Skip to main content

Full text of "Damascus and its people"

See other formats 


Google 



This is a digital copy of a book that was preserved for generations on Hbrary shelves before it was carefully scanned by Google as part of a project 

to make the world's books discoverable online. 

It has survived long enough for the copyright to expire and the book to enter the public domain. A public domain book is one that was never subject 

to copyright or whose legal copyright term has expired. Whether a book is in the public domain may vary country to country. Public domain books 

are our gateways to the past, representing a wealth of history, culture and knowledge that's often difficult to discover. 

Marks, notations and other maiginalia present in the original volume will appear in this file - a reminder of this book's long journey from the 

publisher to a library and finally to you. 

Usage guidelines 

Google is proud to partner with libraries to digitize public domain materials and make them widely accessible. Public domain books belong to the 
public and we are merely their custodians. Nevertheless, this work is expensive, so in order to keep providing this resource, we liave taken steps to 
prevent abuse by commercial parties, including placing technical restrictions on automated querying. 
We also ask that you: 

+ Make non-commercial use of the files We designed Google Book Search for use by individuals, and we request that you use these files for 
personal, non-commercial purposes. 

+ Refrain fivm automated querying Do not send automated queries of any sort to Google's system: If you are conducting research on machine 
translation, optical character recognition or other areas where access to a large amount of text is helpful, please contact us. We encourage the 
use of public domain materials for these purposes and may be able to help. 

+ Maintain attributionTht GoogXt "watermark" you see on each file is essential for informing people about this project and helping them find 
additional materials through Google Book Search. Please do not remove it. 

+ Keep it legal Whatever your use, remember that you are responsible for ensuring that what you are doing is legal. Do not assume that just 
because we believe a book is in the public domain for users in the United States, that the work is also in the public domain for users in other 
countries. Whether a book is still in copyright varies from country to country, and we can't offer guidance on whether any specific use of 
any specific book is allowed. Please do not assume that a book's appearance in Google Book Search means it can be used in any manner 
anywhere in the world. Copyright infringement liabili^ can be quite severe. 

About Google Book Search 

Google's mission is to organize the world's information and to make it universally accessible and useful. Google Book Search helps readers 
discover the world's books while helping authors and publishers reach new audiences. You can search through the full text of this book on the web 

at |http : //books . google . com/| 




600038824V 




^ ^y 



t 



DAMASCUS 

AND ITS PEOPLE 



SKETCHES OF MODERN LIFE IN SYRIA 



BY 

MRS. MACKINTOSH 

LATE OF THE BRITISH SYRIAN SCHOOLS, DAMASCUS 



WITH FIFTEEN ILLUSTRATIONS 



SEELEY, JACKSON, AND HALLIDAY, FLEET STREET 

LONDON. MDCCCLXXXIII 

[All Rights Reserved^ 



c ■ 



PREFACE. 



Damascus is one of the very few ancient cities of the 
world that still retain anything of their former great- 
ness. Nineveh and Babylon are buried in ruins, and 
Tyre is now a small fishing village; but Damascus, 
boasting of an antiquity of 4,000 years, is still a 
prosperous city, with a large, industrious and lively 
population. It has associations with great names in 
the past, and a busy, stirring life in the present ; it is 
a city of ancient art and of modem activity, peopled 
by men of various races and of various creeds, in them- 
selves a study of more abiding interest than the 
* blades,' the ' damasks ' and the * roses ' with which 
the Ei^me of Damascus is commonly connected. 

It is with the present that this little volume is 
mainly occupied. No attempt has been made to give 
any historical sketch of this long-surviving city . 
my chief desire has been to awaken fresh interest in 
its present inhabitants, with many of whom a residence 
of seven years in Damascus has given me oppor- 
tunities of forming an intimate acquaintance, li 



Tl PREFACE. 

reference has been made to the past, it is mainly in 
connection with those Bible narratives which the 
scenery and customs of an Eastern country con- 
tinually serve to illustrate. For obvious reasons the 
names of persons connected with incidents in the 
following chapters have been suppressed or replaced 
by names equally common in that country. 

Acknowledgment is due to the Rev. Dr. Jessup, of 
Beyrout, from whose interesting book on * The Women 
of Syria/ a few translations of Arabic poetry have been 
taken. Nor must we fail to remember those at whose 
desire we took up our residence in Damascus. It 
would be ungrateful not to mention the imceasing 
kindness of Mr. and Mrs. Mott and their sisters, who 
have devoted their lives and their means to the 
welfare of Syria, and with whom we have been closely 
associated in missionary work for upwards of twelve 
years. To the Syrian people, among whom we have 
foimd such pleasure and interest in working, we have 
become warmly attached, and but for repeated failures 
in health we might have been among them still. 

December, 1882. 



• ^-r 



CONTENTS. 



i«*- 



CHAPTER I. 

DAMASCUS. 

PAGE 

View from Saliliiya. — Population, — Grave of Forty Saints. 
— The K^rds. — Myrtle Groves. — Flowers. — Military Hos- 
pital. — Diligence OflBce. — Prisons. — Post-oflfice. — Se- 
raglia. — Bazaars. — Street Dogs. — Street Rubbish. — 
Churches. — British Syrian Schools. — Houses. — Furni- 
ture. — The Hananiya. — Police. — Law-courts. — Bri- 
bery. — City Gates. — Door-keepers. — Weddings. — 
Funerals. — ^Mourning - - - - - 1 

CHAPTER II. 

THE MOHAMMEDAN QUARTER. 

The Mohammedan Quarter quiet and secluded. — Unhappi- 
ness of Moslem Home-life. — Habit of Swearing. — Avoid- 
ance of Outward Defilement. — Respect and Love for the 
Koran. — Sects among Mohammedans. — Their Fear of 
Bells. — Objection to take Animal Life. — The Great 
Mosque.— The Seven Great Prophets. — Dancing Der- 
vishes. — Ramadan. — Pilgrimage to Mecca. — The Feasts 
of Bairam - - - - - - 21 

CHAPTER III. 

THE JEWISH QUARTER. 

Formed in the Time of Ahab.— The Butcher's Shop.— 
The Jews Natives of Damascus, and not ot "FoTev^Ti'EiXr 



Vlll CONTENTS. 



PAGE 



traction. — Fine Houses and fine Dresses. — Jewish 
Bankers and Money-changers. — Usury.' — Employments 
of Women. — Observance of their Sabbath. — Women not 
admitted to the Synagogue. — Feasts : Passover, Pente- 
cost, Tabernacles, Purim. — Jewish Schools for Boys, 
but none for Girls. — The Levites. — The Rabbis - - 41 

CHAPTER IV. 

THE CHRISTIAN QUARTER. 

Salutations. — Houses.— Cooking. — Housekeeping. — Use of 
Housetop. — Feast-days. — Letters. — Greek Church. — 
Dress. — Employments of Women and Men - - 52 

CHAPTER V. 

THE BAZAARS. 

The Bazaars crowded. — Street Straight. — A Shop. — Khan 
for Silk Goods. — Bargaining. — Linen-drapers' Bazaar. — 
Shoemakers* Quarter. — Public Factories. — Cabinet 
Bazaar. — Saddlers* Bazaar. — Shops for Brass- ware. — 
Stalls for Mecca Curiosities. — Want of Neatness in 
Finish and Execution. — The Bazaars at Night. — The 
Watchmen. — Slave-market. — Men standing for Hire. — 
Caravan from Mecca - - - - - 66 

CHAPTER VL 

CHILDREN. 

Gentle and Teachable, but Obstinate.— Jewesses often in- 
terested in the New Testament. — Many given to Swear- 
ing.— Amusements. — Story-telling. — * The Girl and the 

; Kadi.' — Children unaccustomed to Obey. — Dress. — 
Native Prejudices against Education. — ^Early Marriages 
among Moslems. — Damascus Children ignorant of 
Country Life. —A Greek Baptism. — Jewish and Moslem 
Circumcisions - - - - - - 80 

CHAPTER VIL 

BETROTHAL AND MARRIAGE. 

Contempt for Women. — A ' Moslem Wedding. — The 
Mother's Duty to find Wives for her Sons. — A Protestant 
Betrothal and Marriage.— A Greek Wedding - - 90 



CONTENTS. ix 

CHAPTER Vni. 

THE COUNTRY ROUND DAMASCUS. 

PAGB 

The Jews and Jobar. — The People of the Greek Church 
and Saidnaya. — ^ Going to Meet the Monk.'— Excursions 
to the Fijeh and along the Barada ( Abana). — The Canals. 
— The Wady. — The Lakes. — Apricot Harvest at Caboon. 
— Burzeh, the Village of Abraham, the Friend - - 98 

CHAPTER IX. 

SUMMER QUARTERS. 

Journey to Nebk.— The Hoopoe.— The Turtle-dove.— The 
Stork — The Gecko. —Gazelles. — Kiteif eh. — Muleteers, 
Star-gazers. — ^Difficulties in Housekeeping. — The Ibex. — 
Kindness of People in Nebk. — The Men, Traders with 
distant Towns. — The Women, Active and Industrious. — 
A Moslem School taught by a Woman. — Contrast be- 
tween Nebk, Deir Atiya and YabrM. — Marketing in 
Yabriid. — Madder and Ishn^n. — Watch-towers. — 
Khans 110 

CHAPTER X. 

A RIDE TUROUGH THE DESERT. 

Preparations for Journey to Palmyra. — Journey through 
the Dowh. — The Jerboa. — Underground Water Canal. — 
Kiryatein. — The Great Dowh. — Arrival at Palmyra or 
Tadmor. — Sulphurous Spring. Present Inhabitants of 
Palmyra. — The Ruins. — Temple of the Sun. — Colon- 
nades. — Moslems. — * Ghuzus.' — Return to Kiryatein. — A 
Natural Vapour-bath. — Upper and Lower Beth-horon. — 
Sunday at Deir Atiya. — System of Irrigation. — MaalMa 126 

CHAPTER XL 

AGRICULTURAL LIFE — SOWING. 

No Arabic Word exactly signifying * Farm.'— Almost all 
Villagers Farmers. — Difficulties in Farming from want of 
Capital— Many Kinds of Farm Land.— The Granaries 
of Syria.— Zahleh.— Rain. —The Bukaa.— Ploughing.— 
Sowing. — Cold and Snow ----- 14^ 



PAGE 



X CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XII. 

SPRING. 

Grass on Housetops. — The Vines.— Spring Flowers. — 
Young Com. — Tares. — Horses and Cattle at Grass. — 
Missionary Work at Zahleh.— Muallaka. — Noah's Tomb. 
— Journey to Baalbec. — Ruins. — Return to Damascus. — 
Young Locusts - - - - - -156 

CHAPTER Xin. 

HARVEST. 

Times for Harvest difPer according to Altitude.— Rain in 
Harvest rare. — Reapers and Gleaners. — Threshing and 
Threshing-floors. — Winnowing. — Treading' out the 
Straw. — Store-houses and Store-pits. — The Locusts - 16-t 

CHAPTER XIV. 

THE SHEPHERD AND THE FLOCK. 

The Meedan. — Corn-dealers. — An Eastern Shepherd. — 
Syrian Sheep. — ^Pasture. — ^Noonday Rest.— Obedience to 
Shepherds. — Shepherd's Care by Night and Day. — 
Pasture on the Mountains. — Dangers from Robbers and 
Wil4 Beasts.— Fattening the Sheep - - - 170 

CHAPTER XV. 

VINEYARDS. 

* Tears of Mohammed.' — Vineyards. — Seventy Kinds of 
Grapes. — B'hamdoon. — Abundance of Grapes. — The 
Watchman. — Jadkals. — Foxes. — Boars. — Bears. — 
Raisins. — ^Wine. — ^Dibs. — Arrack - - - 18^ 

CHAPTER XVL 

A VILLAGE HOME. 

# 

Furniture. — Simple House Ornaments. — Eye-painting. — 
Sleeping Arrangements . — Tattooing. — Eatchen. — Second 
Visit. — Birth of a Baby-girl. — Great Sadness and quiet 
Resignation. — Third Visit. — ^Native Cookery. — The Baby. 



\ 

4 



CONTENTS. XI 



PAGE 



—The Evil Eye.— The Cradle.— Dress.— Swaddling.— 
Washing. — Management of Children. — Eejoicings at the 
Birth of a Boy. — Girls not counted. — Mothers-in-law 
and Daughters-in-law - - • - - 194 

CHAPTER XVII. 

A DRUZE VILLAGE. 

Difference between Geram&na and an English Village. — 
Visit to Sheikh Faris. — Reception by the Sheikh, not by 
his Wife. — The Druze great Politicians. — Refreshments. 
— The Sitt. — Her Dress. — Divorce frequent. — Room 
prettily arranged. — No Church or Mosque. — Sacred 
Meeting on Thursday Evening. — Difficulty of Missionary 
Work among the Druze. — Olive Groves - - - 203 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

THE OLIVE. 

Olive Wood used for Fuel. — Olives largely eaten in Syria. 
— Olive Oil used in Cooking, especially during the 
Feasts. — The Olive Press. — Cedars and Palms rare, but 
Olive Trees very abundant though heavily taxed. — Old 
Olive Trees and young Shoots. — The Vale of Cedron. — 
Kafr Sheema. — Large Olive Groves in Phoenicia. — SAtp 
Factories . — Blossoms. — Grafting. — Olive Harvestp^ in 
Autumn. — Gleaning left for the Poor - - - 212 

CHAPTER XIX. 

THE BEDOUIN. 

The Bedouin Mohammedans in Name. -> Large Encamp- 
ments. — Migrations. — Tents. — Occupations of Bedouin , 
Women. — Hospitality. — The Bedouin Woman and the 
Lamb. — A Bedouin Baby. — Simple Food of the Bedouin. 
— Dress. — Weapons. — Riches in Flocks and Herds. — 
Camels. — The Sleib Arabs, — 'Ghuzus.' — Blood Feuds. — 
Contempt for Agriculture. — Great Extent of Country 
through which they wander. — Their Objection to encamp 
near Babylon ------ 220 



t/' 



Xll • CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XX. 

A RIDE ALONG THE SEA-SHORE. 



page: 



Beyrout. — ^View of the Town. — The British Syrian Train- 
ing Institution. — Seller of Water Jars. — Beyrout Sea- 
shore. — Early Start for Sidon and Tyre. — Palm Trees. 
— Flowers. — Grossing the Damtlr. — ^Neby Y^as. — The 
* Great Fish,' — Sidon. — Ancient Tear Bottles. — Lamps. 
Orchards. — Sarepta . — Alexander's Causeway. — Tyre. — 
Door-key. — Ruins. — Fishermen. — Tynan Dye. — Ancient 
Pools of Ras-il-Ain. — Mount Hermon. — Tomb of Hiram. 
— English School at Tyre. — Hasbeya. — British Syrian 
School. — ^View from Hermon - - - . 236 

CHAPTER XXL 

RAGES AND RELIGIONS. 

Arabic the Language of the Country. — Mohammedan Sects. 
Sunnites. — Met^wileh. — The Ntlsairiya. — The Rev. Mr. 
Lyde. — The Bedouin Arabs. — The Druze. — The Chris- 
tians. — The Greek Church. — Greek Catholics. — Maron- 
ites. — ^Priests and Monks wishing to become Protestants. 
— The Hauran Priest. — The Probationer. — Difficulties 
of Missionary Work among the Maronites, Jacobites, and 
Armenians. — The Jews. — Protestants and their Missions 256 

CHAPTER XXIL 

SUNDAY IN DAMASCUS. 

Early Services in Eastern Churches. — Sunday Market. — 
Native Protestant Service. — English Service. — Sunday 
Schools - - - - - - - 293 



DAMASCUS A:N^D ITS PEOPLE. 



^>Koo 

CHAPTER I. 

DAMASCUS. 
* The head of Syria is Damascus/* 

Standing on a projecting spur of Gebal Salahiya, a 
branch of anti-Lebanon, and looking down on the 
great plain below, we see spread out before us, en- 
circled by woods and orchards, one of the most ancient 
oities in the world, Damascus — a well-known town in 
the time of Abraham ;-f- and, according to Josephus, 
built by Uz,J grandson of Shem. Yet at the present 
day, as we stand and gaze at the white city with its 
minarets and towers nestling in the midst of a bed of 
green — a pearl set in emeralds, as it has [often been 
called — with the hills of Bashan, and the waste 
soUtary desert stretching far away into the distance 
beyond, we see no decayed ruined city, but a town 
teeming with population, numbering, with all its 
suburbs, probably 180,000 souls, trading still with 
many foreign lands, Egypt, Turkey in Europe, Persia, 
and India, while it is the centre of the world to the 
* Isa. vii. 8. t Gen. xv. 2. J Gen. x. 22, 23. 

