Haifa. Sat - 5th I think. Dearest Mother. A line by the Austrian mail to tell you I flourish. On Wed. there turned up Captain Gaisford, a brother of Hugh G. but most unlike him. He only stayed one night being on his way north horse hunting - (he won't find any horses however for the Bedouins are still in the desert for another month) He was very agreeable and we laughed to find ourselves making acquaintance in Haifa. I ride much of an afternoon and explore Carmel which is amusing but most particularly bad going. I have just been out to tea with a Syrian family friends of my innkeeper! All this is comic but it serves a useful end as I talk Arabic with them. I wish the days were hours longer or that I could work longer on end. Persian particularly I long to overtake and it seems possible if only one had another 10 days a week! Tomorrow is Sunday and a well earned holiday. I mean to go riding over the hills to a Druze village.
I have called on all the missionaries! Heaven preserve us what a set of scarecrows! It seems a pity that the Christian religion shd be exclusively represented by ladies with wispy hair and spectacles. However, God is he who knows! Ever your very affectionate daughter Gertrude.