Monday 16. [16 January 1905] Spent most of the morning trying
horses. Selim brought me 3, not good, then I went to the Khan of the
Derwish and saw some. Rode a grey which I liked and so did Mr D.
Hay. At 11 Dr and Mrs Bliss came to see me. Engaged a cook,
Sim'an at 10 frcs a day. Went to the Khan and got onto another grey
which presently threw me in the sand above the town. So I had to
come back to the Khan to get him. Rode up to the American college
where I found old Bliss and Dr Howard Bliss and his wife. The two
men took me over the college. Very wonderful place, unsectarian,
they have all races and religions. Some of their best men come from
the Lebanon, they get Egyptians who are usually rather slack, and a
few Armenians to study medicine - these are older and picked men
who have come at great expense. They have some 400 boarders.
They make those who hold scholarships do slight jobs and wait at
table. Dr HB has only been here 2 years. He takes great pains to
inculcate toleration which is he says the discovery of the 20th cent.
His object is to put religion on the widest common basis of a universal
god, but he thinks Xianity the best morality ever taught. Saw the class
rooms. The college buildings are on the edge of the Ras looking
over a stormy sea with a storm blowing up when I saw it. Blue
anemones. They take boys from 10 upwards. They hold
occasionally religious meetings to which any come who like and in
which the principles of Xianity are explained. He says they are a
revelation to those who have only heard of it through its detractors
and they come in crowds. The system of toleration and respect for all
beliefs is also very surprising to the College and outside. He raised a
storm in Beirut [Beyrouth] by speaking of Muhammad as "the great
Arabian to whom the world owes so much." At 4 o'clock went to
prayers. Very impressive. The students sang a hymn, then Dr Bliss
read a psalm, then delivered a short extempore prayer to the
universal god. (In the library there is a statue of old Dr Bliss erected
by the Egyptian scholars, and in the reception room a portrait of him.)
The chapel a squat ugly building with iron vaulting arches, but airy
and roomy. Dr HB says his object is to turn out honourable
gentlemen. Old Dr Bliss took me to the museum where they have a
good collection of antiquities found here - Roman glass, Greek and
Latin inscriptions, Palmyrene stelae (no inscriptions but one is the
finest I have yet seen) sarcophagi, a few small bronze and terracotta
figures and a tiny marble one of Astarte, nude. It was now streaming
with rain. I went to tea with old Bliss and his wife and found Dr Fred
Bliss there. He has recently tried to commit suicide by throwing
himself off a bridge in the Lebanon, but only succeeded in breaking
his leg. (My friend's name is Abdullah G. Khouri.) Rode home in the
pouring rain. I sit at dinner by a nice little Orthodox Syrian who is the
1st Dragoman to the Gov. of the Lebanon, Muzaffir Pasha. All the
employÈs in the govt are from the Lebanon. Each sect has its
kaimakams etc The post of governor is a delightful one, for he is
quite independent for the five years of his rule and appoints all his
underlings consulting no one. Gave Sem'an [see also Sim'an] £2 on
account.