chibouque, and taste our preserves. Saleh Bek and Yassîn Agha remained after the other guests had left us, and the former told me that he had sent his wife Helweh and little Miriam to Arrabeh, for change of air, as they were both delicate. I was surprised to hear that he had allowed the little one to go away without having once looked at her. Later in the day, after high mass had been celebrated in the Latin church, we were visited by the Christian population.
On the 2d of January, 1857, Dr. Kölle, a German, arrived in Hâifa, under the auspices of the Church Missionary Society, and I had the pleasure of welcoming his English wife and little daughter.
There was a threat of excommunication uttered from the churches against any one who would dare to let a house to the new missionary. Nevertheless, a good house was found, and his landlord was heard to say, "I shall be excommunicated for this, I suppose, but if so, I will learn the English religion, and the new priest will receive me into communion."
This arrival did not make any impression on the town generally, for the doctor lived a studious and secluded life. He had suffered severely in Damietta from brain-fever, and was sent to Hâifa to recruit his strength and to learn Arabic. He studied from books laboriously, and not from intercourse with people, so that the work was doubly difficult.[1]
On the 20th of January my brother invited all the best informed of the Arabs, without regard to creed, to meet at the Consulate in the evening, to make arrangements for the formation of a society for the acquisition and diffusion of useful knowledge, relative to the arts and sciences, and the history of civilization. The project was eagerly welcomed, and my brother was elected president. Mons. Aumann, the French Consul, delivered the inaugural address to a large assembly on the following Wednesday.
- ↑ Dr. Kölle and his family left Haifa after having remained there about two years and a half.
