walk before the priests, to clear and lead the way, in company with the kawasses attached to the other European Consulates. This he politely but firmly declined to do. His refusal was taken in a good spirit, and the request was not repeated.
In the afternoon we rode along the sands, round the bay, to 'Akka, and thence to the "Bahjeh," that is, "The Garden of Delight," about twenty minutes beyond the city. It is one of the prettiest places in the Pashalic. It was formerly the harem of Abdallah Pasha, who employed Greek and Italian artists to carry out his ideas of comfort and splendor.
The place is now the property of Mr. Girgius Giammal. He and his family occupy the large villa, built in the Italian style, which stands in the midst of the garden, where cypresses and pines rise above the fragrant orange and lemon trees and acacias, and where all kinds of pleasant fruits and sweet flowers abound. I had met the ladies of this family first at Yâfa, and had visited them at their town house in ’Akka. The gentlemen had often been with us at Hâifa, and bad repeatedly invited me to the "Bahjeh;" so my brother left me there, while he made a tour in the interior, which had recently been disturbed by civil war.
Arabs who have associated much with Europeans, and who have obtained a slight European education, very often adopt European costumes and customs, and seem ashamed of their own; but this was not the case with Mr. Giammal's family, and though several members of it were pretty well acquainted with English, they had scarcely abandoned any of the Oriental fashions, either as regards dress or manners. Furrah, the youngest sister of Girgius, had been educated by the American missionaries, at Beirût. She spoke English freely, with fanciful Oriental idioms and expressions, which gave a charm to every thing she said. She was one of the very few native girls I knew who could read and write Arabic. She was betrothed to a studious and excel-