\ 



2 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

innumerable villages which lie thickly scattered about 
in the mass of orchards which stretch far away around 
the capital of Syria. 

From the height on which we stand, we can dis- 
tinctly see the outline of the city, and some of its 
most conspicuous buildings. The principal part of 
the city lies directly before us, while the suburb of 
the Meedan stretches in a long narrow line towards 
the south-west. The shape of the city is peculiar, 
and has been compared to a spoon, the Meedan being 
the handle ; or to a tadpole, the same suburb being 
the tail. The principal buildings that we can dis- 
tinguish are the Great Mosque, with its three tall 
minarets ; the Greek Church, a building large and 
massive, like a warehouse, but with no tower or 
steeple to indicate its use ; the old minaret at the east 
end of the town, marking the beginning of Street 
Straight, and the dark ruined walls of the citadel, 
built in 1219. 

The view, especially when the strong sunlight is 
softened by the approach of sunset, is one of the 
most beautiful in the whole land ; and we never stand 
on this hill without calling to mind Mahomet's ex- 
clamation as he stood nearly on the same spot : that 
as there is but one paradise for man, his should not 
be on earth; and therefore he would not enter 
Damascus. I am afraid had he entered it, his delight 
would have, to a great degree, vanished. ' All is not 
gold that ghtters.' 

Damascus, as well as Naples, also called an earthly 
paradise, are both lovely beyond expression when 
seen from a distance ; but imhappily the delusion is 



DAMASCUS. 3 

soon scattered when you walk along the narrow, dirty, 
ill-paved streets, and breathe the polluted air of many 
a lane. 

But we must not follow Mahomet's example, and 
turn our back on Esh ShUm — the name by which the 
natives know Damascus — but, just waiting to notice 
the Kubbet el Arbain, or grave of forty Moslem 
saints high up on the steep hill above us, we ride 
down from our elevated post of observation through 
the village of Salahiya, containing some thousands of 
inhabitants, glancing as we pass at the dwellings of 
the Kiirds, a wild, bigoted race, who may chance to 
throw a few stones at us Franji Christian dogs, as 
we ride along. At the foot of the village, a little to 
the right, are myrtle groves,* which the Damascenes 
delight to visit in the winter, when the berries are 
ripe and fit for eating ; but which are not really half 
so pretty as some spots on the Lebanon, where 
quantities of myrtle grow wild. I must not forget to 
mention that the people of Salahiya cultivate flowers ; 
and, during the summer months, men may be seen 
going about with trays of pretty plants on their 
heads, trying to sell them in the city: only I am 
sorry to say it needs some caution in purchasing them, 
for the people know quite well how to dispose of 
plants, minus roots. As soon as we leave the village, 
we find oiu^elves in a broad road with many fine houses 
on each side ; one of which was the dwelling-place of 
Midhat Pasha, when he was Governor-General of 
Syria. Over the door of one of the best of the 
houses, we notice a very ugly charm, hanging up to 

* Isa. xli. 19 ; Zech. i. 8. 

1—^ 



4 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

preserve it from the evil eye. We soon reach a part 
of the road prettily shaded by rows of poplar-trees ; 
and on our right hand we notice a large building, 
erected by Ibrahim Pasha, of Egypt, about forty years 
ago as barracks; but it is now used as a military 
hospital, and we see some of the poor fellows looking 
out of the windows as we pass. This is the only 
hospital the town possesses ; and many a poor sufferer 
languishes in his miserable home, in sore need of good 
nursing, good food, and good doctoring. 

Turning a httle to the right, we soon reach the 
river Barada, or Abana,* just as it enters the city ; 
and, crossing the little bridge, we pass the diligence- 
office, under the management of a French company, 
just as the horn of the diligence is heard, and the 
people crowd around the gate to see who has arrived 
from Beyrout. 

We hasten through the people — ^remembering how 
the arrival of the stage-coach in some quiet parts of 
our own land is stUl hailed with delight as the one great 
excitement of the day — and soon reach an open space 
with a fountain in the centre, and several large build- 
ings around it. The first is a prison for debt and 
minor offences; and we notice some of the poor 
manacled prisoners sweeping the space in front of 
their melancholy abode. 

We have several prisons in Damascus, but they are 
all, without exception, miserable places ; and the poor 
wretches who are confined in them are badly fed, 
while they soon become the prey of the worst vermin. 
A prisoner who has no friends to bring him food from 

♦ 2 Kings V. 12. 



DA^IASCUS. 5 

time to time soon finds himself in a sorry pKght Op- 
posite the prison is the post and telegraph oflSce. 
Though the city is such a large one, there is but one 
postman and an assistant. Poor Ismaeel has plenty 
to do ; and though he rides through the town on a 
clever little white donkey, he and his man frequently 
cannot succeed in delivering all the letters on the day 
they arrive ; and I am afraid the good man sometimes 
waits till he has two or three letters to deliver at the 
same house before he brings them. He charges half 
a piastre, or one penny, for each letter he leaves at a 
house. 

Between the prison and the post-office stand the 
SeragHa buildings, the three thus forming three sides 
of a square. On the ground-floor of the Seraglia are 
also prisons, where people are confined for a short 
time, corresponding, in some measure, to our Houses 
of Detention. Over these prisons is the official resi- 
dence of the Wali, or Governor-General of Syria, 
where he transacts business. It is tolerably com- 
fortable, but cannot boast any splendour, either of 
architecture or decoration. In the same building are 
also held the meetings of most of the Miglis, or town 
councils. 

If we were to take a little turning, leading to a 
street behind the post-office, we should come to a 
fairly good hotel, to which all European travellers 
resort ; but our road leads straight on, and then we 
pass the gate of the old citadel, where Turkish soldiers 
mount guard. Within is the prison where the 
worst prisoners are kept, such as murderers; it is 
called the Prison of Blood. Almost opposite \X\a c\^ 



6 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

citadel is the Military Seraglia and the barracks, 
with a large open square in front, in which the soldiers 
are drawn up on parade-days. 

Then, turning to the left, we ride through the 
strange Eastern Bazaars, crowded with people in all 
kinds of costumes ; rich Damascenes and poor Fella- 
heen, Persians and Bedouins, women moving about 
like very substantial ghosts, wrapt up in white izzars 
or sheets, which envelop them from head to foot, 
everyone busily engaged in bujdng or selling. 

As we ride along, it is difficult to avoid treading on 
the street-dogs which abound in every quarter ; poor, 
miserable, quarrelsome creatures, such as the greatest 
lover of dogs could never admire, much less pet. The 
picture of two or three of these half-starved dogs 
fighting over a dirty bone, or tearing the flesh from a 
dead animal, thrown just outside the city walls to rot, 
is one of the most repulsive anyone can imagine. At 
night they lie down and sleep in rows in the middle 
of the streets ; and when any casual passer-by disturbs 
them, they raise a howling* which would wake the 
heaviest sleeper. Each horde has a special district of 
its own; and should a single dog wander away by 
chance from his fellows, and invade the street of his 
neighbours,he will have the whole of the wild pack upon 
him, and will have a hard run to escape their clutches. 
The children are constantly pelting them with large 
stones ; and when you try to check them, they answer, 
' Oh, it is only a dog !' Strange to say, the dogs 
seldom, if ever, turn upon their persecutors; and 
hydrophobia is almost unknown. When we see what 

* Psa. lix. G-14. 



DAMASCUS. 7 

low, miserable, dirty creatures these street-dogs are, it 
adds tenfold bitterness to the insult sometimes heaped 
upon us by Moslems, when they call us, 'Dogs of 
Christians/ Yet even to these wretched dogs every 
dweller in Damascus owes a debt of gratitude ; for 
they are almost the only scavengers of the streets, 
into which each house empties its refuse daily. A 
dust-cart is an imknown luxury ; and did not these 
poor despised creatures feast on the heaps of rubbish 
to be found at each street-comer, the sanitary state of 
the town would be far worse even than it is. Occa- 
sionally the Government is seized with a fit of reform, 
and sends out men to sweep the streets; but, un- 
happily, it never perseveres in such good deeds. 
As a rule, Httle attention is paid to the state of the 
town by the ruling powers, except, perhaps, when a 
new Wali has just entered on his office, and wishes to 
make the circuit of the city. Then men will be sent 
round, knocking at every door, and bidding the people 
clear away any rubbish that may be lying before their 
houses, because the Governor is coming, and the way 
must be * prepared before him.'* Fortunately for the 
cleanliness of the town, a change is not unfrequently 
made in the Government. 

If we continue our ride through the Bazaars, pass- 
ing along Street Straight, we shall reach the Jewish 
and Christian quarters. The former can boast few 
public buildings of importance, except the synagogues, 
and even they possess no great beauty. In the 
Christian quarter are two Greek churches, as well 
:as many other churches belonging to the different 

* Matt, iil 3. 



8 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

Eastern sects, such as Syrian, Armenian, etc. The 
Lazarists, also, have large buildings, with a chapel, 
schools, laundry and dispensary upon the establish- 
ment and support of which large sums must have 
been expended. 

Then we have the church and schools of the Irish 
Presbyterian Mission, which for many years has been 
carrying on a good work in conjunction with the 
American Presbjrterians ; while the English are repre- 
sented by the British Syrian Schools, with a large 
schoolhouse at a little distance from Bab Shirkie, or 
the Eastern Gate, in which a number of children 
belonging to the Greek Church, with about sixty 
Jewesses, are daily taught to read the Scriptures in 
their own language. The same society has also a 
school for Moslem girls, a third for boys and girls in 
the district of the Meedan, a night and blind school, 
and a staff of Bible-women to visit among the grown 
people. This society would gladly extend its opera- 
tions into other parts of this benighted city, and into 
the still more benighted villages around, were it more 
liberally supported by friends at home. 

Into whatever part of the town we penetrate, we 
look in vain for broad, open streets, with rows of good 
substantial houses. Without exception, the streets 
are narrow, and the exterior of most of the houses 
impleasing, to say the least. The exclamation of most 
new-comers is, 'What a collection of hovels!' The 
walls are of a drab colour; there seem to be no 
windows on the groimd-floor, and the roofs are flat, 
so we can expect little outside beauty ; but if we knock 
at the door of one of these gloomy-looking, prison-like 



DAMASCUS. 1 1 

abodes, and seek admittance, we shall be astonished 
as soon as the door is opened and we have reached 
the end of a httle passage : then we shall find our- 
selves in a spacious quadrangle, with lemon-trees and 
perhaps vines and flowers in the centre. Upon this 
court, which is paved with marble or some other 
stone, all the windows and doors open. The large 
houses have several courts and many fountains, indeed 
one house is said to contain three himdred rooms ; but 
though some, both of the Moslems and Jews, can boast 
grand and almost palatial residences, there is in all a 
sad want of what we EngHsh consider comfort. 

On entering a room in a Damascus house, we notice 
one peculiarity, and that is what is called the ' atabeh,' 
a strip of the floor on a level with the door-step from 
three to five feet wide; the rest of the floor of the 
room is raised about a foot and a half higher. In 
large houses this atabeh is paved with black and 
white marble, and has recesses, or niches, at each end, 
in which are often kept the nargilehs (water-pipes for 
smoking), or the lamps. All the natives drop their 
shoes and * kubkabs,' or wooden sandals, on the atabeh 
before stepping up on the mat which covers all the 
rest of the room ; and we poor Europeans are some- 
times taken to task by well-conducted natives for our 
wasteful habit of treading on our mats with boots, 
which of course wear and soil them more quickly 
than the feet. My husband always removes his boots, 
or else remains in the atabeh, when he enters a native 
house ; but happily for me, the native women know 
our custom, and generally beg me not to trouble 
myself, though occasionally I have had to do so in 



12 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

Moslem houses, and to walk in my stockings over cold 
marble floors. 

The furniture of a native house, free from European 
innovations, is simply a raised divan round the three 
sides of a room, generally low along the two sides and 
high at the end, the place to which honoured guests 
are always invited. The divan is covered with silk or 
cloth, or a bright-coloured chintz with a strip of white 
calico, edged with lace or crochet, laid on it to keep 
it clean. The back is formed of hard stiff cushions ; 
but directly a guest enters he is entreated to rest on 
the divan, and little soft pillows are placed at his side 
on which to rest his elbow. One or two Persian 
carpets are spread on the floor over the mat, or more 
if the people are wealthy. At one end of the atabeh 
generally stands the large wedding-box of Damascus- 
work, walnut-wood inlaid with mother-of-pearl, in 
which the mistress of the house brought her trous- 
seau on the day of her marriage, and in which she 
now keeps most of her own and her children's clothes. 

In many houses the sitting-room is also used for a 
sleeping-room, but most of the larger ones have upper 
rooms which are used for that purpose. The beds are 
spread on the floor, and rolled up and hidden behind 
a curtain in the day-time. But in many of the houses 
we now see a few European chairs arranged along the 
atabeh, and perhaps a little table and some showy gilt 
mirrors, hung so high on the walls that it is impossible 
for the tallest man to get a glimpse of his face in 
them. Bedsteads also are being gradually introduced ; 
and occasionally a stove may be seen in the winter, 
instead of the pan of charcoal which is generally used 



DAMASCUS. 13 

to warm a room. We hardly ever see a bookcase in 
a native house, and we miss the pictures and flower- 
vases, and various knick-knacks, and cosy armchairs, 
and little tables, which give a home-feeling to our 
English sitting-rooms. 

Of course in a city Uke Damascus we have many 
kinds of houses — that is, we have large, middle-sized, 
and small houses, to suit the different ranks of society ; 
but all are built on the same plan, a number of rooms 
opening upon a central court, and with no doors or 
passages connecting one room with another : an arrange- 
ment pleasant enough in summer-time, but not so 
comfortable in winter, when we must leave the warm 
fireside, or rather stove-side, and go out into the open 
air, even when the ground is covered with snow, 
every time that Ave have to go from one room to 
another. 

The houses of the poor are very miserable, each 
room perhaps inhabited by a whole family, and some 
are filthy in the extreme. One of the poorest quarters 
in the Christian part of the town is the Hananiya, the 
district which surrounds the supposed site of the 
house of Ananias.* It is not necessary to describe 
many of the scenes of poverty and sickness and misery 
which are daily seen by those who visit among the 
poor in Damascus. Unhappily they are easily equalled 
in our own country; but with this difference, that in 
England constant efforts are being made of all kinds 
to minister to the sick, to help the poor, and to reclaim 
the fallen, while in Damascus we have no workhouses, 
no hospitals, and no reformatories. 

* Acts ix. 10. 



14 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

The care of public order is in the hands of the 
Zabtiehs, or armed police, who have stations in many 
parts of the city ; and are so miserably paid that I am 
afraid a very small bribe often induces them to let 
evil-doers escape, while sometimes they purposely 
arrest an innocent man that they may get a bribe 
to let him free. A few years ago, Midhat Pasha 
estabhshed a superior order of policemen, who are 
required to dress in a pretty imiform, and were 
promised good pay. They were expected to bring 
the town into much better order in many respects, 
and did so for a time ; but unfortunately the promised 
pay was not forthcoming, and the poor men now 
have the greatest difficulty in securing even a small 
part of their wages. Disputes about land or property 
of any kind, quarrels between neighbours, questions 
of marriage and divorce, offences against the law — 
such as murder or theft — are brought before the 
several Mijlisses to which they belong, and of which 
there are about half a dozen ; namely, the police 
court, the criminal, the commercial, the town council, 
and court of appeal, etc. 

