Show TRAVELS monday june 22 1896 1 I called as agac on mr gibson the american consul la i beyrodt Bey rout and he assisted me in drawing up a contract with a muleteer for s ing me through syria and palestine h fal kf twenty five days for a reasonable sul susa W 1 of money but after every pre J had been made for starting in afternoon the man an arab of f cc backed out pretending that he been drafted for a soldier but the 1 was no doubt that he was afraid his own account to undertake the it journey as we would have had to p through one corner of the co habited by the cruses who at present time are at war with the ish government the news had reached beyrodt that six t turkish soldiers had been si and killed on the desert south of mascus in consequence of there was great excitement in the the cruses have been in a sta state bellion for some time and the ty ment is calling in its broo pa armenia smyrna and other pi go to the syrian desert to giov rebels dreadful punishment chwi habitants of the island of crete babii so in a state of rebellion so toe the has his hands full at the present 1 l if the cruses the armenian armeni 4 cretans caetans and others who are I 1 with turkish rule would or could upon a general effort it would lib easy matter for them to throw 1 turkish yoke but these artentea orientals orient ort entea als pie are so terribly mistrustful ast 1st ot herand so exceedingly jealousofh jealous of another that they prefer to go ft i gle handed and thus subject ta selves to wholesale slaughter 1 atef turkish arms during the day I 1 secured ft a passport for visita ig the into intel toward evening I 1 took a long wa t to ras beyrodt Bey rout the extreme point of the peninsula on ht city of beyrodt is situated ft rambles through the town 1 I 14 haape to pass the soldiers barracks juck Sw fBi company of troops were arri the frontier with a number of prisoners tuesday june 23 the muleteer A ing gone back on his bargain tor effi I 1 afterwards felt thankful I 1 deat decide make a visit to damascus by rau te french company have built a grafl over the of lebanon beyrodt to damascus which hax hajt in active operation for over two i consequently I 1 left my hotel awl the morning and proceeded talt station which is situated imm east of the city of beyrodt Bey rout Thet NaBB left at a m and after acir tto the bluffs on the right with fine abria berry groves and sample oriental bovit try residences on our left ay reached the base of the lebeam the train climbed with const fl fi culty as the grade is very road is a narrow guage one tafisi tf iSI are rack and pinion section M ent points where the grade as As we climbed very slowly wIX at times being that of an amer american ican ox team we isimal passed X owr er of arabian villages perched on the rv mountain slopes some of them axe are sij jr iBar war rounded with extensive v vineyards ine yards ave groves and orchards many of the slopes are irrigated and nearly everywhere are seen traces of a dense 1 sf population tion in past ages as the slopes y are terraced for irrigation purposes CL lae ariy to the summits U after traveling about 25 miles we reached te ached the summit of lebanon the P ti rall railroad road here passes through a long V tunnel tannel right under the kahn E which stands on the top of the lebanon non pass feet above the sea level standing on the top of the summit and looking back we see the mediterranean di for t the he last time and as we now proceeded down a steep grade obtained a fine few of the we soon i broad valley of the bekaan beyond tives the anti lebanus lebanks and to the the snowy peak of mount hermon 9 feet above the sea level to abe north the eye ranges as far as of Ba albek where inter oja att regions reached ruins exist we soon fasting fy sting sits V SSt tora a town of some importance the le base of listed ed at the eastern non mountains and in the renowned kaa valley this is a fine fertile resembling a table land lying hey wee lebanon and anti libants it tween n about 40 miles long from south st bt to te northeast and perhaps 8 towards wide on an average les southwest it is bounded by 9 of the aniha twins spurs through the rocks of which giha river of the val the main 11 litany tany with difficulty on forces arces its way toward the mediterranean in run which it discharges its waters at about five miles north of point valley of bekaan was anci the ae a e agori anori hollow a name which however Is la ally used by the classical authors the book of the and the third book of ezra to besig all the to the south of ucla with the exception of benicia alcia the bekaan valley Is much than in richly cultivated now e ent t times still there are a goodly aber er of towns and villages in the ley ey one of which is zahieh with mt 1600 inhabitants situated north t of in the midst of feet above sea vegetation tation f 7 age rel el from Zebe danl dani the railroad 16 to the east across the valley after cros crossing ing the litany we soon mee ence to abend bend the slopes of anti us following ironwing IroM wing the windings of small all stream through a canyon we arti reached the top of the range is less lofty than the lebanon ins and in descending we fol rea the e headwaters of the barada r w which ich at first is very small but omes es a stream of about the same as aa the