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Truth Triumphant - Benjamin G. Wilkinson

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ago was happily able to personally study their<br />

magnificent sites. After visiting the district on<br />

the other side of the Jordan River and in the<br />

area about Damascus, the party came to<br />

Beyrouth in Syria. Here the author secured the<br />

assistance of Dr. William Lesovsky, a linguist<br />

scholar in Arabic, English, French, and<br />

German. Arrangements were made to contact<br />

the leading American and Syrian scholars of<br />

Beyrouth. Since Syria was then a French<br />

mandate, contact was first made with the<br />

French Director of Antiquities. He was well<br />

informed concerning these silent cities, and<br />

from him it was learned that there were about<br />

one hundred of them, which would require<br />

much study to investigate thoroughly. We<br />

arranged to examine those most<br />

representatively Christian and most important<br />

from the standpoint of architecture and<br />

sanitation. The director advised that we start<br />

with El-Bara, and, although he gave us good<br />

highway directions, we suffered the usual<br />

transportation difficulties experienced by<br />

travelers with native automobile drivers. When<br />

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