Monday 16th Beyrout [Beyrouth (Beirut)]. Dearest Mother. I was right in predicting that we should have a bad voyage here. It stormed and it blew without ceasing the whole way. I was not so badly off as was one of my companions who wished to land at Jaffa [Tel Aviv-Yafo (Joppa)] and could not because it was too stormy. For my part I was glad to have him to talk to - he was a delightful old bishop, Ormesby, sometimes Bp of Honduras and now at the Embassy at Paris. He had been a curate somewhere in Durham and had known Grandpapa. So we made great friends. We reached Beyrout at dawn yesterday and there in a boat was a cavass from the consulate - but no Fattuh! I was much disturbed and sent off a telegram to Aleppo [Halab] to ask what had happened to him. Mr Cumberbatch came to see me at 10 and I went up to the Consulate to lunch. And there was a telegram from Fattuh to say that the line had been blocked by snow and he would be here this morning. Immense relief! After lunch I went for a stroll with Mr C. and his children - heavenly warm, with the sun shining on the blue sea and on snowy Lebanon [Liban, Jebel]. Then I went off to the American College where I found Mrs Bliss - Dr Bliss, the Principal is away. She made me very welcome and we fell into talk and I stopped to supper with them. And this morning who should bring in my breakfast but Fattuh - large and smiling, I nearly fell upon his neck. So we went off together to make certain arrrangements about luggage and then I went off to the Jesuit College where I was received with open arms by the two librarians. We had a long talk and I told them all I was going to do and they gave me some useful introducions to bishops in the Tur Abdin. And then we went over the printing establishment and I found one compositor setting up the Arabic text which Sir Charles Lyall is bringing out and much perplexed over some indecipherable English words which I succeeded in reading for him. He only knew Arabic you see. They are sending me a lot of their publications, the two fathers of the library (I always send them my books) so they will arrive at R'ton [Rounton] some time and must be kept for me. With all this I have spent a most delightful morning as you may imagine. Now I'm going to lunch with the Cumberbatches, after which I shall go and see the American hospital, which Mrs Bliss is very anxious to show me. I leave tomorrow morning at 7.20 for Damascus [Dimashq (Esh Sham, Damas)]. It's deliciously warm but rather rainy here. I expect it will be cold at Damascus. But I don't think that will prevent me from being very much amused there. You remember I told you that my delightful Sheikh Muhammad el 'Abdullah was in prison on a charge of murder? Fattuh tells me they succeeded in getting him out, by a free use of my testimony to his character! I'm delighted. He'll be able to murder some one else now. What a country! already I feel my standards of virtue entirely changed. Your very affectionate daughter Gertrude