Of course I cannot presume to criticize the govern- 
ment ; probably in theory it is good, but it is often 
said that false witnesses can be hired for a small sum, 
while bribery guides the hand of justice only too 
often. A good man from a distant town came once 
to Damascus on some simple law business which 
might have been settled very shortly ; but the poor 
fellow had to wait, and wait, and wait, till he was fairly 
tired out, and his purse completely emptied. He had 
to give bribe after bribe to get a hearing ; his funds 



DAMASCUS. 15 

were exhausted, and yet he wished very much to see 
a certain official, but the soldier on guard refused him 
admittance. He told us, * I did not know what to 
do. At last I bethought myself that I had a Uttle 
tobacco left, so I rolled up a cigarette, and offered it 
to the man. He told me directly, " Wait till I reach 
the end of the passage, and when my back is turned 
sKp in." ' 

Still, considering the lack of efficient government, 
life and property are as a rule safe in Damascus ; but 
when any theft or violence is committed, it is not 
easy to get justice done, as we know to our cost. A 
favourite mare was once stolen from our stable, and 
though my husband, by taking the matter into his 
own hands, recovered her, the thief, a well-known 
bad character, was not arrested for three months, 
though proved by papers, of which Ave gained posses- 
sion, to be imdoubtedly guilty of the deed. In going 
in and out among the people, we often hear sad com- 
plaints of the difficulty of obtaining even-handed 
justice, and of the heavy taxes which weigh them 
down to the very ground. 

At night the city presents a gloomy aspect. The 
Bazaars are dimly lighted with small oil-lamps few 
and far between, and the rest of the town is left in 
almost entire darkness; but no one, under pain of 
being arrested, is allowed to go out after dark with- 
out carrying a lantern. The rich have a large lamp, 
something like a London street-lamp, carried before 
them, which is generally ornamented with pieces of 
coloured glass, and lighted with two candles or with 
paraffine oil. The poorer carry small hand-lanterns. 



16 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

or not unfrequently a Chinese lantern, which is very 
convenient, as it can be folded up and put into the 
pocket. 

The city has several large gates, such as Bab (or 
gate) us-Salam, Bab Tooma, Bab-ul-Hadeed, and last, 
not least, Bab Shirkie, or the Eastern Gate, which at 
present has no particular grandeur, as only one of the 
side archways is used ; but in old times it was formed 
of a large archway in the centre, now blocked up, 
and a smaller one on each side. It was evidently an 
imposing entrance to the Street Straight, which no 
doubt was once the grand thoroughfare or ' Corso ' of 
Damascus, lined throughout its entire length with 
imposing rows of lofty pillars. 

Each little section of the town is provided with very 
large wooden doors, which divide the town into quarters, 
xtnd are kept by watchmen, most of whom are very 
poor, and some old and blind. The latter make good 
door-keepers, and are wonderfully clever at discover- 
ing who goes in and out. They lie down on the 
ground close to the gate, Avrapt in their big cloak, or 
abai ; and when they hear the cry, * Iftah ya Haris T 
{' Open, watchman !') they rise and do so, expecting 
to receive a farthing or halfpenny for their trouble. 
Though there are no public clocks in Damascus, they 
generally find out the time very accurately, and we 
frequently employ one of these blind watchmen to 
awaken us, when any one of our household has to rise 
about 2.30 a.m., to be ready in time for the diligence 
to Beyrout. 

At night* we are sometimes disturbed by the sound 

* Matt. XXV. 6. 



19 

of M, TTiarriige prooesskni ptissang Jtkng the street^ 
^ith ^hlad torehes, jud angi^ and ttlkiiig, on its 
iraj to the church, or to the bndegroom'is house; 
while by diiy ire hear occaskauJty ji low, sad chaut, 
and, looldng oat d <me d oar iqsper wiDdows» see in 
the load b^w a fonenJ passng on its way to the 
TeQ or Uiliock — a rode oemeteiy oatade the town. 
If it is A Oinsdan's fimezal, we shall see walking in 
fposat, among a crowd of men, five or ax bladL-iobed 
piests,eaziyii]^ banners and A laige GHOss, and sai^;ingjk 
monotonoQs chant as they ga llien oomes the ooffin, 
lx»ne on men's shoulders, generalty withoot Ji lid, so 
that the &oe and fcsm of d» deo^ised is exposed to 
Tiew. The coffin is seldom black, but citea Tiolet or 
pink, with white bands. The women, wrapt in thw 
white izsars, follow behind. Hide is little <»der, and 
still less scdenmity, in the whole jffooesaon. Fanaak, 
of course, take place very soon afbrar death, alwmys 
within tw^ve, sometimes widiin two hoars;* and 
many are carried past the tomb of St. GecHge, Ji 
man who is said by tzaditi^m to have helped St. Fanl 
to make his escape from Damascua His grave is veiy 
near the part or the old wall where it is thoij^ht tlM 
great Apostle was let down in a bask^-f 

The people hare litde idea of oontroDii^ thdr 
giiei^ and always give Tent to thdr feelings in lood 
dies and lamentations, which can be heard at some 
distance ; and it is very sad to hear the sodden wmil 
break forth from a house where death has just taku 
plaoa In some parts of the country, women are still 

♦ Acts T. 5, 6, 10. +ActBix.25. 



20 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

hired to mourn as a mark of respect to the deceased.* 
In Damascus, if a rich man dies, the court of his 
house, which should be kept spotlessly clean, is strewn 
with ashes of charcoal ; the divans in the chief sitting- 
room are covered with black ; the coffee-cups, used in 
serving visitors with coffee, are replaced by black ones, 
and the guest, after drinking it, and making the 
customary salaam, must say, not * Daimie,' ' May it be 
always so,' as usual, but, 'May God remove sorrow 
from you,' or something to that effect. I should add 
that great numbers of friends and relations somethnes 
assemble at a funeral, and they must all be feasted 
and entertained. The poor widow dresses herself in 
black, or brown, and goes for some days with her hair 
dishevelled, and hanging down under her black 
mandeel ; and all the family abstain from visiting for 
many months. I cannot say much for the native 
graveyards in Syria. They are almost always unen- 
closed and uncared for. The Moslem women certainly 
often adorn the graves with myrtle, or palm-branches, 
on Thursday evenings; but the different Christian 
sects pay Uttle heed to the state of their cemeteries. 
In riding about Lebanon, and in many other parts of 
the country, we often notice ancient stone-coflSns 
lying by the side of the roads ; but, at the present 
day, even a slight wooden coffin is not always used. 
The Moslems carry the body to the tomb in an open 
bier,f and lay it in a carefully prepared grave — ^some- 
times in a bed of sweet spices ; and in some of the 
Christian villages, and even among the poor of 
Damascus, the same custom prevails. 

* Jer. ix. 17, 18 ; 2 Ohron. xxxv. 25. t Luke vii. 14, 15. 




CHAPTER II. 

THE MOHAMMEDAN QUARTER. 

The Mohammedan quarter of Damascus is so large, 
and so varied, that it is difficult to know where to 
begin when we attempt to describe it. There are 
large districts of poor houses, many of them damp 
and unhealthy; and, on the other hand, there are 
splendid dwellings, inhabited by Emirs and Pashas. 

In one respect, the Moslem is a great contrast to 
the Jewish quarter. The latter is always aUve and 
noisy; plenty of people, men, women, and children, 
are always moving about, and talking ; but you may 
pass along many streets of private houses in the 
Moslem quarter, and scarcely see a creatine, or hear a 
sound, for the Mohammedans greatly dislike noise. 
The men are away all day at their shops, and the 
women, except the very poor, are seldom allowed to 
leave their houses : occasionally they go to the bath, 
or pay some special visit to their friends. Many of 
the streets in the Moslem quarter are very narrow, 
and the upper stories of the houses frequently pro- 
ject, and almost touch those on the opposite side; 
while the windows, if there are any, are carefully 
latticed, so that if any poor woman tries to get a peep 
at the street below, she will not be seen. 




22 DAMASCUS AND US PEOPLE. 

It is sad work to go from house to house among 
the Moslems. The poor are often very poor, and 
ignorant, and bigoted ; and the rich proud, and idle, 
and suspicious of Christians, and yet on the whole 
pleased to receive visits from European ladies, as such 
an event is a little break in the monotony of their 
lives. 

At one house we are always siure of finding a hearty 
welcome : and that is in the harem of a Pasha of 
European reputation. His principal house stands in 
a quiet part of the city ; and most of the neighbour- 
ing houses belong to him and his dependents. Our 
chief acquaintance is the eldest wife of the prince 
himself, a dear old lady of about sixty. In the 
summer she will receive us in an upper room, nicely 
furnished, with a window looking out on a large 
garden, through which flows the Barada — the ancient 
Abana; but in the winter, in a small room on the 
gtound-floor. Her house is always carefully kept; 
and she has a fine state-room, which is not very often 
used — she seems to prefer resting on the low divaii in 
her own little sitting-room. One of her daughters- 
in-law, and her children, are generally with her ; but 
none of the other and younger wives are admitted 
into her house ; and when we, one day, asked to be 
introduced to them, she led us to a door opening into 
the next house ; but declined to accompany us her- 
self. It is very sad to see the pain of her position, 
set aside in one sense for yoimger women, though still 
consulted and esteemed by the prince as a friend. 
Her daughter-in-law is a fine-lookhig woman — once a 
great beauty. And I remember hearing her relate 



THE MOHAMMEDAN QUAETER. 23 

one day how, when she was recovering from an iUness, 
her sister came to visit her, and began to talk about 
the marriage that was to be celebrated that evening, 
and she asked, 'Whose marriage?' 'Why, your 
husband's !' was the reply. Till then she had been 
his only wife ; and she said, what a blow the news 
was to her at the time ! and, indeed, it still seemed a 
grief to her ; but, as she expressed it, ' It is our fEtte ; 
we cannot help it ;' and one comfort, she added, was, 
that as the new wife was of inferior rank, he did not 
bring her home ; but kept her in a house a few doors 
distant This prince, the head of this house, is an 
estimable man for a Mohanmiedan ; and yet such is 
the tale of his home^ — probably, a far happier one 
than most Moslem homes. He is very careful about 
his wives, and strict with them ; even the old lady 
cannot venture into the next house to see a sick 
grandchild without wrapping herself up so completely 
in a dark izzar, that she could not possibly be known ; 
and she is never allowed to pay any visits. Occa- 
sionally the women of his household go to the bath, 
or drive out in the summer-time to a coimtry house 
that he has about four nules from the city. He has, 
I believe, a strong sense of the proper modesty and 
humility that a woman should show; and is not 
always gratified at the freedom with which European 
travellers (ladies) question him when they have an 
opportunity. Such ladies he wiU only honour with a 
very distant salaam. 

Some writers are induced in the present day to 
look with a favourable eye on Mohammedanism, or at 
least strive to paint it in the fairest colours they can. 



24 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

I only wish such gentlemen could be admitted to the 
best-conducted hareem, and listen to the ordinary- 
conversation of the women. We often are painfully 
reminded of the saying, 'Can anyone touch pitch 
and not be defiled V Some of the women are very 
ready to own the pain of their degradation, and to 
wish they had the peace and happiness of Christian 
marriage, often sajdng, 'Oh, how we wish we were 
like you, married once, married always, and not subject 
to being dismissed for the slightest offence T It is a 
relief to turn the conversation, when possible, from 
the sins and delinquencies of husbands to affairs of 
household management, or even of dress, and then 
gradually and cautiously to lead to higher and holier 
subjects. The very arrangement of a Moslem house, 
professedly to protect women, shows the impurity of 
thought and mind that makes such arrangements 
necessary. When we knock at the door of a Moslem 
house, it is always opened most carefully, with inquiries 
as to who we are. Then we are admitted into a small 
outer court; and if there are any gentlemen in our 
party, they are shown into a little room close to the 
door, where the men of the house receive their guests, 
but the ladies are shown into the inner court, or 
hareem ; and even in the hareems the veils are kept 
ready at hand, and I have seen a Moslem lady hastily 
veil herself because her brother-in-law came in. They 
will gladly show us over their house, and some of the 
houses are really very fine, but, to European ideas, 
very comfortless in their arrangements. They may 
even take us to the roo£ In all the Moslem quarter 
we shall find the roofs protected, not by pretty painted 



<THE MOHAMMEDAN QUAETEB. 25 

balustrades, as in the Christian quarter, but by high 
mud walls, the purpose being, not only the praise- 
worthy one of preventing accidents,* but to protect 
their women from observation ; and nothing provokes 
the anger of Mohammedans more than to see people 
walking on the roof, and peeping over these walls, 
either on to their neighbour's rooff- or the court 
below. Anyone guilty of such an act may be sum- 
moned before the polica In fewjt, in one part of the 
town, the Meedan, the feeling of jealousy and suspicion 
is so strong, that the roofis can hardly be used at all, 
which is a great privation in an Eastern land ; but 
before recommending the alteration of any of these 
customs, we must try to purify the minds of the people 
by the introduction of Christian teaching. When the 
fountain becomes pure, the streams will be pure also. 

It is not easy to write about the occupation of 
Moslem women. The rich keep Nubian slaves to do 
the chief part of their household work ; but the ladies 
generally superintend the cooking and keep a certain 
watch over the servants, but beyond this I fear they 
have very little occupation worthy of the name. A 
few of the rich work a pretty kind of silk embroidery, 
or do crochet, and some of the poor do certain kinds 
of work for the merchants, for which they receive very 
poor pay indeed. A Moslem woman who knows any- 
thing of plain needlework is a great rarity ; but all, 
with hardly an exception, put out their clothes to be 
made by Christian dressmakers; and when war or 
cholera breaks out and carries off many of the hus- 
bands and fathers, the poor wives and daughters are 

* Dent. xxii. 8. t 2 Sam. xi. 2. 



28 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

ladies to visit me, and even their exclamations of 
delight at pictures or curiosities from England have 

been words which I should be very sorry to write 
down, while their words of anger or vexation it is 
needless to describe. 

But, with all this impurity of life and language, the 
Mohammedans, both men and women, are careful to 
avoid outward defilement Some, while talking civilly 
to a Christian, will most carefully avoid touching his 
hand when making the salaam, lest they should have 
to spend seventy years in purgatory to wash out the 
contamination; others, of a bigoted sect, will not 
refuse to give water to a thirsty traveller though he 
be a Christian, but if he touches the jar with his lips, 
they win break it as soon as he passes on. All our 
Mohammedan visitors wiU carefully draw their long 
robes around them and look nervously anxious if our 
little pet dog should by chance enter the room where 
they are, and show any signs of wishing to give them 
a welcome. They will, of course, observe most exactly 
all the appointed hours of prayer, and whether jour- 
neying on the road or working on board ship, or 
paying a visit, or labouring in the fields, they will 
immediately cease their occupations, and spreading 
their prayer-carpet, if at home, or their cloak, if 
abroad, on the groimd, will fall on their knees and go 
through aU the outward form of worship ; but while 
their lips are repeating the prescribed formulary, 
their thoughts are too often full of business, and, like 
the Irishman who repeated his Ave Marias and Pater 
Nosters from the top of a tree, that he might watch, 
and if need be, scold, his labourers as he proceeded, so 



THE MOHAMMEDAN QUARTER 29 

do they not iin&equently interrupt the course of their 
prayers to desire their servants to do such and such 
things. 

The prayers, of course, are preceded, when practi- 
cable, by the washing of hands and feet, ears and 
mouth : and certainly the cool shady mosque, with its 
fountain of running water in the centre of the court 
and all the conveniences for the prescribed bathing, 
presents a very attractive place of worship during the 
hot months of an Eastern summer. The Koran, too, 
though in its English dress one of the dreariest of 
compositions, seems in its original Arabic to possess a 
strange fascination for the Mohammedan. He loves 
the accturate precision and the beauty and cadence of 
its language, and no doubt finds that its teaxjhing has 
little to offend and much to please the lower or simply 
animal part of man's nature. It falls in, too, in a 
special way with the peculiar bent of the Arabian 
mind. Whatever be the cause, we must confess that 
it is no uncommon sight to see a Moslem intently 
studying the Koran while sitting in his shop waiting 
for customers. In their homes the Moslems treat the 
Koran with the greatest outward respect, keeping it 
generally in an ornamented case, which they hang on 
the wall of their best room : they dare not touch it if 
they are aware of having inciured any defilement, and 
do not allow a dog of a Christian to purchase it if they 
can avoid it ; in £act, on its cover is inscribed these 
words : ' The hands of the unclean (or uncircumcised) 
shall not touch it' They hate the idea of a trans- 
lation being made of their holy book into any profane 
language, and indeed declare that the true Koran can 



30 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

be expressed only in Arabic. I fear most of the 
Moslems are better acquainted with it than many 
Christians are with the Bible. Blind Moslems and 
others have learned the whole of the book by heart, 
so that it is a common boast that if all the copies in 
the world were destroyed, they could immediately 
reproduce it, word for word, from the lips of those 
who have committed it to memory. These blind 
Mohammedans are employed to march in procession 
before funerals from the house of the deceased to the 
mosque, and thence to the graveyard, reciting portions 
of the Koran, and are also employed by the relatives 
to visit the graves at certain times to repeat passages, 
behoving that they will comfort the soul of the de- 
parted, which is supposed to hover at certain times 
about his last resting-place. Sometimes they are sum- 
moned to the bedside of a sick person in the hope that 
the words of the Koran repeated over him may pro- 
mote his recovery. BKnd men are also frequently 
admitted to the hareems to teach the women the 
Koran, an office which no man having sight would be 
permitted to hold. Not unfrequently, too, a blind 
man may be seen at the head of a boys' school, teach- 
ing the lads to repeat the Koran. And yet this book, 
which is so much studied, is full of foolish legends. 
Ishmael is purposely put in the place of Isaac, and he 
is said to have been offered up by Abraham : Mary, 
the mother of our Lord, is confused with Mary the 
sister of Moses, and most of the Scriptiu'e stories inter- 
woven in the Koran are thus perverted ; and when we 
remonstrate, they assiu'e us that oiu* version of the 
Bible is an incorrect one. Yet the minds of many of 



THE MOHAMMEDAN QUARTEB. 31 

the Moslems are full of the most absurd legends, such 
as that the men before the flood could walk in the 
sea, catch the fish with their hands, and hold them up 
to the sun and roast them, and many such tales. 

