ne off. After searching for him some
time, I went down to the inn in quest of him, but
he was not to be found. As I was on my way
returning from the inn, where I had gone in search
of my brother, I prayed to God, that he would take
every thing from me, if necessary, only let faith
and love towards him remain in my heart.

"As I proceeded on, a man came up, and gave me
information that all the consuls of Beyroot were
slain, and that you also were slain with them. The
report came from a man, who said he had deposited
goods with you for safety. In order to be the more
sure, I asked the man if it were really true, and
he again assured me, that it was. Ask me not the
state of my feelings at that moment.

"On reaching home, I heard this terrible news
confirmed; at the same time looking out, and seeing
the heap of ashes near the house, all that remained
of the 11 copies of the holy scriptures which my
brothers had destroyed, I burst into tears, and
committed all my concerns into the hands of God,
saying, 'Blessed be his holy name: the Lord gave,
and the Lord hath taken away;'--and so I prayed on,
with tears and groanings, which I cannot describe.

"I afterwards heard, that Phares was probably in
the neighbourhood, and set off to search after him
by night, but found him not. When I heard the news
of your death confirmed, I sent off a messenger,
that, wherever Phares might be found, he might
return; and when I received his letter, saying that
he had gone to your house, I could not yet believe
that the report respecting you was false.

"But when the truth on this subject began to
appear, then I heard by a person who came to the
yesterday evening, that the patriarch and the emir
had made an agreement to kill _me_, and that they
had sent men to lie in wait for that purpose. I was
afterwards told, by another person, that some of
the servants of the emir were appointed to
accomplish this end.

"Here I am, then, in a sort of imprisonment,
enemies within, and enemies without.

"One of my brothers, the other day, advised me to
surrender my self entirely to the mercy of the
bishop, whereupon I wrote the bishop a letter, (of
which I send you the enclosed copy,) and gave it to
my brother Tannoos, begging him to carry it to the
bishop, and