ogden river before it leaves mountains to water the thirsty 9 of the great desert As we travel the valley of the barada we pass a number of villages ed fruitful fields and fine cis ua near one of these called tradition dating back to the h century points out the neby I 1 as 3 the spot where cain slew his r abel according to the koran ia we arrived at the baramki OW immediately west of damas at 4 pm having spent 9 hours eling the kilometers or rom m beyrodt to damascus by edgon gl on road the distance is only ingles in lles les which to is still traveled by gers rs in carriages in one day the in the railway cars this is daw railway in the world that I 1 w where the horses can com with the locomotive 11 in point of speed thy arrival at damascus up at hotel dobrient dO rient a long evening walk to of the noted mountain jebel aebel kalium which is situated back of the suburban village of yeh about four miles northwest of damascus I 1 reached the top of the mountain just as the sun disappeared beyond the summits of anti libants the barren jebel aebel kalium which is feet above sea level or 1680 1 feet higher than damascus is held sacred by the muslims as they claim that abraham here learned the doctrine of the unity of god they also assert that adam once lived here and mohammed is said to have visited the place but not to have entered damascus the mountain consists partly of reddish rock and its color gave rise to the legend that it contained a bloodstained cavern in which the dead body of the murdered abel was hidden the top of the mountain where stands EL a small building called the bubbet en nasr dome of victory commands the finest view in the neighborhood of damascus the city lies stretched out at ones feet encircled by its broad green belt of teeming vegetation to the west and north extend the barren hights of anti libants in the distant east appear the bubul and the volcanic peaks of lafa to the south in the extreme distance are visible the mountains of chauran where the cruses are defying the turks at the present time and nearer are jebel aebel el hani and jebel aebel aswad to the northwest lies mount harmon after returning to damascus I 1 lost myself in the labyrinth of narrow crooked and irregular streets but after wandering quietly about for a couple of hours studying the mysteries of the first real oriental city I 1 ever visited I 1 found my way to the hotel and enjoyed a good nights rest my cosy little bedroom which was on the ground floor opened to a magnificent inner court nicely paved in the center played a beautiful fountain surrounded by trees and flowers wednesday june 24 1 I took a long morning walk through that part of damascus which is called the irig mainly of one street about a mile long the low one story buildings lining the street the long caravans coming in from the desert and the noisy demonstrations of drivers and shopkeepers shop keepers were all oriental features new to me the camels donkeys mules and horses seemed to be almost innumerable as they with heavy burdens passed up and down that long street not to speak of shear ards leading their flocks of sheep and goats as in days of old the barking dogs the veiled women the peculiarly clad beduino the ragged children begging for back shish and many other things which made up a picture never to be forgotten I 1 next took a walk through the more central part of the city going all through the muslim and far into the christian quarters in trying to go over the grounds of the great mosque called the Omay yade mosque or jami jam el in arabic I 1 was turned back by the soldiers who allow all muslims to pass but no christians the mosque is partly in ruins being much damaged by a fire in 1893 after visiting the american vice consul who by the way is clerk of the british consul I 1 engaged a dragoman to pilot me around in the afternoon in his company I 1 visited the supposed house of adamas where there to is a small roman catholic chapel also the premises outside the city wall supposed to have once belonged to Na naaman arnan the syrian 2 kings 6 5 it is at present occupied by lepers one on of which ran after me trying to lay hold of my coattail coat tail in order to get more bakshish bac baco shish hish we also visited the greek cemetery where I 1 was shown I 1 the tomb of st george the man who being jailor at the time according to tradition helped paul to escape from the city near by to is the traditional spot where paul was let down over the town wall in a basket by the disciples my guide also took me through the jewish quarter which seems to be the dirtiest part of the city and showed me the inside of a most elegant private residence in the christian quarters finally I 1 went through the street called straight which is over a mile in length and reaches two thirds of the way through the main city from east to west and I 1 continued to ramble through the streets visiting bazaars and other places of interest till a late hour damascus is the capital of syria and lies on the west margin of the great syrian desert mountains are near on three sides but eastward the flat desert extends as far as the eye can reach from the mountain gorges of anti libants on the west several brooks descend to the bhuta the most important boing bins b ins the parada barada cold or as it was called