The Ulema, or sacred teachers, dress in long robes 
and white turbans, and have a great influence over 
the people, but like most other rehgions, that of 
Mohammed is split up into a great number of sects, 
differing in doctrine and practice, aud often hating 
and despising one another. It has often been said 
that Christianity, while it is so split up into rival 
churches and sects, wiU never make much head 
against the unity of the Mohammedans ; but a little 
peep behind the scenes soon reveals the existence of 
the Sunnites, the Shi-ites, the Sufites, and the She- 
daliya, and many more, and prove that the vaunted 
unity is all a fallacy. 

Some are so bigoted that they wiU hardly look at a 
Christian, while some are very friendly. Some, and 
their number is not a small one, have studied the 
Bible carefully, and embraced many of its most 
sacred doctrines. 

Most Mohammedans have a terrible fear of bells, 
thinking that they call together evil spirits. On one 
occasion some Moslems had come to our house about 
business, which, with great difficulty, had nearly been 
brought to the conclusion that we wished ; but it was 
suddenly brought to a standstill by the inopportune 
sounding of our school-belL They instantly gathered 
up their papers, and with all haste took their leave, 
and the whole affair fell to the ground ; and yet they 
were not poor ignorant men, but men of some stand- 



32 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

ing. Mohammedans, it need hardly be said, are very 
careful not to destroy Ufe. It matters not how many 
kittens a cat has, not one must be drowned, but all 
reared, or rather, I am afraid, sometimes left to starve. 
Provision is, however, made for cats : an old mosque 
has been turned into an asylum, or, as it is called, a 
school for cats, and anyone who has more cats than 
he needs, can send the superfluous ones thither. 
Some pious Moslems, thinking to perform a very 
meritorious act, feed the poor, half-starved street dogs, 
imclean animals though they be, every Friday. I 
cannot say if the following is the production of a 
Moslem or Christian pen, but I am afraid the former 
must most Ukely have the credit : 

' Praise to Him who feeds the worms, 

In the silent vale I 
Provides their portion every day, 
Protects them in the dangerous way. 
No doubt they praise Him too, and pray, 

In the silent vale !' 

Would the Mohammedans cared as much, when in- 
flamed by religious zeal, for the life of a Christian as 
for a poor little worm ! 

The Moslems' sacred day is Friday, and on that day 
thousands assemble for worship and preax^hing in the 
Great Mosque, which is said to contain 30,000 people. 
It stands near the centre of the city, and covers a 
large space of ground. It is supposed to be very 
ancient ; probably it was first a heathen temple, then 
it was converted into the Christian Church of St. 
John, and now it is one of the most famous of 
mosques of the Mohammedans. If we go up a little 
staircase from the Booksellers' Bazaar, and climb over 



THE MOHAMMEDAN QUARTER. 35 

the roof of some of the houses, we shall get a good 
view of a ruined archway, one of the finest and most 
ancient of the Roman remains in Damascus ; and we 
shall be able to see for ourselves the well-known 
Greek inscription, written in very large characters, on 
the mosque itself: *Thy kingdom, Christ, is an 
everlasting kingdom; and Thy dominion endureth 
throughout all generations;' being an adaptation of 
the words in Psalm cxlv. 13. The mosque has three 
graceful minarets, from the summits of which a fine 
view of the city and surrounding country and hills 
can be obtained. One of the minarets is called the 
Minaret of the Bride ; and a second that of Jesus ; 
and the Moslems believe that Christ wiU descend upon 
this minaret when He comes to judge the world. 
The third minaret is simply called the Western 
Minaret. Great crowds often assemble in this mosque, 
but no Christian is on any account allowed to be 
present during prayer-time. At other times, on pay- 
ment of a considerable fee, strangers may gain per- 
mission to inspect the building. It is about 143 
yards long, and 41 J yards wide, and passages from 
the Koran are inscribed on the walls. The two 
principal objects of interest are the tomb of John 
the Baptist, said to contain his head, in the interior 
of the mosque ; and, in an outside court, the tomb of 
the famous Saladin. 

The Mohammedans believe in seven great prophets, 
the greatest of whom is Mohammed. While they only 
give to Christ the second place, they confess that He 
is greater than the other prophets, but yet say that 
He is inferior to Mohammed. . As the Jews are still 

3—2 




36 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

looking for their Messiah, so the Mohammedans are, 
especially at this time, looking for a Muhdi or guide, 
who shall reduce all the conflicting religions of the 
world into one religion of peace and harmony ; and 
many beUeve that Christ Himself will be that Muhdi. 
As I have said before, no Christian is allowed, as a 
rule, to be present at a service in a mosque, but I 
must make one exception. It is not difficult for 
Europeans to obtam permission to enter a httle 
mosque, just beyond the barracks, at the hour when 
the dancing dervishes go through their strange per- 
formances. This service is quite different from that 
of the howling dervishes in Egypt ; a wild, fanatic, 
foolish ceremony which few people care to see twice. 
That held in Damascus is a quiet and solemn, 
though at the same time strange and almost absurd, 
service. It is conducted with all due decorum. The 
dervishes wear long robes and drab felt hats of a 
conical shape. The part of the mosque reserved for 
them is floored with wood and enclosed with a low 
balustrade, outside which spectators are allowed to 
stand. At the appointed time, an old sheikh takes 
his place, not in a pulpit, but on a sacred rug — sacred 
because it is said to have belonged to a near relative 
of the Prophet. At his side stands a younger sheikh, 
who acts as his assistant, or curate. The dervishes, 
generally about forty or fifty in number, arrange 
themselves in rows, kneeling on the ground, resting 
on their heels, with head bent down, apparently in 
silent prayer or meditation. A low soft music, some- 
times sweet, sometimes very discordant, is played at 
intervals, and prayers repeated. Then the dervishes 



THE MOHAIOfEDAX QUARTER. 37 

. rise to their feet, remove their cloth robes, and let 
down a long under garment like a pettieoat, which 
has been girded up round their waists, and begin to 
whirl round, at first quietly, with arms folded on their 
breasts, and then more and more rapidly, with first 
one and then both arms extended. The quick motion 
dilates the petticoats, and reminds one of the nursery 
days when, as children, we delighted in making 
'cheeses.' Though the space is small, they move 
with great regularity, and never jostle one another ; 
the younger sheikh moves quietly among them, 
guiding and directing them. At last, exhausted, they 
are compelled to cease, and while they are resting, 
the music is played again. 

This performance is repeated several times, and I 
should mention, that as they march round the enclosure, 
each dervish, as he passes the sacred rug, bows at 
each end of it, and carefiilly abstains from turning his 
back on it by suddenly twisting himself round. 

Before the conclusion of the service, the younger 
sheikh repeats a prayer resembling the bidding prayer 
used before the Cambridge University sermon, begin- 
ning, * We pray for his Highness the Sultan, for his 
excellency the Wali, for the different Pashas,' etC;, 
etc. Then, before leaving the mosque, the old sheikh 
rises to his feet, and the first dervish approaches 
him and kisses his hand, the sheikh saluting him on 
his cheek; the dervish then takes his place at his 
side, and the second does the same, and the third, and 
so on till all are arranged round the enclosure, with 
this difference only, that the second dervish has not 
only to kiss the old sheikh, but the first dervish, so 



38 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

that the last dervish has to kiss all his companions. 
After bestowing and receiving this mark of brotherly 
charity, they all leave the mosque and return to their 
various occupations. They are supposed to be de- 
scendants of the Prophet; some have wild-looking, 
desperate countenances, while others are mild and 
gentle in appearance. We have often employed one 
of them in making mats for our rooms, and have 
always found him obliging. Of course all Dervishes 
are looked upon by Mohammedans as specially holy 
men, a distinction which, strange to say, they share 
with madmen, whose ravings are listened to with 
great reverence. 

The chief fast of the Mohammedans is that of 
Eamadan, which lasts thirty days. No eating or 
drinking is allowed from sunrise to sunset; and 
therefore many of the rich literally turn day into 
night, and night into day, spending most of the day 
in sleep, and the night in feasting. But this fast is a 
terrible ordeal to the poor, who must work, and yet 
must not let a drop of water pass their lips till the 
sun goes down below the horizon. We have often 
been stopped by lads, asking us eagerly, * How long 
still V The soimd of the simset-gun is indeed wel- 
come to all Mohammedans at this time. A very 
light meal is ready for them the moment the gun is 
fired, to be followed by a substantial one a little 
later, a very wise arrangement, avoiding the danger of 
taking too heavy food immediately after a long fast 
I cannot say that the effect of this fast is a very 
salutary one on the people ; probably more quarrels 
and fights occur while they are thus suffering from 



THE MOHAMMEDAN QUARTER. 39 

the pangs of hunger and thirst, than at any other 
season of the year. 

Two great days among the Moslems of Damascus 
are the one when the pilgrims start for Mecca, and 
the other when they return: Jews, Moslems, and 
Christians all turn out on these occasions, and the 
streets are literally thronged with people hurrying on 
to try and find a place where they may get a peep at 
the procession. Every window commanding a view 
is secured ; and many go out into the fields outside 
the city to wait there till it passes. I cannot say it is 
a very imposing or even orderly procession ; and it is 
received by the crowds in silenca Even on the re- 
turn of the Hajj, after all their fatigues and dangers 
are over, the Damascenes never think of welcoming 
them with a shout after the manner of Western 
nations. The chief object on which all eyes are fixed 
is the mahmel, or sacred canopy, which is carried on 
the back of a richly caparisoned camel, and contains, 
I believe, though probably no infidel eyes have ever 
seen the interior, the sacred carpet, a copy of the 
Koran, the green flag of the Prophet, and the presents 
from the Sultan to the shrine at Mecca. Behind the 
mahmel rides the Pasha of the pilgrims in a kind of 
palanquin ; and he is surrounded by a number of 
men, said to be the direct descendants of the Prophet. 
The most revolting part of the procession is a group 
of half-mad dervishes, or holy men, naked to the 
waist, riding on camels, and with long tangled hair 
hanging about their shoulders. Then a long motley 
array of pilgrims, men and women, some on camels, 
some on mules, or donkeys : the women generally ride 



40 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

in a rough kind of tatrawan, or covered litter, fixed 
on a earners back, each litter carrying two or more 
people. Every Moslem ought once in his life to make 
the pilgrimage to Mecca ; but if it is not convenient 
for a man to go, he sometimes sends a deputy. Thus 
many men have been several times ; and, with religion, 
they often contrive to unite a little business, and bring 
back aU kinds of things from Mecca, some looked 
upon as sacred, because they come from their holy 
city, others as simply curious or valuable, because 
they have been brought for sale by pilgrims from 
Inc^a or Persia. The Damascus pilgrims, if they join 
the procession, and go all the way by land, are genemlly 
absent about four months ; but a great number now 
go by sea, and thus save time and fatigue. Our 
friends among the Moslems often bring us little 
presents when they return from pilgrimage — a few 
fine dates, a little sacred incense, a few beads, or case 
of kohl. 

The two great feasts of the Moslems are the lesser 
Bairam at the conclusion of Kamadan, and the greater 
Bairam which is observed in all Mohammedan countries 
on the day when the pilgrims sacrifice sheep on their 
arrival at Mecca. 



CHAPTER HI. 

THE JEWISH QUARTER. 

The Jews in Damascus number about 5,000 or 6,000, 
and they live in a district of the town lying to the 
south of the street once called the Street Straight.* 
There are few ancient remains in their quarter, though 
we read that from the time of Ahab the children of 
Israel •{• had possessions in the city ; and at the present 
day, I am sorry to say, the Jewish part of the town is 
the dirtiest of all, and if we pay a visit to some of our 
Jewish friends, we shall have to pick our way through 
heaps of decaying vegetables and all kinds of rubbish, 
the odour of which is not very inviting or health- 
giving. At the entrance of the Jewish quarter stands 
the * Kishleh ' or Turkish Barracks, and by the way we 
might visit the Bible shop in connection with the 
Society for the Promotion of Christianity among the 
Jews. As we pass along and draw near to some of 
the richer houses we pass a butcher's shop, where we 
shall probably see a number of men sitting on Uttle 
stools, and busily engaged over the meat, and we shall 
be told that they are puUing out the sinews.J On 
entering the Jewish houses, we may at first be struck 

* Acts ix. 11. t 1 Kings xx. 34. J Gen. xxxil 32. 



42 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

with the proud, haughty bearing of many of their 
owners, which nothing but quiet, persistent kindness 
can melt. They and their forefathers have been 
dwelling there for centuries, a little distinct colony 
surrounded by bigoted Mohammedans on the one 
hand, and Christians belonging to Oriental churches, 
whom they look upon as little short of idolaters, on 
the other, and they naturally enough endeavoiu* to 
hold their own. They dress like the rest of the 
Damascenes, with only some slight differences, and 
they all speak Arabic. They may be called native 
Syrian Jews, and in this respect are quite unlike the 
Jews of Jerusalem, who have come from many different 
countries, wear all kinds of costumes, and speak ^ 
sorts of languages. 

On entering the house of one of the rich bankers, 
we shall be surprised to find ourselves in a fine court 
paved with polished stone or marble of two colours 
arranged in a pattern, a large fountain in the middle, 
and the reception-rooms arranged at the upper end: 
the walls* and ceiling of the principal room are much 
ornamented. They are furnished grandly according 
to their owner's taste, with partly Eastern, partly 
Western furniture. 

There are many rooms, upper and lower, and in 
some of the bedrooms there are fine French bedsteads, 
with pretty mosquito nets and very handsome cover- 
lets and cushions, sometimes of silk, but no wash- 
stands are visible. If we visit this quarter on a feast- 
day, or on their Sabbath, we shall find the women 
gaily dressed ; all, even young girls, painted and with 

* Jer. xxii. 14. 



THE JEWISH QUABTER. 45 

high head-dresses adorned with flowers or jewels; 
many of them standing at the doors or looking out at 
the windows ,♦ and gossiping in a way which seems 
strange in a Mohammedan country. A girl who does 
not wish to conform to such practices is mocked and 
laughed at, and asked if she has no money to spend 
on paints and perfumes, or if she means to become a 
nun. We notice that all the married women wear 
wigs, for the day they are married they have to hide 
all their own hair, though it may be beautiful and 
abundant. 

I believe I may say that none of the Jewish men 
are engaged in tilling the ground. They seem to 
despise agriculture. The rich men are all money- 
changers or bankers, and lend money out at very high 
rates of interest. They fear to break the Sabbath by 
lighting a lamp or kindling a fire or plucking a rose, 
but they turn a deaf ear to all the holy words 
against usury ;-|- and not imfrequently we hear that 
such and such a village belongs to a Jew, that is, he 
has lent money to the poor villagers, already laden 
heavily with taxes, at such a rate of interest, that at 
last the whole village has passed into his hands 
because they have been unable to repay it. 

Those who are not bankers have little shops, and 
are capital hands at driving good bargains. The 
poorer people go out and trade with the villages, 
walking often long distances with heavy packages of 
calico, etc., on their backs, and return laden with rags 
or old bones, and two or three fowls and a basket of 

*> 2 Kings ix. 30 ; Ezek. xxiii. 40. 
t Ex. xxii 25 ; Lev. xxv. 35 — 37. 



