. You may see the
blacksmith sitting and hammering his iron; the carpenter sitting
and hewing his wood, or planing his plank; the merchant sitting
and selling his goods; and the women sitting and washing their
clothes,--not sitting on chairs, or on benches, but _á-la-turque_,
with their feet folded under them.
Having remained in Palestine as long, and even longer than I
originally intended, I was about preparing to leave this place for
Egypt, when Mr. W. M. Thomson, one of the missionaries, called on
me as a committee, in behalf of the station. He informed me that
he had held a consultation with Mr. Hebard about carrying on the
mission work, and had come to the conclusion that part of it must
be suspended for the present, unless I remained to assist them.
They had little expectation that Mr. Bird, then in America, from
the peculiar circumstances of his family, would be able to return;
that Mr. Smith, then in Smyrna, would probably visit the United
States before his return to Beyroot, and could not be expected back
under a year or two; that he himself had just begun to preach in
Arabic, and that the labour of preparing for it, superintending the
press, with other necessary calls, gave him full employment; that
Mr. Hebard had the High School to superintend, and wished much to
give a course of lectures on natural science, which the opposition
now made to the school made it very important he should do; but that
he could not do this, and keep up the English preaching, which many
circumstances rendered it important should not be suspended; and
in this state of things, they laid the case before me, to see if I
would not remain and assist them. I considered the case as a strong
one; and after looking at the whole matter, I have concluded that I
will remain for a time. I may, therefore, write you again from this
place.