We tell them "Be
Khaterkum." "By your pleasure," and they say "Ma es Salameh," "with
peace."--Then they say "God smooth your way," and we answer, "Peace to
your lives." Saieed the muleteer now says "Dih, Ooah," to his mules, and
away we ride over the stony pavements and under the dark arches of the
city, towards the East. We cross the bridge over the River Kadisha, go
through the wheat and barley market, and out of the gate Tibbaneh, among
the Moslems, Maronites, Bedawin, Nusairiyeh, Gypsies, and Greeks, who
are buying and selling among the Hamath and Hums caravans.

Do you see those boys playing by the stone wall? They are catching
scorpions. They put a little wax on a stick and thrust it into the holes
in the wall, and the scorpions run their claws into the wax when they
are easily drawn out, and the boys like to play with them. The sting of
the scorpion is not deadly, but it is very painful, something like being
stung by half a dozen hornets.

Here come a company of Greek priests, with the Greek bishop of Akkar.
The priests are all Syrians but the bishop is from Greece, and knows but
little Arabic. The priests are very ignorant, for they are generally
chosen from among the lowest of the people.

When the former Greek Bishop died in Tripoli, in 1858, his dead body was
dressed in cloth of gold, with a golden crown on his head, and then the
corpse was set up in a chair in the midst of the Greek Church, with the
face and hands uncovered so that all the people could see him. The
fingers were all black and bloated, but the men, women and children
crowded up to kiss them. When the body was taken from the city to Deir
Keftin, three miles distant the Greek mountaineers came down in a rabble
to get the blessing from the corpse. And how do you think they got the
blessing? They attacked the bearers and knocked off pieces of the
coffin, and then carried off the pall and tore it in pieces, fighting
for it like hungry wolves. A number of people were wounded. After the
burial they dug up the earth for some distance around the tomb, and
carried it off to be used as medicine. A little girl brought a piece of
the bishop's handkerchief to my house, hearing that some one was ill,
saying that if we would burn it and drink the ashes in water, we would
be instantly cured.

The Syrians have a good many stories about their priests, which they
laugh about, and yet they obey them, no matter how ignorant they are.
Abu Selim in the Meena use