46 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

6ggs, which they sell in the town. They go often on 
these little journeys in fear and trembling, lest they 
should be robbed in the lonely roads and their little 
hoards taken from them. Certainly they are all 
wonderfully clever and ingenious in finding wajrs and 
means of turning a penny. 

The greater number, I fear, of the rich Jewish ladies 
spend foolish, aimless lives ; they think much of dress 
and pleasure and mere physical enjoyment. They 
keep many servants, and spend much of their own 
time in smoking in one another's houses, or in visiting 
the public gardens and places of amusement. Nearly 
all the singing women in Damascus are Jewesses, and 
it is not looked upon as a very reputable profession. 
Some of the ladies, however, are quiet and sensible, 
and look well to the ways of their household, but 
nearly all allow their childbren great license. Many of 
the poorer women and children earn money by making 
a kind of native embroidery called ' gharabfineh.' They 
are clever, too, at makmg cakes and preserving dif- 
ferent kinds of fruits. 

The Jews in Damascus are very careful in the out- 
ward observance of their religion. Before sunset on 
Friday,* all shops are closed, the food prepared, and 
the lamps and fires lighted, and work of every kind 
laid aside till sunset on Saturday ; but the greater part 
of the day is spent in sleeping, wandering about from 
house to house, and idle gossip. 

The men, indeed, attend the services in the syna- 
gogues, and some of the married women gather round 
the door and windows to try and get a sight of the roll 

* Mark xv. 42 ; Luke xxiii. 54. 



THE JEWISH QUABTER. 47 

of the law. They know nothing of Hebrew, and take 
no part in the service. Many of the rich men have 
private synagogues in their houses, but even into 
these women and girls are not allowed to enter at 
service-time. They tell you that the men do the pray- 
ing for them. 

Some of the houses look out on the gardens with 
which the city is surroimded, but otherwise there is 
nothing outwardly attractive in this quarter. Some 
of the rich Jews have country houses, at a village on 
the banks of the Barada (Abana), about four miles 
from Damascus. 

Among these people there is much to interest, and 
much to sadden. AU around you hear the sound of 
Scripture names, Yacoub, Mousa, Estair, Kufka, or 
Kebecca ; but few, I fear, are striving to walk in the 
footsteps of the saints of old. Idolatry* they now 
abhor, but they make a golden image and worship 
Manmion. They are very diligent in the outward 
observance of aU their great feasts and fasts. For 
many weeks before the celebration of the greatest of 
all their feasts, the Passover, both men and women 
are busily occupied in preparation. Everyone must 
have at least one new suit of clothes ; and the richer 
women and girls like to have a fresh dress for each 
of the seven days that the feast lasts. The best of 
the wheat is always reserved for the Passover-cakes, 
which is carefully protected from defilement of any 
kind ; and should a mouse be seen to run over it, all 
is spoilt : no washing can make it fit to be used for 
these holy cakes. Shortly before the appointed time 

* Rom. ii. 22. 



48 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

for the feast, it is ground and handed over to the 
women to be made into large round imleavened cakeS| 
about the thickness of Scotch oat-cake. 

The houses are carefully cleansed from top to 
bottom, that not a particle * of leaven may by any 
chance be found in them. Those who can afford it, 
buy fresh chintz, or at least fresh white covers, for their 
divans. If any member of the family has been absent, 
they try to return home, to keep their feast with their 
parents. The minds of all, rich and poor, young and 
old, are directed to all these preparations for at least 
a month before the actual celebration; but the 
thoughts of the most educated and devout Jews 
naturally rise no higher than their dehverance out of 
Egypt ; while, I fear, the great mass of the imeducated, 
as well as the women and children, know little even 
of the Old Testament story, imless they have learned 
it in the EngUsh school. 

At last, when the evening comes, each family 
assembles ; the mother and daughters may be present, 
but do not gather round the Passover-board. Like 
all other meals, it is served on a round tray placed on 
a scamla, or a low stool, while the father and sons 
sit round it on the floor, or on low divans. 

The family must number four, and if the father has 
not so many sons, he will summon a servant, or a 
neighbour who has no family of his own, to sit down 
with him. The father acts as priest, and he and his 
sons recite the appointed passages from Holy Scripture, 
first in Hebrew, then in Arabic. The service is a long 
one, and, at four different points during its progress, 

* Ex. xii. 15. 



THE JEWISH QUABTER. 49 

a glass of wine is drunk; but on the occasion on 
which we were present, only a joint of lamb was 
placed on the tray, a portion of which, strange to say ' 
in contradiction to their own law, was offered to us.* 
They acknowledge sorrowfully that they cannot now 
offer sacrifice, as their temple has been destroyed. 

The feast lasts for a week ; the women sit at home 
dressed in their festive garments, smoking and chatter- 
ing, and receiying visitors. The men go from house 
to house, wishing all their friends a happy feast. They 
carefully abstain from work of all kinds, specially ob- 
serving the first and seventh days. 

The Feast of Pentecost,-f" at the end of wheat 
harvest, is more quietly observed, generally speaking ; 
and when we have called to wish our Jewish friends a 
pleasant feast, we have generally found the houses 
fuU of sleeping men, and only the women moving 
about. The latter explain that the men have been 
sitting up all night, reading a large portion of the 
law, as they believe that on that day the law was 
delivered on Mount Sinai, or, as the women some- 
times express it, they 'have been getting their re- 
ligion;' and we have often longed to see the day 
when a new light shall shine on the old law, and the 
true meaning dawn upon their darkened minds. 

The Feast of Tabernacles J takes place in the autumn, 
after the vintage and five days after the great Fast 
of the Day of Atonement. In the court of every 
house, a tent, or booth of branches, is erected, and it 
is a time of great rejoicing, of much boisterous mirth. 

* Ex. xiL 43. + Lev. xxiil 15 — 21 ; Acts ii. 1. 

% Lev. xxiii 40 ; Ezra viii. 15. 

4 



50 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

All these feasts, as observed in Damascus, have almost, 
if not entirely, lost their deep reUgious meaning. The 
men can no longer go up to the Holy Temple at 
Jerusalem to offer praise and sacrifice to God, but 
spend the tune in their own dwellings, too often m 
rioting and drunkenness, rejoicing, but not before God. 

The Feast of Purim, or 'casting of lots,'* is aliso 
still observed, and the whole Jewish quarter re-echoes 
all the day with the sound of firing of guns and 
pistols. You ask what it means, and are told, * Oh, 
we are shooting Haman.'-f The httle children, too, 
must have their share in the delight of killing the 
enemy of their race, and fire off plenty of squibs and 
little explosive toys. 

The Jews have many schools for their boys, and 
have lately started a boys' boarding-school ; but they 
have done nothing for their girls, who would have 
remained in utter ignorance if they had not been ad- 
mitted into the Protestant or Koman Catholic schools, 
which have been now estabhshed for some years. 
Strange to say, the peculiar cast of features known as 
the Jewish type, the dark hair and long curved nose, 
is almost unknown in Damascus. Many of the httle 
Jewish girls m our schools are pretty children, with 
fair complexions, hght hair, and blue eyes. 

We have sometimes tried to discover if any traces 
of the ancient tribes remain among them, but they 
can only tell us that such and, such famiUes belong to 
the tribe of Levi; and the heads of these families 
still exercise some of the Levitical functions — ^for 
instance, a firstborn son is taken to one of these 
* Esther ix, 26. f Esther vii. 10, 



THE JEWISH QUABTEB. 51 

Levites, and placed in his arms, and he only returns 
the babe to the parent on receiving the redemption 
money. The EJiakhams, or Rabbis, still exercise some 
influence among the people, and are generally obeyed 
when they put forth some more stringent rules than 
ordinary about the Sabbath : perhaps forbidding the 
Jews to go out for walks to the villages on that day, as 
they are fond of doing, and ordering them to remain 
in their own quarter ; or raising a protest against 
»oe» in ™„lg „; drinking' tL, are 'often 
summoned by the Jews themselves to account for the 
delay in the coming of their long-looked for Messiah ; 
and some have declared that they are beginning to 
lose faith in their teachers, as they have so often told 
them that at such or such a time He would surely 
come, and their words have proved vain. Some have 
declared that they are beginning to think that 
possibly, after aU, the Christians' Messiah may be the 
true one. 



4—^ 



CHAPTEK IV. 

THE CHRISTIAN QUARTER. 

The C3iristians in Damascus number about 20,000; but 
they are divided into many sects, and little love is 
lost between the members of the different churches r 
but in one thing all Damascenes, be they Christians,, 
Jews, or Mohammedans, are united, and that is in 
admiration and pride of their city — in their eyes na 
other town can compare with it. 

We also notice about all Damascenes, perhaps 
especially among the Christians, a certain degree of 
refinement; indeed, we have sometimes compared 
them to the French. They have a habit of making 
pretty speeches to each other, and of bandying com- 
pliments ; which would seem natural to a Parisian, but 
which is difficult for Enghsh people to appreciate. It 
is no slight task for a foreigner, or even for a native of 
a different part of the country, to learn all the proper 
salutations and their appropriate repUes; and yet, if 
we wish to ingratiate ourselves with the people, we 
must make the effort. 

In mountain villages the people lead an out-door 
life : and as we pass along, the women at the cottage 
doors will beg us to come in, and one can easily 



THE CHRISTIAN QUABTEB. 53 

go about from house to house ; but Damascus beii^ a 
Mohammedan city, every door is closed, and we must 
have some acquaintance with the fEunily before we 
venture to knock ; and when we do knock, the door 
will not be opened at once ; the servant will call out 
^Man hatha? 'Who is this?' and perhaps peep 
through a httle latticed hole above the door to see. 

Many of the Christians' houses are nicely kept, with 
some of the comforts of European life, glass windows 
and white muslin curtains, and a chest of drawers or 
a wardrobe which is now beginning to take the place of 
the less convenient marriage-box ; and in some houses 
tables and chairs are beginning to be used, and meals 
are served on special occasions, and, in a few houses, 
always, on tables. European cooking, however, is not 
likely soon to make way among them. They prefer 
their own dishes, which, though more troublesome in 
preparation, they consider far more savoury — such as 
' kibby,' or meat pounded for a long time in a large 
mortar, with a heavy pestle, and then mixed with 
crushed wheat and snowbar, the seeds of the pine. It 
is then spread out in a large copper dish, made 
on purpose, and covered with native butter and baked 
in an oven. This is the most favourite dish of alL 
Almost an equal favourite is the ' koosa,' or vegetable 
marrow, which is scooped out, and then filled with 
finely minced meat, and rice, and boiled in sour leben, 
that is, curdled milk. Tomatos are prepared in 
much the same way. Vegetables, such as spinach, 
asparagus, mallow* and nettles, and the roots of a 
certain kind of thistle, they seldom cook alone, but 
always mix a little minced meat with them. 

* Job xix. 4. 



54 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

A young kid is one of the spring delicacies, and is 
cooked in a variety of ways, sometimes simply stuffed 
and roasted, or boiled ; and sometimes ' seethed in its 
mother's milk,'* that is, boiled in sour goat's milk, 
or leben, with onions and spices ; but, dressed in this 
way, it is not considered very wholesome. Beef and 
pork are never eaten,-f" even by the Christians, in 
Damascus ; and few will touch hare. They are fond 
of fowls, or little birds ; but they are always killed 
with a knifej: never by strangling. During Lent some 
of the people eat fried frogs. Their supply of puddings 
is very scanty. With wheat-starch and milk, and a 
flavouring of rose-water, they prepare a dish like a 
corn-flour pudding ; only, instead of putting it into 
a mould, they pour it into the largest meat-dishes 
they can find, if they need it for any special occasion, 
and sprinkle almonds and pistachio nuts over the top. 
This, and rice milk eaten cold, and one or two kinds 
of very rich native pastry, form the only varieties 
which they can make for the second course of a native 
feast. For such a feast, when served m true Syrian 
fashion, the cloth will be spread on the floor, and a 
scamla, or stool, placed in the middle. On this scamla 
rests a circular tray, on which all the dishes are 
placed, with a plate of rice between each dish. All 
sit on the ground cross-legged. The meal will be 
eaten quickly, and almost in silence, except that the 
host must urge his guests to eat ; and, with his own 
hands, occasionally take a titbit§ of meat or fowl, and 
hand it to one of his chief guests. After the first 

* Ex. xxiii. 19. t Beut. xiv. 7, 8. 

X Lev. vii 26 ; Acts xv. 20. § John xiii. 26. 



THE CHRISTIAN QUARTI;R. 55 

course, the guests will frequently rise, and the servants 
will pour water over their hands,* for, of course, 
they have not used knives and forks, and then they 
will return for the puddings and fruit. Soon after 
the meal is concluded, little cups of black coflfee are 
handed round. 

Many of the Christians in Damascus keep one or 
more servants ; and for a feast, such as we have de- 
scribed, more help would be got in ; but still, most of 
the Christian women are always busy with their 
domestic aflfairs. As a rule, the father, or one of the 
sons, will fetch the daily food from the 'sook,* or 
street of shops, that is, just the meat, and fresh 
vegetables. Every good housewife will have a well- 
stocked storeroom, which will supply most of her 
daily needs. She wiU have com for bread, oil for 
cooking, olives, raisins and figs, burghul or crushed 
wheat, and rice, coflfee, and sugar, etc. Wheat is 
generally kept in a high, narrow, wooden box, reach- 
ing almost to the ceiling, with a small opening near 
the bottom, closed with a little sUding-door. When 
Imm Selim, or Imm Habeeb, the mistress of the 
house, discovers that her supply of flour is exhausted, 
she draws out a certain quantity of wheat from this 
opening, and pUes it up in the middle of her court in 
a heap. Then she, or her servant, will sit down, and 
carefully sift it with a large sieve,-f which she knows 
how to manage very dexterously ; and thus she con- 
trives to get rid of all the small stones and dust 
which may have been brought with it from the 
threshing-floor. She goes over the wheat again and 

* 2 Kings iii. 11. f Amos iz. 9 ; Luke xxii. 31. 



56 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

again, picking out any grains of com, or wild grass, 
that may be mixed with the pure wheat. When it is 
all sifted, she washes it in the fountain by putting a 
little at the time in a basket, which she dips several 
times in the water ; and then it is all carried up to 
the roof of the house, and spread out to dry in the 
Sim. This will take three or four days ; and, when it 
is perfectly dry, one of the men of the famny wiU 
take it in a sack to the water-mill to be groimd, and 
of course he will watch the process that he may not 
lose by the transaction. 

I hardly know what we should do without our 
house-tops in a great city like Damascus, where wo 
have no little gardens around our houses, and only 
small inconvenient kitchens. All the washing must 
be done at home, and dried on the house-top ; different 
kinds of vegetables are prepared for winter use, and 
must be dried on the house-top ;* our mats and carpets 
need airing and beating, and that must be done on the 
house-top. When we want a little exercise, we shall 
find purer air and fewer smells on the house-top than 
in the narrow, dirty streets below ; and when every- 
one is busy, and the house fuU of noise and bustle, 
and we want to be quiet,-f" we can go alone to the 
house-top. In Damascus, vines are sometimes trained 
on trellis-work over one comer of the roof to form a 
pleasant shade. The stone staircasej leading to the 
roof is generally from the central court in city houses; 
but in mountain villages it is often on the outside 
walls of the houses. In villages it is not at all un- 
common to hear some proclamation made from a 
* Joshua ii. 6. t -A-cts x. 9 ; Zeph. i. 6. J Matt. xxiv. 17. 



THE CHBISTIAN QUABTEB. 57 

house-top ; perhaps a man has lost his horse or his 
donkey, and he sends the pubHc crier to announce the 
fact fipom the highest roof in the village, in the hopes 
that it wiU be restored to him; and perhaps the 
governor has some order to give,* or news to com- 
municate, and he wiU take the same means. During 
the hot seasons, in large cities, the house-tops become 
very lively about sunset, when mothers and children, 
young men and maidens, go up in the cool of the 
evening to enjoy a little fresh air. Most of the house- 
tops are surrounded by a wooden balustrade pf- but 
some houses are left without this most necessary pre- 
caution, and occasionally serious accidents take place 
in consequence; sometimes children, playing about 
carelessly on the root lose their balance, and fall into 
the court below, and are killed, or badly injured. 

