Beirut

ba'root, the chief seaport of Syria. It is situated on a bay near the middle of the eastern coast of the Mediterranean. A railroad leads inland over the Lebanon Mountains to Damascus. During the past fifty years Beirut has grown from a town of 10,000 to a commercial city of 120,000 people. The United States maintains a consul at Beirut, and various American and European societies support mission stations. The exports are chiefly silk, rugs, grain, olive oil, sesame, tobacco, and wool. See Damascus; Syria