Beirout is situated on the outer edge of a strip of comparatively flat land about four miles across, which commences at this place, and goes tapering off to the southward, until it terminates somewhere not far from Sidon. A large part of this plain, and every accessible spot on the mountain, is under cultivation; and as Beirout is also at present the seaport of Damascus, it is a city of some consequence, and, for this country, of considerable trade. It contains about eight thousand inhabitants, and on the land side is walled; the harbor will admit only small vessels, but a seventy-four may find safe anchorage in the road-stead, as near almost to the shore as it may choose to come. The country produces great quantities of silk which is worked up in the city; and here, particularly, are manufactured the fanciful variegated scarfs used all over this region for sashes, and sometimes for turbans. In addition to the pleasures we received in the family of our excellent consul, Mr. Chassaud, another gratification awaited us here, in the society of three of our countrymen, and their ladies, the Rev. Messrs. Bird, Smith, and Whiting, missionaries, who have been several years in the east, and during the last five or six at Beirout. They speak the languages of the natives with great fluency; and are men of intelligence and talents sufficient to give them a high standing in any society, no matter where. They came on board immediately to welcome us, and readily proffered such hospitality as their circumstances would allow; their residence at that time being on the mountain, for the sake of the superior salubrity of its atmosphere in summer. Strangers residing below in the hot season are subject to fevers, and in the summer following that of our visit, they had to lament the death of Dr. Dodge, a physician connected with this mission and that at Jerusalem. They have schools in the villages of the mountains, and in Beirout; and at the time of our visit, were making arrangements for a printing press which has since arrived, and with which they are commencing operations.