But we must leave our favourite house-top, and join 
Imm Habeeb in the room below. It is her yoimgest 
son Michael's feast-day; and many people will be 
coming to wish him, 'Every year may you be in 
health.' In all probability it is not his real birthday ; 
for most likely neither he nor his mother know 
precisely if he was bom in January or February ; but 
it is the feast-day of his patron saint, whose name he 
bears. Most of the elderly people have little idea of 
their exact age ; but Michael was a wee baby of a 
few months old when the terrible massacre of 1860 
took place, and his father was miu-dered. His poor 
mother remembers only too weU with what difficulty 
she hid him from the men who had just slain her 
husband before her eyes, and would have slain her 

* Matt. X. 27 ; Luke zii 3. t I^ent xxii. 8. 



58 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

baby too if they had found him, and discovered that 
he was a boy. He reckons his age from that fearful 
time. Younger lads will tell you they were bom one 
or two years before the visitation* of cholera in 1865 ; 
and the age of still younger children is reckoned 
from that of 1875, or from the Kussian and Turkish 
War. 

The people soon began to arrive, for this is a great 
feast-day, and all the shops belonging to members of 
the Greek Church are closed, and all work stopped, 
and the people dressed in their best. I fear many 
who think lightly of God's appointed day of rest will 
on no accoimt neglect the strict observance of the 
saints' days, though, as they are so very numerous, we 
are tempted sometimes to call them Feasts of Idle- 
ness. 

We find Michael busy receiving his visitors, and his 
mother and his brother's young wife moving about 
busily waiting upon them, preparing the nargilehs, 
and when they have lighted them, placing them before 
both men and women, who take a few whiflfe and then 
politely hand the long tube to their next neighbour. 
As the people must call on every one of their acquaint- 
ance named Michael, they are not expected to pay 
very long visits on this occasion : and Imm Habeeb 
will soon come in with her pretty tray of sweets. At 
each end of this tray there is a high glass dish or 
sugar-basm, one of which is fiUed with Turkish 
Delight, and the other with one of the many preserves 
for which Damascus is famed. In the middle of the 
tray is a glass of water, and in front a little glass dish 

* Amos i, 1 ; Zech. xiv. 5. 



THE CHRISTIAN QUABTER. 59 

with iorks and spoons and a plate of sugar-plums. 
Each visitor helps himseli to a spoonful of one of the 
preserves ; but before he eats it, turns to Michael and 
wishes him 'Peace and happiness/ which Michael 
acknowledges by placing his hand on his heart and 
then on his forehead, and replies, 'May you be in 
healtL' As he is a yoimg immarried man, you may 
hear occasionally the wish expressed, ' Please God this 
year we shall have joy of you ;' that is, hear of your 
wedding. 

There may be lady visitors as well as men, but we 
notice the men are invited to take the best seats, and 
helped to nargilehs and sweets before the ladies. 
After sweets comes the inevitable coffee. 

As Imm Habeeb belongs to a well-known family, 
the stream of visitors will probably continue all day ; 
but I am sorry to say that if we try to discover what 
they aU know about St. Michael or any of the Bible 
saints, we shall find it amoimts to very little. They 
often accuse us of neglecting and despising the saints, 
and are surprised when we assure them that we 
reverence them and wish to walk in their footsteps, 
though we are not required to waste one or two days a 
week in idleness in their honour. 

While we are watching the proceedings, the post- 
man, riding on a little white donkey, comes to the 
door of the court and hands in a letter. He, poor 
man, with one assistant, has to deliver aU the letters 
throughout the whole city. We see that the letter 
causes great joy ; but when we inquire for whom it is, 
we find to our surprise that it is addressed to a baby a 
month old, the son of Michael's sister-in-law. Imm 



60 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

Habeeb explains that it is from her eldest son, who 
has been travelling on business for many weeks ; and 
that as it is a shame for a man to address a letter to 
his wife, he has sent it to his little son. The yomig 
wife, however, is delighted to get news of her husband, 
who, after a long absence, has at last reached Jerusalem, 
and now writes that he hopes shortly to return home. 
She looks with redoubled pride at her child in his 
cradle, whom his father has not yet seen. As she 
tells the news to the visitors, we notice that she 
speaks of her husband as ' say-jddy,' * my lord,'* a word 
■ which is stiU frequently used in the present day. On 
our way home we look in at the Greek Church, a large 
new building, but which cannot boast of much archi- 
tectural beauty; still it is spacious and lofty. The 
lower part is reserved for men ; the women are hidden 
away in a screened gallery, and in the streets we 
notice that a man and his wife never walk side by 
side ; the man goes on first, and the woman, closely 
veiled, follows at a little distance. No woman can 
venture out in Damascus without wrapping herself in 
an izzar, or white sheet, which covers her completely 
from head to foot, her face being concealed by a 
coloured muslin handkerchief or mandeeL Womein 
never think it necessary to take daily open air exercise 
as we do in England, and it is not thought nice of a 
woman to let herself be seen going in and out fre- 
quently.-f- Still, in spite of these restrictions, there is 
a good deal of happy family life among the better 
educated Christian families in Damascus, and gradually 
we hope the women will become more and more the 

* 1 Peter iu. 6. f Titus ii. 5. 



THE CHBISTIAN QUABTEB. 63 

help-meets and less simply the servants of their 
husbands; but these restrictions cannot be safely 
removed tiU the thoughts and feelings of the people 
in general are purified by the spread of true Christianity 
among them. Few things are more painful than to 
see a Syrian lady, in her wish to become like a 
European, begin to assert herself in her manner 
towards her husband. She always contrives to shoot 
beyond her mark, and while trying to secure greater 
attention to herself, begins to dictate and rule and 
forget the due submission of a wife to a husband.* 
A henpecked Syrian husband is a strange and un- 
pleasant sight, and yet I fear there are such cases. 

Imm Habeeb's young daughter-in-law we noticed 
was very gaily dressed on Michael's feast-day ; for all 
Damascene ladies are fond of bright colours and new 
dresses, and some are extravagant in theu- dress, and 
vex their husbands. We must remember that bright 
colours suit a bright climate, and also suit their dark 
complexions, and we must hope that as their minds 
are better taught they will learn to set less value on 
mere outward adomment."|* Married women wear 
flowers in their hair on any special occasion, and 
often surprise us by the quantity and value of the 
jewels they display; but again we must remember 
that men seldom put money in a savings bank, but 
invest nearly all their savings in jewels for their wives, 
which cannot be touched. A man may fall greatly 
into debt, but his wife's jewels are in her own keeping. 

The proportion of women who do not marry is very 
small in the East ; but in great cities there is always 
♦ Eph. V. 22. t 1 Peter iii. 3. 



64 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLK 

found a certain number of unmarried women. These 
are either supported by their relatives, or have to 
seek some means of earning their own livelihood. 
Many poor women, of course, are left widows with 
children to support, and therefore most parents like 
their daughters to learn a trade of some kind while 
they are young, that they may have some resource in 
time of need. A certain number, though a small one, 
find employment as teachers in the different Pro- 
testant, Greek, and Catholic schools, which have been 
opened for girls during the last twenty or thirty 
years; but, of course, no women are employed to 
serve in shops, or in any of the pubhc offices, aa m 
England, and it is not easy for women to find any 
lucrative employment. The very poor go out as 
servants, washerwomen or charwomen ; and those who 
can do nothing else, or have only a little leisure, wind 
silk for the silk-weavers. 

Some women are very clever at braiding men's 
jackets, such as are worn by the kawasses, or official 
servants of the consuls or bankers. They are generally 
made of red or blue cloth, and are covered with an 
elaborate pattern worked in gold or black braid, and 
can only be made by women who have been taught 
how to work them. 

Others are employed in making the soldiers' clothes, 
and numbers get employment from the tailors, who 
give them work to do at their own homes, not at the 
shops; but perhaps the most lucrative trade for 
women at present is dressmaking, which is almost 
entirely in the hands of the Christian women. They 
find plenty to do for the Jewish and Moslem ladies. 



THE CHBISTIAK QUABTER. 65 

who seldom make their own clothes. Many of the 
yomig girls earn a few pence by working long strips of 
crochet-edging for trimming the white covers of the 
divans, or by embroidering with chenille the grey 
stuff boots which are much worn in the smnmer. 

The men, of course, are employed m many different 
businesses and professions ; they go into the city every 
morning, and return home at sunset. Some have shops 
of various kinds; some are weavers, and some pedlars ; 
a few are doctors or chemists ; and a certain number 
are writers at the Seraglio, where Christians are often 
preferred. Some are tax-gatherers, by no means a 
safe employment for an honest, upright man. The 
taxes are still in a certain sense farmed, and though 
the people groan under the taxation, the Government 
remains poor, because in the process of collecting, 
the moneys melt away in some mysterious fashion. 
Others are barbers, and their business is not only to 
cut hair and shave their customers, but, when need be, 
to bleed them or extract their teeth. 



CHAPTER Y. 

THE BAZAARS. 

As several of our friends have given us commissions 
to execute for them in the Bazaars, we must, I am 
afraid, devote the greater part of a day to making our 
purchases, and it will be well to begin early. Directly 
after breakfast we will have our donkeys saddled, and 
with our faithful attendant Faris, to do the bargaining 
for us, we will start. We have taken care to ascertain 
that it is no feast-day of any of the Christian sects, 
and therefore all the shops will be open : neither is 
it Friday, the Mohammedan's sacred day, when crowds 
come into the town to attend service at the Great 
Mosque, and after that is over they busy themselves 
with making all their purchases for the week. On 
Fridays the Bazaars are so full of people that we 
should hardly get along : it would be like driving our 
two donkeys through the crowds of Cheapside,with this 
difference, that we have no sideways ; and though it 
is true wheeled vehicles are still rarities in Damascus, 
yet heavily laden animals are not; and men and 
women, loaded camels and mules, people riding on 
lively horses and quiet, patient donkeys, must push 
their way along together through the narrow streets. 



THE BAZAARS. 67 

As it is, we shall find plenty of people in the Bazaars, 
and our servant wfll hive i wX before us, shouting 
lustily from time to time to warn the people to get 
out of our way. * Daharak !' to a man, ' Daharik T to a 
woman ('Your back!') he will cry; or 'Wejhak, 
wejhik r C Your face !') 

The women, in their white izzars, will be angry if 
my donkey rubs its nose against them ; and that proud 
Moslem «iU be highly offended if by chance we knock 
against him. Little children will be playing about, 
and dogs will be lying asleep in spite of all the busUe. 
and we shall have to keep our own eyes well open to 
avoid accidents. 

We pass first through part of Street Straight,* 
which runs from Bab Shirkie, the Eastern Gate, 
through a great part of the city. The main line of 
this street, and of this street alone, is still straight, 
though buildings of all shapes and sizes have been 
erected along it, some projecting more than others, 
so that it is a very irregular-looking street. Some 
remains of ancient piUars have been found in it, and 
part of the Eastern Gate is very old, but most of the 
present houses and shops are modem buildings. The 
first part of the street divides the Jewish and Chris- 
tian quarters, and is fuU of shops for the ordinary 
kinds of food, meat, bread, fruit, ohves, raisins, etc., 
sold in poor little shops ; but at most seasons of the 
year the abundant supply of fruit and vegetables 
charm the eye of the Englishman. Apricots and 
grapes are constantly sold at threepence or fourpence 
a rattel — a measure equal to five pounds and a quarter; 

* Acts ix. 11. 

5—2. 



68 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

while tomatos, vegetable-marrows and cucumbers, go 
for a mere song. 

Part of this street was burned down a few years 
ago, and was rebuilt during the time that Midhat 
Pasha was Gk)vemor. He insisted on that part of 
the street being widened and improved; and it is 
now one of the finest parts of the Bazaar. The shops 
are still bmlt in the Eastern fashion; that is, each 
shop is simply a large kind of recess, open in front 
and raised about two feet from the ground, with 
shelves round the three sides. The owner sits cross- 
legged in the middle of the floor, and, often without 
troubling himself to rise, hands down his goods for 
the inspection of his customers, who stand in the 
street, or bargain with him from the back of their 
horse or donkey, as I have often done. 

There is seldom more than one man to a shop, 
and his customers, not he, have to complain of the 
fatigue of standing. I should have said before, that 
most of the Bazaars are roofed, some with old matting, 
but others with good wooden roofe. These Bazaars 
are so imlike an3rthing in Europe, that it is always 
interesting to go about them. 

Our first purchase must be some silk kafiyas, or 
handkerchiefe, such as the men wear on their heads 
when travelling. Some are sold in the shops ; but we 
shall see a better choice if we pay a visit to one of 
the silk merchants. So, leaving our donkeys in 
charge of the servants, we follow Fans through a 
gateway, and up a high stone staircase, which seems 
never to be swept, into the upper story of one of the 
great silk khans, or wholesale houses. Here each of 



THE BAZAABS. 71 

the men, who employ a number of silk weavers, have 
generally a room in which they display their goods to 
people, who, like us, wish to purchase one or two 
specimens. They are usually men of capital, and 
eV« oo.^de„4le <p^mJu, «U,er towjto Syri.. 
and to Constantinople, Alexandria, or Smyrna, We 
visit two or three of these rooms, and see many 
beautiful specimens of kafiyas, embroidered table- 
covers, slippers, and silk izzars for Moslem ladies, and 
silk girdles for men. We select a few, and leave 
it to Faris to settle the price. Unhappily Eastern 
tradesmen never have a fixed price marked in plain 
figures on each article ; and probably, for everything 
we buy, we shall have to waste half an hour in 
haggling about the price. The shopman will perhaps 
begin with many polite speeches : that from us, his 
greatly respected friends, he will not ask anything ;* 
' all he has is ours.' 

But this beginning generally alarms us ; we know 
he probably intends in the end to place a very high 
price on his valuable gift. After some pressing, he 
names a sum — probably three times too much — 
perhaps 100 piastres. Faris immediately offers fifteen; 
and perhaps, after almost endless discussion, we meet 
at thirty-five. This bargaining is so worrying and so 
repugnant to our European ideas, that we often just 
make a note of anything we like, and send Faris a 
second time to conclude the bargain at his leisure. 
Our presence never assists him, as the shop-people 
always like to think they can reap a fine harvest from 
English pockets — even from residents. 

* Gen. xxiii. 11 ; 1 Chron. xxi. 23. 



72 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

Leaving the silk khan, we pass through the Bazaar 
principally devoted to the sale of ' deema/ or striped 
cotton — a strong material, woven in hand-looms in 
Damascus itself, and in many other parts of the 
country. It is used for the long ' kumbfia,' a kind of 
long robe fastened round the waist by a girdle, worn 
by the Damascene men. The women occasionally 
use this ' deema ' for their dresses ; but, unfortunately, 
the greater number despise this durable, useful pro- 
duct of their own coimtry, and prefer to purchase the 
cheaper, but far more flimsy, English prints sold in 
the next Bazaar. Indeed we are astonished, and not 
unfrequently ashamed, of our own land when we reach 
the print-Bazaar. Such a display of Manchester goods 
certainly is never seen in England. The little shops are 
groaning under piles, sometimes of brilliant red, and 
sometimes of bright yeUow prints, as the prevailing 
fashion of the year may be. Occasionally the sook 
may wear a quieter aspect, when blue is the favourite 
colour; for even in Damascus we have fashions. 
Green, being the sacred colour of the Mahommedans, 
is never seen as the prevailing hue ; in fact, Moslems 
strongly object to allow Christians to wear it at all. 
Mixed with these startling colours for dresses are 
many pretty cretonnes for divan-covers ; but unhappily 
English merchants, knowing the weakness of Easterns 
for bargains, send bright colours, but very poor 
materials, which they can afford to sell at a very 
cheap rate. This Bazaar is full of English goods; 
and yet it is almost impossible for an English lady to 
make any purchases there. She can neither find 
quiet colours nor durable material; and she must 



THE BAZAARS. 73 

send to England for good print, and even for good 
calico. 

