Our company consisted of Commodore Patterson and two daughters, nine officers, and about twelve attendants and muleteers, and was headed by an Armenian gentleman, Mr. Farrah, whom Mr. Chassaud had just appointed American agent for Damascus. Mr. Farrah was accompanied also by a relative of his, so that we numbered altogether twenty-six persons; a large cavalcade for visiting a city where, only a year previously, it was extremely hazardous for any one to be seen in the Frank dress, so savage and bitter was the hatred of the inhabitants towards all the Gaiours, or Christians. Mr. Smith and his lady were also with us, intending to accompany us as far as his house on the mountain, where we were to stop for the night. Our road, on leaving the city, laid across a small plot of open ground bordered with trees, and immediately after this entered a region of gardens and vineyards, which appeared to be very productive. Among them, on the right, is a substantial stone house, recently erected by the missionaries for their press and books. It had, in some respects, an American look, and was an unexpected and welcome sight. We kept ascending gently for about two miles, when we came, at the summit of the eminence, to a fine grove of large venerable looking pines. The Pasha of Egypt is disposed to cultivate this tree for the use of his navy, and not far off has planted a little forest, which seems to be in a thriving condition. This spot commands a fine view of the mountain, and plain, and sea, and is the one to which De La Martine has given a pathetic interest. About three miles beyond it we commenced the ascent of Mount Lebanon, at first by a gently inclined plane, which, however, did not continue long; soon we came to steeper ascents, and then to yet steeper; and then commenced a series of experiments in vaulting, flying, and tumbling, which lasted quite across the mountain, and were sometimes near costing us life or limb. I believe there was but one person in the party who had not at least one fall, many of us could count three or four; and one of the ladies was saved from sliding down a precipice only by our springing to her help, and holding rider and donkey against the side of the bank till they had recovered foot-hold. I had thought that in Indiana, a few years previously, I had seen the very worst roads in the world; but they are equalled by those over Mount Lebanon, that is, if the reader can be made to understand clearly a comparison between mud-holes and rocks, which I confess I cannot exactly do myself. There is no mistake, however, about this road, which is certainly the most toilsome and dangerous one that I have ever met with. And yet it is the great thoroughfare between Damascus and its seaport, Beirout, and is every day traversed by camels with heavy loads of merchandise. The British Consul General for Syria, residing at Damascus, a few years ago had a carriage transported across this mountain from Beirout.