Many of the inhabitants fled, and the rest lived in constant terror and distress.

So great was the confusion and insecurity within and around the city, that the brethren decided to return to Beirut, where they arrived on the 18th of May.

From 1822 to 1825 they and their associates had distributed nearly four thousand copies of the Scriptures, and parts thereof, in different languages, and about twenty thousand tracts.

After staying a month at Beirut, Mr.King passed six weeks at Deir el-Kamr in the study of Syriac, with Asaad el-Shidiak for his teacher, a remarkable young Maronite, who will have a prominent place in this history.

On returning to Beirut, Mr.
King wrote a farewell letter to his friends in Palestine and Syria, which Asaad translated into excellent Arabic, and afterwards multiplied copies for distribution.