Haifa. Oct 9 Darling Father. Here we are nearly at the end of a rather tiresome slow journey which would have been more than tiresome if it had not been for Sylvia's delight in all the places we touched at. We got to Port Said at dawn on Oct 7 where the ship coaled. We escaped on shore after breakfast and sought such distractions in the Port as are open to people like us - not numerous, you will well understand. However, when we returned to the ship at 11 the coaling was over and most of the ship was washed. We had discovered on board a couple called Beadles - he is doctor to the Palestinian Gendarmerie - with whom we played bridge after dinner on the 6th and 7th. Mrs B. played as badly as you please but it was better than nothing. They landed at Jaffa [Tel Aviv-Yafo (Joppa)] at dawn on the 8th. We went on shore after breakfast and drove out to Tall Afif, the new Jewish suburb, the inhabitants of which, subsist, I understand on taking in one another's washing. It looked a horrible place - on the outskirts gaunt new houses were being run up on the sand. These are let out room by room, at exhorbitant rates, to Jewish immigrants. Gladly we drove back to Jaffa which is, however, also submerged by Jews. At last we got out of them to a delightful little Palestinian hotel by the sea at the extreme southern end of the town - Tall Afif is to the north. We lunched happily on a balcony and on our way back walked through the old Arab town, a tiny medieval place with narrow streets, half arched over, climbing up and down a hill. It was the first really eastern place which Sylvia had seen and she loved it. So did I. That night we played bridge with a brother and sister called Kennedy - he is in Posts and Telegraphs here. Before parting we arranged to meet on shore at 3 p.m. today so that he should take us in his car onto Mt Carmel. Accordingly we stayed on board till after lunch but when we prepared to go on shore we found that we had not got the necessary documents for landing, the Customs Officer having disappeared before we were up. The policeman left in charge doggedly refused to allow our boat to put off - we were a long way from the shore. However, I cajolled [sic] the Arab boatmen and they took us away under the very eyes of the indignant policeman. On the pier we met the Kennedys and between us persuaded the English Customs House man to give us our permits and forgive our boatmen. We had a delightful drive on Carmel and from the top saw the heights of Gilead, across Jordan. On the way back we stopped at the monastery and at that moment a Carmelite monk came out of the door. "That's Father Lamb" said Mr Kennedy "the Father Superior." With that I went boldly up and said who I was - of course he had heard of me from the Carmelites at Baghdad. Our success was complete when Sylvia announced herself to be the niece of Monsignor Algernon. Nothing would satisfy Father Lamb but to take us all about himself, into Elijah's cave, into the garden (where Sylvia made him pose for a picture with the monastery behind him) and finally up to the guest rooms to give us a glass of Carmel liquor. We parted in warm friendship and the Kennedys drove us back to the port where we found our boatmen waiting. I called at Cook's here and heard that the Eastern Transport is running again and leaves on Monday. When we reach Beyrout [Beyrouth (Beirut)] tomorrow, I shall do my best to get Nairn either to hook a car onto the Eastern or to allow us to transfer our tickets and so avoid the immensely long and very tedious journey by Amman ['Amman]. But this I shall tell you tomorrow. Oct 10. [10 October 1925] Everything has gone exactly as we wished. Nairn has given us a car which joins the Eastern Transport. We leave tomorrow morning at 6.30 am, see Baalbek en route and reach Damascus [Dimashq (Esh Sham, Damas)] early in the afternoon (Sunday). On Monday early we start from Damascus, sleep that night at Palmyra [Tadmur], Tuesday night at Kubaisah [Kubaysah] and reach Baghdad on Wed. afternoon. I have telegraphed to you the date of our arrival. We found the Consul General (Mr Satow) just going on leave - in point of fact he was starting at 11 a.m. We telephoned to him and had 10 minutes talk with him at the Consulate. The Liason officer, Major Salisbury Jones, lunched with us and we are dining with him this evening. Things are going very badly in Syria. The French have subdued about a third of the Jabal Druze [Duruz, Jabal ad] and have no hope of subduing the rest. Meantime the whole country is riddled with robber bands, Druze and Arab, and every sect has joined hands with every other against the French mandate. I think the Palmyra route is much safer than that by 'Amman (so does Mr Satow) for the latter route skirts the southern end of Jabal Druze and is sure to be full of broken men bent on robbing. Also the first half of the 'Amman route is very difficult, sand and stones through which the cars go at 5 miles an hour. Nairn is in despair over the 'Amman route. He says he loses thousands of pounds in oil and petrol, but he is kept to it by Sir Henry who has some silly fear in his bonnet about an all red route. Naturally no one will travel by it if they can help it, as it is 16 hours longer from 'Amman to Baghdad than from Damascus, and Nairn sees ruin staring him in the face if Sir Henry persists in the order. I hope our example will do something to persuade him of his folly. I gather that we are escorted by French armoured cars, the French being mightily anxious to encourage people to travel by the Damascus route - naturally. We are now feeling that the slow journey up the coast was more than worth the trouble, besides being much cheaper, and we are rather inclined to pat ourselves on the back! Goodbye darling step-mother and father. I don't think I shall write from Damascus as I shall be so busy showing Sylvia sights and seeing the Consul, Mr Smart. The French C.G.S., Commandant Dentz, has telephoned to ask if he may come and see me at 6. I met him at Baghdad, a very intelligent, liberal minded man. Major S.J. says he is heartily opposed to French policy in Syria but dare not say so. I am now going to see the Museum and afterwards to take Sylvia to the American College to see the view and if I can find him, call on the Principal, Professor Dodge. Ever your very loving daughter Gertrude [Page 3 between letters of October 14 and 15 in album] Darling, I continue while waiting for the Commandant Dentz. We went to the American College - exquisite place. The Dodges were out, but I introduced myself to one of the professors and we ran to ground Sabah son of Nuri Pasha, who rushed to greet me as soon as he saw me and asked me to take a letter to his father. While I was waiting for the letter to be written, Sylvia went to see the hospital. Several other 'Iraq boys came and greeted me - one the nephew of the Naqib. They all came over ten days ago and the road is quite safe. Then we went to the Museum where I sent in my card to the Director. He came and showed us over and opened for us the safe which contains the famous golden treasure of Byblos - about 1300 BC. Most interesting, but what interested me more were the sarcophagi with Phoenician inscriptions said to date from the 4th millenium BC. That's as early as our earliest inscriptions from Ur. Oh it is fun to be me when one gets to Asia - there's no doubt of it. Now I must end. Blessings on you both.