some great fish or sea animal. The sponges grow on rocks, pebbles or
shells, and some of them are of great value. It is difficult to get the
best ones here, as the company who hire the divers export all the good
ones to Europe.




PART V.


Word has come that there is cholera in Odessa, so that all the Russian
steamers going to Beirût will be in quarantine. It will not be pleasant
to spend a week in the Beirût quarantine, so we will keep our baggage
animals and go down by land. It is two long days of nine hours each, and
you will be weary enough. Bidding good-bye to our dear friends here and
wishing them God's blessing in their difficult work among such people,
away we go! Yanni and Uncle S. and some of the teachers will accompany
us a little way, according to the Eastern custom, and then we dismount
and kiss them all on both cheeks, and pursue our monotonous way along
the coast, sometimes riding over rocky capes and promontories and then
on the sand and pebbles close to the roaring surf.

See how many monasteries there are on the sides of Lebanon! Between
Tripoli and Beirût there are about a hundred. The men who live in them
are called monks, who make a vow never to marry, and spend their lives
eating and drinking the fruits of other men's labors. They own almost
all the valuable land in this range of mountains for fifty miles, and
the fellaheen live as "tenants at will" on their estates. When a man is
lazy or unfortunate, if he is not married, his first thought is to