and some large chests, which breathe an odor of the Commissary Department.
We go stealthily down to the kitchen, and watch the unpacking. Our dinner
is there, sure enough, but alas! it is not yet cooked. Patience is no
more; my companion manages to filch a raw onion and a crust of bread,
which we share, and roll under our tongues as a sweet morsel, and it gives
us strength for another hour. The Greek dragoman and cook, who are sent
into Quarantine for our sakes, take compassion on us; the fires are
kindled in the cold furnaces; savory steams creep up the stairs; the
preparations increase, and finally climax in the rapturous announcement:
"Messieurs, dinner is ready." The soup is liquified bliss; the _cotelettes
d'agneau_ are _cotelettes de bonheur_; and as for that broad dish of
Syrian larks--Heaven forgive us the regret, that more songs had not been
silenced for our sake! The meal is all nectar and ambrosia, and now,
filled and contented, we subside into sleep on comfortable couches. So
closes the first day of our incarceration.

This morning dawned clear and beautiful. Lebanon, except his snowy crest,
was wrapped in the early shadows, but the Mediterranean gleamed like a
shield of sapphire, and Beyrout, sculptured against the background of its
mulberry groves, was glorified beyond all other cities. The turf around
our pavilion fairly blazed with the splendor of the yellow daisies and
crimson poppies that stud it. I was satisfied with what I saw, and felt no
wish to leave Quarantine to-day. Our Italian friend, however, is more
impatient. His betrothed came early to see him, and we were edified by the
great alacrity with which he hastened to the grate, to renew his vows at
two yards' distance from her. In the meantime, I went down to the Turkish
houses, to cultivate the acquaintance of a singular character I met on
board the steamer. He is a negro of six feet four, dressed in a long
scarlet robe. His name is Mahommed Senoosee, and he is a _fakeer_, or holy
man, from Timbuctoo. He has been two years absent from home, on a