by the greeks the golden stream all the streams which water the plain of damascus flow into the so called meadow lakes lying about 18 miles east of damascus in spring and summer these lakes are of considerable size and are visited by numerous beduino in autumn and winter they the mere morasses the barada corresponds with the ancient amana pr or abana while the southern crook el agaj the crooked is the ancient whose waters were considered by naaman better than all the waters of israel 11 II kings 5 6 12 at the outlet of its gorge the barada divides into seven branches two of which are used for distributing water in numerous conduits throughout the city while the rest are employed in irrigating the orchards the numerous fountains in the interior of the houses are supplied from the barada besides beside which many houses have wells sunk with a view to obtain water for drinking purposes in summer most bosit of the inhabitants live on fruit hence the number of fruit stands in the city at this time of the year I 1 judged to be legio most of the fruit was small as compared with american fruits of the same sort melons and plums plume however being an exception to the rule owing to the lofty situation of the town frost is not uncommon in winter but fireplaces are unknown the city contains several different quarters the jewish quarters in the southeast part of the town still lielas in the days of the apostles near the street which is called straight or as it is still called berb el acts 9 11 to the north of this extends the large christian quarter where the lanes are narrow and poor and many of the houses are in a ruinous condition partly owing to the events of 1860 the other parts of the town are muslim including the Meldan which is occupied by peasants alone the present form of damascus is not unlike that of a spoon the handle being the long median street just mentioned the ancient walls have been removed except on the east and southeast sides where they still stand in a more or less leas perfect state of preservation according to the government statistics damascus had inhabitants in 1888 1889 of these were muslims orthodox greeks greeks ar medians men ians united unitarians united syrians marosites Maro 91 roman catholics 61 Protestant sand jews it is computed that the muslims have in all mosques and colleges in damascus which was once a great center for learning but to is now far surpassed by cairo egypt most of the jews of damascus are descendants of those who were settled here in anci ancient elit times and are not recent emigrants like those of palestine they have fourteen synagogues within the last few years the christians have made great efforts to raise the standard of education but they have so far not been very successful the da mas inas ceans are very fond of their city many of the members of the several creeds are notoriously fanatics and since the middle ages their character has been generally reputed to be insolent and malevolent mane the damascene muslim is proud and ignorant at the same time he feels the superiority of the west and vented his wrath at being disturbed in his rigid conservatism against the native christians european industry chiefly introduced trod by christians has almost entirely extinguished the native manufactures the arabs had long considered themselves superior to all other nations and the circumstance that they have come into contact with a culture undeniably superior to the their ir own renders them jealous and fanatical fan instead of stimulating them to greater exertion from a very early period damascus has been regarded by the arabs as an earthly reflection of Paradise where a foretaste of all the joys of heaven is obtainable in accordance with the description given in the koran the arabs picture to themselves paradise following the original of the word as an orchard traversed by streams of flowing water where the most delicious fruits are ever ready to drop into the mouth this ideal so rarely approached in the arabian peninsula appeared to the natives of that sterile region to be realized at damascus and the city and its surrounding gardens the so called bhuta are accordingly lavishly extolled by arabian poets from a modern europe and an amerlean american point of view these Ir praises alses seem unjustified the bhuta a district of country ex extending toward the east and south of damascus for a distance of about nine miles does not in the eyes of the traveler appear equal to many parts of america england or france there are indeed sev several eral districts in the valleys of utah that seem better and more beautiful than the environs of damascus As the city lies 2260 feet above the sea level spring does not begin here till march and it is not till may that the walnut tree is in full leaf and the vine climbs exuberantly from tree to tree or still later when the large apri cot trees in the midst of their rich carpet of green herbage bear their countless golden fruits and the pome geaneas are in the perfect on of their blossom that the gardens are truly beautiful the natives call damascus esh sham although the name of is not unknown to them damascus to is frequently mentioned in the bible from the time of abraham to the conversion of paul laying out upon the desert east of the mountains in the great |