The Bazaars in Damascus are so varied and so 
extensiye, that I cannot attempt to describe them alL 
Some have shops of various kinds ; but the greater 
number are each devoted to the sale of a special 
article. There is the Spice and Preserved Fruit 
Bazaar, the Bice and Salt Bazaar, the Silversmith's 
Bazaar, the Women's Bazaar for selling clothes, old 
and new, the Coppersmith's Bazaar, and many others ; 
but we must be content with simply visiting those 
where we have to make purchases for our friends in 
England Close to one of the doors of the Jamia-ul 
Umwy, or Great Mosque, is the shoemakers' quarter, 
where we shall find a funny collection of cliunsily- 
made native shoes, little red leather shoes for chil- 
dren, long red leather boots, like Wellington boots, for 
the Arabs and peasants; red leather shoes, with 
pointed toes, for the poorer townspeople ; and pretty 
pale yellow Chinese-looking slippers for Moslem 
women. Here we may as well purchase one or two 
specimens. All the better class of people in Damascus 
now wear what they call ' elastiques,' that is, black 
boots from France or England, or made after the 
European fashion by native shoemakers, and these 
are sold in another quarter. 

There is one peculiarity of Eastern city life which 
we must not forget to mention, and that is that all the 
native manufactures are made, as it were, in public : 
for instance, in one part of the city you see a row of 
hand-looms at work in a number of open shops: 
anyone passing along the street can see the whole 



74 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

operation, and watch the men •sitting on the ground 
with their feet in a deep hole, busily throwing the 
shuttle from side to side : you can stand in the street 
and watch the pattern they are producing. At a little 
distance you pass the open door of a building, and are 
told that it is a soap-factory ; and a little farther on 
you come to a place where they are making capital 
pure wheat-starch. From the Shoemakers' Bazaar 
we go to that for the pretty wood-work for which 
Damascus is famous, and we find many of the men 
busy making different articles of wahiut-wood, which 
is afterwards inlaid with mother-of-pearL They con- 
tinue their work as we pass along, and the noise 
echoing along the roof is almost deafening. In this 
Bazaar we shall see many pretty things, and I fear we 
shall be tempted to spend plenty of money. There 
are mirrors with inlaid frames ; * kubkabs,' or wooden 
clogs, with gay-coloured velvet straps — some for 
ordinary use, for all the women, and many men too 
use them at home in their courts — others are nearly a 
foot and a half high, for the use of brides ; little tables, 
which we should use for a work-basket, but which, 
in native houses, are placed, with a little saucer on 
them, before men who smoke cigarettes; there are 
larger tables, and wedding-boxes, and children's cradles, 
and many other curiosities, some of them extremely 
beautifuL 

Then we must as quickly as possible visit the Brass 
Bazaar, and purchase a beautiful tray delicately 
marked with a pretty pattern, and a brass basin and 
ewer, such as are used in pouring water over the 
hands of a guest ; the basin, we notice, has a second 



THE BAZAARS. 75 

basin inside it, turned upside down, and is perforated, 
and on the top is ^ place for the soap. The ewer is 
always of an elegant form, like a claret-jug. The 
water, when poured over the hands, disappears through 
the perforations. 

From this Bazaar we go to see the saddlers at work, 
and this is one of the most thoroughly Eastern parts 
of the Bazaar. Of course no side-saddles are to be 
seen, except perchance some old English one may 
find its way there, left probably by some traveller 
who had no further use for it. Native women all 
ride when necessary, for they have no other way of 
going from place to place; but they ride like the 
men, astride, on the usual saddle, with a high point 
in front, and with flat plates of iron for stirrups. 
Many of the saddles are covered with handsome 
native embroidery; some with leopard-skins; all are 
bright in colour. Native bridles are also displayed, 
and many ornaments for the horses. Here they also 
make and sell leather girdles, and woven ones also, 
and leather cases for powder-flasks. 

As we return home, thoroughly tired out, we notice 
in one or two places stalls set up in the side streets 
with curiosities for sale, which the pilgrims have 
brought from Mecca, pretty china, rice-spoons, straw 
fans, beads, rose-water bottles, etc. 

Damascus blades we have nowhere seen ; they are 
things of the past, but can occasionally stiU be dis- 
covered in some of the little shops for the sale of 
antiquities, and the famous Damascus tiles are no 
longer made ; they also can only be purchased as old 
curiosities. Still, we must confess that this ancient 



76 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLK 

city, which has seen all the changes of at least 4,000 
years, has some vitality left. In spite of Turkish mis- 
rule, in spite of ignorance of the outside world, for 
many even of its most clever and learned men have 
scarcely travelled beyond the bounds of the city, in 
spite of a limited and scanty education, its people are 
stiU active and persevering and industrious; still 
capable * of producing articles which English princes, 
are not ashamed to place among their ciniosities, and 
stiU able to export various manufactures to distant 
lands. Babylon and Nineveh have passed away, and 
Tyre,f which once traded with Damascus, is now a 
small fishing-town, but Damascus stiU remains a large 
and populous city. 

In one thing the Damascenes are deficient, and that 
is neatness of finish and accuracy and delicacy of 
design. In this respect they cannot at present com- 
pare with the Hindoos and Chinese, but many of the 
younger men are anxious to improve, and would gladly 
learn from English workmen and manufacturers had 
they only the opportunity. 

As we passed along the Bazaars we noticed a 
curious custom : every here and there we saw a net 
spread over the front of the shop; and when we 
inquired of Fans the meaning of this, he answered 
that the shopkeepers had gone away for an hour or 
two, and that the net was a sign that the shop was 
closed. It surprised me to see that in such a crowded 
thoroughfare a man should thus be able to leave all 
his goods with such a scanty defence as a net ; but I 
suppose he asks his neighbours to keep an eye on his 
* 2 Kings xvL 9—11. t Ezek. xxvii. 18. 



THE BAZAABS. 77 

shop while he is away. Very few, if any of the men, 
live in the Bazaars, but at sunset they put up a 
shutter in front of their shops, or rather stalls, lock it, 
and return to their homes: that Abou Hassein or 
Aboa Ahmed is in the city, or has not yet returned 
from the city, is an expression we hear in Damascus 
as commonly as in London that Mr. Smith or Mr. 
Brown is in the city. 

At simset the Bazaars are left in charge of the 
watchmen,* who never think of pacing up and down 
like our policemen, but roll themselves up in their 
abais, or long cloaks, and lie down sometimes across 
the doorway of the building they have to protect. 
They are stationed at certain distances along the now 
silent streets, which are only dimly lighted by oil- 
lamps himg from the roofe. Should anyone pass 
along the Bazaars, they immediately start to their feet 
and cry out to the next watchman to let him know 
that people are coming. Should robbers really 
attempt to break into a shop, notice would thus be 
soon telegraphed to the nearest station of soldiers, and 
help sent. The same custom prevails in most Eastern 
cities, and if any special danger is apprehended, they 
are obliged to call out to one another every few 
minutes to avoid a surprise.f 

One market I have forgotten to mention, in de- 
scribing the Bazaars of Damascus, because it is a 
secret, and yet a well-known one: it is the slave- 
market 

In two or three parts of the town are khans where 
men and women are bought and sold The owners do 

* Psa. cxxvii. 1 ; Cant. iii. 3 ; v. 7. f Isa. bdi. 6. 



78 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

not care to let this traflSc be known, but I have once 
gained admittance to the place where black slaves 
are disposed of to any purchaser. On that occasion 
there was only one or two young women to be sold, 
but the owner assured us that, when the pilgrims 
returned from Mecca, he would have a better supply. 
In many of the houses of Damascus, both Christian 
and Mohammedan, you see black slaves, and we have 
counted as many as twelve in one Pasha's house. 
Some endeavour to make their escape ; and some are 
kindly treated, because, as their mistresses remark, 
* We have paid £30 or £40 for the girl, and we must 
be careful to keep her in health and strength.' Some 
seem to get really attached to their master's fianily. 
Two or three years ago we frequently visited a poor 
sick slave in our neighbour's house during her last 
illness, and we were pleased to see how kindly and 
tenderly she was cared for both by her mistress and 
by the children whom she had brought up as her 
own. I am sorry to say not only poor black Nubians 
are sold in Damascus, but white slaves, the beautiful 
Circassian women whom it is said their own relatives 
not seldom bring into the city to sell for £200 or £300, 
to adorn the hareem of some rich Pasha. 

As we return home, about one or two p.m., we notice 
a group of men standing idle at the comer of one of 
the streets turning out of Street Straight, and when 
we ask our man Faris what they are lounging about 
for so idly, he answers, 'Because, poor fellows, no 
one has hired them,* though they have been waiting 
for a job since sunrise.' He explains that when he 

* Matt. XX. 3—7. 



THE BAZAAES. 79 

needs a labourer to dig the ground, or do any brick- 
laying-work, or to mend the roof, he always comes to 
tliis spot to hire one. Men who work at other kinds 
of labour have their stations in other parts of the 
city. 

Before entering our house after our fatiguing day in 
the Bazaars, we may well spend a few minutes in the 
fresh air outside the Eastern Gate, or Bab Shirkie ; 
and on the open space of groimd between the city 
and the Greek, Catholic, and Protestant burial-grounds, 
we may chance to find a large caravaa of camels with 
their owners just encamping. There may be 500 or 
600 camels imder the charge of a small number of 
men, who have evidently been thoroughly bronzed by 
long exposure to wind and weather. If we approach 
their rough tents, we shall find them surrounded 
with the loads which have just been removed from 
the backs of the poor camels; and, on questioning 
them, they wiU teU us, in curious, only half-intelligible 
Arabic, that they have just arrived from Bagdad, 
bringing merchandise, and that they have been only 
forty days on the road, because they had fair weather. 
Had it been winter, they would have been seventy 
days, as it is very hard for camels to walk in the 
mud They have brought tobacco, silk, and dates, 
which they wiU soon dispose of to the Damascus mer- 
chants. It is curious to watch the camels as they 
kneel down to rest, each having had one leg doubled 
up and tied to prevent him from runnmg away. 



CHAPTER VI. 

CHILDREN. 

It has often been noticed that Eastern children do not 
play, that they are grave, and demure, and spiritless. 
Certainly climate has had a certain effect on their 
characters. As a rule they are far more easily managed 
than the children that assemble in our Ragged Schools, 
whose wits have been sharpened by want I should 
rather compare the children of Damascus to the 
children of a village in a warm part of England, 
where the people have been leading quiet, easy-going 
hves. Some of the children are very difficult to 
arouse, especially those poor children who have suf- 
fered much from ague : a complaint which seems to 
have a stupefying effect on the brain ; but the majority 
have very fair abilities, while a certain number would 
do credit to any school in England. 

As a rule, they are pleasant children to teach, as it 
is easy to draw a response from them, and to discover 
if you have succeeded in awakening their interest and 
attention. In our Mission Schools, we have often been 
surprised to notice how intelligently Jewish children 
join in the study of the New Testament, so that in 
questioning a mixed class of Jewesses and Christians, 



CHILDBEN. 81 

the former not imfrequently outdo the latter in then: 
answers on the life of our Lord, or even on the Acts of 
the Apostles. The tale of our Lord's holy life, and 
death of suffering and shame, seems to come to them 
with a freshness and reaUty which many a Christian 
child has lost from lifelong familiarity with the words 
of Holy Scripture. All the Jewesses in our school able 
to read fairly well, are expected to join the rest of 
the class in the study of the New Testament, and 
many have bought complete Bibles. Occasionally on 
taking them home, their relatives have torn out the 
New Testament as an evil book, but happily such an 
event is now becoming rare. Probably the most com- 
mon fault that we have to contend with is obstinacy ; 
for the children, as a rule, are little used to any kind 
of discipline at home, and think it strange that they 
must bend their wills to their teacher's when they 
come to school ' Let your yea be yea, and your nay, 
nay,' is a saying we have often to repeat in Syria ; not 
to grown-up poor people only, but to pretty girls of 
good family, more particularly Jewesses, who cannot 
state the simplest fact without too often confirming it 
with an oath. 

In general, our children dwell together in peace, 
but occasionally we are called to settle a serious 
quarrel ; and the cause almost invariably is, that a 
child has cursed the father or grandfather of its little 
companion — an aflfront which cannot easily be for- 
gotten or forgiven. 

I hardly know what to say about the charge that 
our Syrian children do not play. Certainly, as we 
travel through the villages and towns, we see no out- 

6 



82 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

door sports, except at the time of any great feast, 
when huge swings are erected in the streets ; and as 
a rule the children in the roads look grave and 
serious ; but in our schools we never find it necessary 
to teach the children to play. Possibly one effect of 
education may be to arouse the whole nature of 
children, and when we hear noisy cries and laughter 
60m the pUy-g^„nd, we often Le to co,ofort our- 
selves with the thought that he or she who works 
well, plays well ; though we are afraid that our neigh- 
bours may be shocked at the peals of merry laughter. 
True there are few, if any, really Eastern playthings 
to be found ; but the children readily discover the use 
of any introduced from Europe. Girls are fond of 
getting a piece of rope and using it for a skipping- 
rope. The boys occasionally make a kind of sling, 
and, forming two parties carry on a game which is 
not always a very agreeable one to passers-by. Cricket 
and football are imknown, but still we find that at 
any school-treat the children and native teachers are 
at no loss to find plenty of hvely games. 

The favourite amusement among the girls is to 
dress up one of their number as a bride, and go 
through aU the singing and processionizing of an 
Eastern wedding: while both boys and girls enjoy 
games resembling our English puss-in-the-comer, and 
blindman's buff. Boys are fond of leap-frog, and 
another favourite game called ' khatim,' or the ring. 
A boy puts a ring on the back of his hand, tosses it, 
and catches it on the back of his fingers. If it falls 
on the middle-finger, he shakes it to the forefinger. 



CHILDBEN. 83 

and then he is Sultan, and appoints a Vizier, whom 
he commands to let the boys sing — 

^ Ding, dong, turn the wheel, 

Wind the purple thread ; 

Spin the white, and spin the red, 
"Wind it on the reel. 
Silk and linen as well as you can 
Weave a robe for the great Sultan.* 

Poor little Moslem children, I am afraid, in the great 
sadness of the hareem have little spirit for merry 
games ; but I have often seen the happy, healthy 
children of one of our teachers enjoying as hearty a 
romp as any little group of English children. Some- 
times a mother wiU try to keep her children quiet by 
telling them a story, such as the following : 

The Girl and the Kadi. 

' Once there was a little girl, who bought a very little 
house ; and while she was sweeping it, she found a 
very little coin. Then she bought a httle dibs 
(molasses), and put it on a shelf; but there came a 
little fly, and drank it all up. So the little girl went 
to the Kadi, and complained of the little fly, and 
said, " O Kadi ! judge rightly, or may your eyes be 
bhnded." 

' Then the Kadi called, and said, " Depart, you foolish 
and shameless girl ; for you have spoken impolitely to 
the KadL" 

' Said the little girl, " I will not go, until you give a 
righteous decision." 

' Then said the Kadi, " Tell me all your case." 

' So she began : 

6— ^ 




84 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

* " O Kadi great, I am very small I** 
Said he, " 'Tis because you are not tall." 
" O Kadi, I bought a Uttle house." 
Said he, ** Big enough ; you*re as small as a mouse.'' 
" O Kadi, I swept it with all my might.*' 
Said he, ** No doubt it was clean and bright.*' 
" O Kadi, I found a coin so wee.** 
Said he, " *TwiU be for the Kadi*8 fee." 
** O Kadi, I purchased dibs so sweet.** 
Said he, " For a sweet girl, that was meet.** 
" O Kadi, I placed it on the shelf.** 
Said he, " You are keeping it for yourself.** 
" O Kadi, the little fly, one day. 
Flew down, and took it all away ; 
And now I come to plead my cause, 
I beg you judge her by the laws." 
Said he, " Whene'er you see a fly, 
I bid you smite it till it die." 
The Kadi's words were hardly said. 
When she espied upon his head 
A little fly, who gravely sate 
Upon the Kadi's shaven pate ; 
So taking the slipper from her foot, 
The Kadi's head she fiercely smote, 
Saying, " Whene'er you see a fly, 
I bid you smite it till it die !" 
The Kadi groaned with smarting pain ; 
When she her slipper raised again, 
To smite a fly upon the pate. 
Of the Kadi's grave associate. 
The Naieb grave now sued for grace. 
And said, " Whate'er adjoins my face, 
Is mine by heritage and right. 
And you have no legal right to smite. 
But in the noble Kadi's name, 
I'll give you justice all the same." 
Then filling her hands with shining money. 
He sent her home to eat bread and honey.' 

