HOSPITABLE PATRIARCHS.

THE house of B'kerke, in the Lebanon, was
formerly a convent of nuns, but has been
rebuilt and enlarged as a residence for the
Maronite Patriarchs. The scene about the
building was on the day of my arrival very
picturesque and oriental. Mountain emirs
and sheiks (princes and chieftains), bishops,
monks, priests, and peasants, had come to
pay their respects to the Patriarch on his
return to B'kerke from his summer residence,
which is some two days' journey off,
near Tripoli. This is the universal custom
throughout Syria. Whenever anybody
returns to his house after any kind of absence,
short or long, friends make a point of paying
him a visit. The higher the rank of the
visited, the more the visiting; and the number
of those who poured in from all parts of
the mountain to call upon the Patriarch was
very great indeed. We learnt afterwards
that he had in three days received about six
hundred visits.

When I and a friend arrived, at this time,
as travellers, at the gate of B'kerke,* a very
intelligent Maronite priest, who spoke Italian
exceedingly well, came forward to bid us
welcome, and conduct us to a room in which
sherbet, coffee, and pipes were served. The
Patriarch sent word that he was at present
engaged in receiving some sheiks of the
Karan family, but that if we would wait "a
short quarter of an hour," he would get rid
of them. We begged him not to hurry on
our account, and my companion forwarded
him our letter of introduction from the
French Consul-General at Beyrout. In the
mean time we sat and smoked in the room
to which we had been first conducted, and
amused ourselves by watching the arrival
and departure of the troops of guests and
visitors.

* See "Coffee and Pipes" in No. 448 of this Journal.

There were not less than a hundred horses
waiting outside for their riders. Every now
and then some sheik or emir issued from the
house—having finished paying his respects—
when up sprang eight or ten of his armed
followers, who had been lounging about the
gateway, and the horses of his party were at
once got ready and mounted. Then perhaps
there would arrive a bishop or abbot of some
neighbouring convent, portly, and riding on a
mule, followed by ten or twelve ecclesiastics
of a lower rank. All present would kneel to
be blessed by such a priest, and remain kneeling
until he had passed into the house. Nor
were there only two or three incidents
like these. They were happening every five
minutes during the time we had to employ
in looking at the scene. The fine horses, the
martial bearing of the men, the Eastern
dresses, and the numerous arms, satisfied our
eyes until, after about half an hour's delay,
we were ushered into another room, and
there the Patriarch was waiting to receive
us. He even apologised in the most courteous
manner, for not having himself welcomed us
on our arrival; but explained that he was
anxious to get rid of a host of visitors, who
were all chiefs of one family, in feud with
another family which he expected every
minute. "I should not like," he said to us,
half laughing, "to celebrate your arrival here
with a fight in my court."

The Patriarch is about fifty-five years old,
and has a very prepossessing countenance.
Having received his education at the College
of the Propaganda at Rome, he speaks Italian
exceedingly well. This enabled us to dispense
with an interpreter in talking with him. The
weather being very damp and cold, he wore
over his red silk cassock, a long cloth
garment—a sort of pelisse—of dark cloth, lined
with sable fur. His head-dress was the
curious turban worn by the Maronite priesthood,
which I can only describe by saying, that
it resembles what is always represented in
the children's pictures on the head of Moses
when he is shown delivering the tables of the
law.

The Patriarch did not remain very long in
the room wilh us, but excused himself on the
score of fatigue, from the number of visitors
he had been obliged to receive during the
past two days. He promised to see us again
at supper, and for our entertainment during
the three or four hours which intervened
before that meal, he handed us over to the
care of a priest, who also spoke very good
Italian, and who (after showing us to our
respective rooms) at once took us outside to
see the magnificent views from the immediate
neighbourhood of the house.