Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-09-18
PROGRESSIVE BEIRUT
CENTER OF COMMERCE AND SEAT
OF LEARNING.
"The Hand Of Europe on the Shoulder
of Asia'-Foreign Influence
American Interests.



Imagine the amazement of Beirut when
Americans. on board modern battle ships.
came steaming up to the ancient city
imagine 1t. that is, for the amaZement Of
Beirut could have been only imaginary.
Hundreds of her people have lived in the
United States, seen Americans by the mil
lien. and doubtless beheld not a few Amer
lean war vessels in American harbOrs. Per-
chance some such returned rover remem-
bers trying to sell Admiral Cotton some
impossible commodities out of his pedlers
pack So the real amazement. If there was
any worth speaking Of was rather that or
our lusty jack tars, who must surely have
raised some very live questions during
their hurried voyage across the Mediter-
ranean regarding the sort of harbor they
were coming to, the sort of climate they
must encounter and the sort of city they
would behold.
To all such queries the answers emf
nently satisfactory. No finer spot could be
chosen for autumn Sojourn than the
harbor of Beirut. Ten years ago there was
| no harbOr worthy the name in this bay of
st. George ION whose shore, by the way,
st. George slew the dragon), and our bat
tie ships might have come to mischief in
the shelterless roadstead But French cap
ital has supplied snug little port. though
so exorbitant are the dues that few of thc
myriad coasting vessels can afford to take
shelter in 1t. AS for health, Beirut is the
sanatorium of Asiatic Turkey. Indeed. it
is recommended as winter resort for
Europeans. The climate is delightful.
never torrid. never very cold. There are
no sharp changes and no chill winds. The
ai- is as clear as in Colorado, and distances
as deceptive to the eve. Foreigners slacp
with their windows open and do not perish.
For ten months of thes year the land is
bathed in sunshine. October, November
and December In Beirut are like genial
New England May. The water supply.
fhnr, 70 r;% ;,t.0
Dog river (named for long-vanished stone
colossus of terrible appearance) ten miles
away. and Is pure Beirut was the first
town in Syria to acquire the distinction Of
a European water system. Besides, the
city is clean. Our sailors ought to thrive
there.
On a Promontory.
Beirut Is city set on a promontory; it
has the sea on three sides-the sea in which,
| not far away, Jonah had his little m:shap
with the whale. White with the glitterng
wilderness of eastern Cities the city climbs
! from the deep Mediterranean blue between
dunes of red and tawny sand, through rich
| groves of mulberry. fig and olive, through
dark forests of pine, to the snowy peaks of
Lebanon. 1t is the Naples of Syria. "a
glorious landscape" says George Adam
Smith. land the town has not spoiled it,
| A city whose past belongs to Rome and to
Phoenicia, city which had been destroyed
lao years before Christ might be expected
| to have it's future all behind it. Not so Bel
rut Poor in antiquities, it is rich in pros
poets. An earthquake robbed it of it's old
| est buildings in the year sol; few columns
| of gray granite, few fragments of tessel-
| lated pavement. are all that is left above
ground. And what the earthquake shared
| the English destroyed in 1910 Since then
| the Berothah of the Phoenicians the Berry
| tus of the ancient Romans, has ris an anew
becoming the most European of all the
| towns of Syria. 1t is proof of the posi-
bilities of what we are pleased to call the
'unchanging east"
Gas and Water Works.
! To be sure it is Europe that has done it,
| The English gave it water: the French have
| given it gas. The French again gave it the
| magnificent turnpike which climbs serpent
| like through the steep passes of the Leba-
| non and goes to Damascus They gave it,
| too, the Beirut-Damascus railway. Ger
| many and France have given it hospitals.
| America. England and France have given 1t
| printing presses and schools. Europeans of
| all nations have made it their home the
| seat of their commercial operations They
| have brought with them European wants
and European ways.
| The result is curious. 1t is the east and
it is not the east The loathsome beggar
! and the ''yaller'' scavenger dog are there;
| but there, too, are the cafes chantantS of
| Paris and the boulevard cafes. with mar
| gflehs looking out of place on the little
| round tables. Here is a Turkish bazaar:
| but here, too, is a street of fine European
| shops You in Europe on this broad
| white road with its pretty stone villas; but
| go down into the tunnel-like streets of the
| nlrhy old town and you are in the Arabian
| Nights. See, in this restaurant forty men lie
smoking nargilehs while a professional
| story teller regales them with the stirring
! tale of-"Jack and the Beanstalk" perhaps
They win lie listening half the night
| thrilled to their toes with tales of giants
| and magicians, heard, it may be, for the
hundreth time.
| Belief in Fairy Tales.
| Here surely is the chiIdlke east Yet YOU
have only to lift your finger to call a cab.
And when it com 3 the horse will wear the
| inevitable blue bead to guard against the
| evil eye. In this single town of all Syria
to have streets which make carriages pos
sible, smart Eur )pean turnouts dash about,
| or bowl along the easy gradients of the
Damascus road. But look, they are halted
| now and then by shuffiing strings of NANCY
| camelS. All tn. romance of the east is in
these amazing costumes; women swathed
| to the crown OF their heads in shapeles ,
| folds of white. men draped in robes of satin
brocade over rich belted tunics or gay vests
| and baggy trousers. Yet here comes a feZ
with gold-embroidered vest below it, and
| below that the trousers of a European
| check suit. With your eyes on the storied
| heights of Lebanon, you sip delicious drinks
| iced with thriftily gathered Lebanon snow
| Truly 1t is 1.-The hand of Europe laid upon
| the shoulder of Asia"
The hand of Europe is the really i'm
portant thing about Beirut. 1t is a busy
modern town. In 1902 it's pop uiat ton was
estimated at 10000. OF these the Moslems
ARABS and Turks number 5000; the Chris
tians Greeks and Marontes), 1860; the
Jews. $4,000: Druses. 400. and foreigners OF
all faiths 400. There are not a few
! Americans there; last year Princeton re-
union was held in the city. Syriac is of
course the more common tongue. though Sc
strong Is the foreign influence through bust
ness and the schools that French and even
English are beginning to be freely spoken
NO city in Turkey has grown so fast as