All well-managed native families expect their chil- 



CHILDREN. 85 

dren, when they enter the house after an absence of 
a few hours, to salute their parents, and kiss their 
hands ; and it is touching sometimes to see a middle- 
aged man, himself the father of a family, bend low 
and kiss his aged father's hand Such customs should 
be carefully preserved ; while it is necessary constantly 
to impress on the parents the duty of requiring 
implicit obedience from their children Many a child 
in Syria has lost his life because, when in good health, 
he has been allowed to have his own way ; then, when 
he is suddenly attacked with fever or diphtheria (a 
not iinconmion complaint), he utterly refuses to take 
the medicine or food on which, humanly speaking, his 
recovery depends. Our teachers are not unfrequently 
fetched in haste to administer medicine to sick chil- 
dren ; because the parents have failed to induce them 
to take it, but know that they will not resist the 
teacher, whom they have learned to obey. 

In dress our Damascus children differ little from 
European children, except that they wear a mandeel, 
or handkerchief, thrown over their heads, instead of a 
hat or bonnet. 

In our schools, children of all ranks and of various 
rehgions meet together. The richer children delight 
in any opportunity of displaying their finery ; and on 
feast-days make, if allowed, a great display of jewels 
and flowers, and many-coloured dresses, mixing blues, 
and greens, and violets, and pinks of various shades 
in painful contrast On the other hand, some of the 
poor are very poor; and come to school in cold 
weather in such scanty clothing, and with such wan, 
thin feces, that it maJnes one's heart acha We do 



86 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

not expect the children to curtsey when they enter 
the schoolhouse ; but we are careful in requiring the 
customary salaam, which we expect them to make 
prettily and gracefuUy. 

Many of the early prejudices against education are 
now giving way in Damascus ; though in each new 
town or village in which a school is opened for girls, 
the same objections are urged. At one time it was 
said, * Why educate a girl — you might as well educate 
a cat V and for each subject a fresh battle has had to 
be fought. Many fathers used to object to having their 
girls taught to write, lest they should make a bad use 
of it, and be guilty of writing or receiving love-letters. 
Even now we are often remonstrated with on the 
utter uselessness of geography ; and when we began 
to teach girls Arabic grammar, it was by no means an 
easy matter to persuade the parents to buy books for 
their children for such a purpose. We are often 
asked, ' Why teach my girl such and such things ? 
She is not going to be a writer in the Seraglio !' or 
law-courts. One other diflSculty we have had, and 
still have occasionally to contend with : many a mother 
when she makes up her mind to allow her daughter 
to be taught reading, and writing, and arithmetic, 
things she is herself perfectly ignorant of, begins to 
look up to her as a superior being, .who must not be 
disturbed with household aflfairs; and quietly gives 
up all hope of getting any assistance from her in 
cooking, making bread, etc. No doubt in some cases 
the girls are willing to be regarded as fine ladies, 
while their poor ignorant mothers act as household 
drudges; but I hope such cases are rare. Yet we 



CHILDREN. 87 

have every now and then to impress on the mothers 
the necessity of giving their children the usual train- 
ing in housekeeping, especially in the elaborate cook- 
ing, of which no wife should be ignorant 

Moslem children are usually carried off at an early 
age to be betrothed, if not married, and we have 
to teach them as much as possible before they are 
nine or ten years old ; but of late years such has rarely 
been the case with Christian or Jewish girls : they are 
generally married about sixteen or seventeen, but we 
have known cases where girls have not been married 
tiU they were twenty-six, or even thirty. Still, among 
the poorer classes it is diflScult to retain the children 
after thirteen or fourteen, because the parents like to 
teach them some trade by which they may, in their 
turn, add their mite towards defraying the household 
expenses. The educated young men of the present 
day are seeking educated wives, but in all our Mission 
Schools we seek to lay a good foundation for all other 
learning by making the study of the Bible first and 
last in all our teaching. In spite of all that has been 
done by means of Mission Schools, there are stiU 
hundreds, nay, thousands of children growing up 
imtaught, untrained, in whom even a wish for better 
things has not been implanted. One result of the 
establishment of the school for Moslem girls has been 
the opening, by the Moslems themselves, of several 
schools for their daughters. 

In one respect the httle Damascenes remind us of 
poor children who have lived in the heart of London, 
and have never seen the sea or the country. Many 
of the children in Damascus have not been farther 



88 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

than the gardens and orchards and river-side just 
outside the walls of the city, and though they may be 
eating grapes daily during part of the year, have never 
seen a vineyard, and so require to have many of the 
parables explained to them as iully and carefully as 
the Kttle Londoners. Very few indeed have ever seen 
the sea, or have the slightest idea of its immensity. 
We are often amused at the exclamations of lads who 
may happen to travel with us to Beyrout on first seeing 
the sea from the heights of Lebanon. One boy was 
astonished at its apparent height, while he thought 
the shadow of the little white clouds floating about 
were Bedouin encampments, while the sailing-ships 
were Franjy tents. Another little Jewish child, on 
being taken to Constantinople by her mother, was 
immensely surprised to find that ' the Great Sea ' was 
larger than the fountain in their court at home. 

Considering the great variety of sects and divisions 
into which the Eastern Church is split up, we are 
surprised at the accuracy with which little children 
answer the question put to them, when their names 
are first entered on the school-roll, as to the religion 
of their parents. They may be too young to reply 
to the usual questions as to their own age, their 
father's trade, etc., but they seldom, if ever, hesitate 
as to whether they are Greek Orthodox, or Greek 
Catholic, Armenian or Syriac, etc. 

In England we sometimes bemoan the fashion of 
having a gay party on the occasion of a baby's baptism. 
Certainly such an occasion should be a glad one, but 
we shrink from the idea of the solemnity of the 
occasion being in any measure forgotten in the after 



CHILDBEN. 89 

merry-making. The same custom prevails in Syria at 
the present day : only I fear too often the very service 
itself is carelessly and thoughtlessly performed. We 
were invited, not very long ago, to be present at the 
baptism of a child whose parents belonged to the 
Greek Church. The service was held in the house of 
the parents, and at one end of the room was placed a 
bath filled with warm water, as the night was cold 
and the baby delicate. After most of the guests had 
assembled, the priests began to mumble the prayers. 
The grandmother, who acted as 'Shibeen,' or god- 
mother, carried the child, and walked in procession 
with the priests, as they went three times round the 
bath in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. 
Then one of the priests took the baby and dipped it 
three times in the water, and returned it to the 
Shibeen, and then administered the Lord's Supper to 
the little unconscious babe. The words of the service 
it was impossible to catch, as the invited guests walked 
in and out of the room and chatted all the time ; even 
the father and mother of the child, and the Shibeen 
herself, seemed to have no idea of the solemnity of 
the service, and simply devoted themselves during 
the actual service to the entertainment of their guests. 
The Jews also make a great feast on the occasion 
of a baby's circumcision,* and invite a great number 
of people, sometimes even Christians, to their house. 
The Mohammedans, who do not perform the rite till 
the child is seven years old, make use of the event for 
a still greater display of fine clothes and jewels. They 
hire musicians, and spend large sums on the enter- 
tainment. 

* Gen. xxi. 4. 



CHAPTER VII. 

BETROTHAL AND MARRIAGE. 

A LOVE-STORY ! We must not talk of such a thing as 
a love-story, in the sense we use the term in England, 
of a young man falling in love with a young girl, and 
then wooing and win n ing her. Unhappily wives too 
often in the East are looked upon as necessary evils, 
and it is not difficult to find many old proverbs ex- 
pressive of contempt of women. ' Obedience to 
women will have to be repented of,' says one. 
'Women are the whips of Satan,' says another. 
'Chide those whose refractoriness ye have cause to 
fear, and scourge them,' says the Koran ; so it can be 
easily understood that we must look in vain for much 
trace of respect and chivalrous devotion to women in 
the East. 

Marriage is, generally speaking, a matter of con- 
venience or of gain. The spread of education and 
the introduction of a purer Christianity is, however, 
beginning to tell ; and a higher, holier view of mar- 
riage begins to prevaU. 

Still even now, a Moslem or a Druze should have 
no love-story at alL If a Moslem wishes to add to 
his hareem, or a Druze to replace his divorced wife, he 



BETROTHAL AND MARRLAGE. 91 

will send out some female relative to conduct the 
business for him, and to bring him a report of the 
charms of such and such a girL They then speak to 
the father, and the marriage contract is signed in the 
civil courts, and the wedding-day appointed ; neither 
the bride nor bridegroom having seen one another. 

Some years ago, we were asked to be present at the 
wedding-feast of an aide-de-camp of the late Sultan 
Abdul Aziz, a good-looking young Turkish oflficer of 
about twenty-five. On the day appointed, we went 
to the bride's house, and found a large company of 
rich Turkish and Syrian ladies assembled Sweets 
were served, and then we were taken into a room 
where the young bride sat She was a gentle-looking 
girl of eleven or twelve, of good family. She was 
dressed in bright colours, with a coronet of diamonds 
on her head, and two large brooches of diamonds 
fastened on her painted cheeks. A light Eastern veil 
was thrown over her. 

Talking, laughing, feasting went on for some time, 
for a large company had assembled; and then the 
room was suddenly cleared, and the poor little bride 
left alone, for the cry came, 'The bridegroom is 
coming!* Quite alone, and with rapid step, he 
mounted the stair, and for about three minutes was 
left alone with his bride. He lifted her veil, and for 
the first time they saw each other. 

Then he opened the door, and left the house as he 
entered it; and we went to comfort the poor little 
frightened, trembling child. The ceremony was over, 
with no word of prayer or thought of asking God's 
blessing. The hired singing-women began their music 



92 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

and dancing, and we were invited to partake of a 
grand native dinner. As soon as we could, we left 
the house, and, joining the gentlemen of our party, 
went to call on the bridegroom, and offer him our 
best wishes. He asked us anxiously what his wife 
was like ; was she young, and fair, and nice ? 

We praised her to him ; but he said, ' Marriage is 
such a risk for us — such a lottery ! And we are so 
often deceived by the go-betweens.' We told him 
that his bride was young, and that her training was 
in his own hands ; and we really did hope they might 
be happy together, but in two or three years' time 
they were divorced. This is the oft-repeated sad tale 
of Moslem and Druze marriages. 

Not many years ago, young men belonging to the 
different sects of the Eastern Churches had really 
very little more opportunity of becoming acquainted 
with their future wives than Moslems or Druzes, but 
now matters are gradually improving. StiU it is a 
common expression addressed to a woman, ' May you 
Uve to marry your son !'— that is, to find him a wife. 

Not unfrequently, while living in Damascus, have 
we been visited by anxious relatives for this very 
purpose. Sometimes three or four native women, 
strangers^ to us, wiU come expressing a sudden and 
great desire to see our school We are surprised at 
first, and perhaps think that they have children they 
wish us to receive ; but soon we get a hint. We find 
they take a special interest in the first class; and 
soon comes a question, 'Have we not So-and-so's 
daughter under our care? WiU we not point her 
out ?' a request we try to evade if possible. 



BETROTHAL AND MABRIAGE. 93 

Three or four years ago, a young man who had been 
Kving in a distant part of the country returned to 
his native city Damascus to visit his mother and see 
his relatives ; but his great object was to secure a good 
wife for himself. He paid few visits, and remained 
quietly at home; but his mother had a busy and 
anxious time. I believe she searched the whole Chris- 
tian quarter for a wife, good enough, pretty enough, 
clever enough, of good family enough, for her darUng 
son. 

Generally speaking, we hold aloof from such busi- 
ness, but occasionally we cannot help lending a help- 
ing hand. I remember a young man who for three 
years came to me repeatedly to recommend him a 
wife, saying that he looked upon me as a mother, 
and that I must act a mother's part towards him. 
Once or twice he begged me to try a certain girl, and 
see if there would be hope for him in that quarter. 

At last he came to Damascus, determined to ac- 
complish his purpose, as, he said, his house was 
getting ruined for want of some one to look after it. 
Knowing him to be a worthy young man, we allowed 
him an opportunity of seeing two or three young 
women in an incidental way. Then followed many 
talks with him; he came to us to discuss their ap- 
pearance, their manners, their characters. 

At last he fixed on one of them, and begged that 
my husband should pop the question for him, as both 
her family and his being at a distance, he could find 
no more proper go-between. A solemn interview, 
therefore, took place in our sitting-room. The girl, 
of course, looked shy, and pretended all manner of 



94 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

objections ; but at last it was arranged that she should 
consent to an interview with the young man, in 
presence of a third party, and that her family should 
be communicated with. 

To make a long story short, the matter was arranged ; 
and, as they were both Protestants, the missionary 
was asked to betroth them. A few friends were 
invited, the father's letter of consent read, a few 
speeches made ; prayer was offered, and then the mis- 
sionary pronounced the couple betrothed. After this, 
the presents from the intended bridegroom to the 
bride were exhibited, consisting, in this case, simply of 
a ring and a handsome Bible ; and then a large dish 
of sweetmeats was handed round, an extra portion 
being allotted to the bridegroom. 

A few weeks passed, during which the bride was 
very busy — not so much in preparing her own clothes, 
as in making her future husband's trousseau — and 
then about seven o'clock p.m., on the appointed day, 
the wedding was celebrated with the ordinary Pro- 
testant service. With this difference only, that the 
bride was not attended by bridesmaids; but, as a 
married woman, it fell to my share to lead her in, 
stand by her during the service, and then lead her 
out again. Bridesmaids are not allowed in that part 
of the country; but bridewomen must attend the 
bride. 

Simple refreshments, cakes, sweets, coffee, etc., were 
handed roimd, the men remaining chiefly in one room, 
and the women with the bride in the other; and 
about nine p.m., we prepared to take the bride and 
bridegroom to their own home in a distant part of 



BETEOTHAL AND MABRIAGE. 95 

the city. We went quietly, and few people guessed 
tliat we were a bridal-party. 

A Moslem wedding, and a native Protestant wedding, 
present the greatest contrast. Midway between, so to 
speak, are the customs and festivities still in use 
among the greater number of the members of Eastern 
Churches. In general, a marriage is arranged almost 
entirely between the parents; and the account of 
Eliezer's* mission to find a wife for his master's son is 
no strange story to Eastern ears. Rebecca,"f- indeed, 
was consulted, and her consent asked ; but the wishes 
of a girl belonging to the Greek Church are little 
considered — ^in fact, it is considered that if she shows 
a proper degree of modesty she will cry, and protest 
against the very idea of matrimony ; and, to the very 
last, must express the greatest reluctance and repug- 
nance. At the betrothal she will remain in a separate 
room with her female relatives. The presents from 
the bridegroom will consist of a ring, a work-box, a 
watch and chain, some coloured mandeels or hand- 
kerchiefs, and other jewellery, according to the wealth 
of the bridegroom, or his supposed wealth. Unfor- 
tunately many bridegrooms are induced to spend more 
than they really possess in these presents, in their 
anxiety to secure a good match. The father is ex- 
pected to provide a good trousseau for his daughter, 
and to pay down a certain sum with her. This is one 
reason why parents are grieved at the birth of many 
daughters. A father will often say, ' How shall I find 
money enough to marry them all V* The day before 
the wedding, the bride is taken by a large company of 
* Gen. xxiv. 1—6. t ^®^» xxiv. 68. 



96 BAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

her friends to the public bath, where they spend 
several hours bathing, singing, eating sweetmeats, etc. ; 
and the noise ciEui often be heard in the streets, and 
the passers-by remark, ' Oh, there must be a bride in 
the bath !' In the evening her hands are elaborately 
painted with henna in preparation for the morrow. 
Her adorning for the ceremony occupies a long time ; 
every superfluous little hair is taken out of her face 
and neck. She is painted white and red — occasionally 
a sprinkling of gold or silver leaf is made over her 
face — her eyes and eyebrows are stained with kahl, 
and she is dressed in a sHk dress of briUiant hue, and 
adorned with mnumerable ornaments*— sometimes 
her own, but often borrowed for the occasion. After 
all the preparations are made, she is wrapt in an izzar, 
and led out, supported on each side by married 
women, to be conducted to the house of the bride- 
groom. All the company rise and go with her, each 
carrying a lighted taper ;f and with slow reluctant 
steps she proceeds towards her future home — often 
one or two hours are occupied in traversing a short 
distance. If she belongs to a family of importance, 
tables of refreshments will be spread at the doors of 
some of her friends, whose houses she may pass on 
the road. At intervals the women utter the sharp 
peculiar trill, so familiar to all dwellers in the East. 
At last, but frequently not tiU midnight, they arrive 
at the bridegroom's house. They find three or four 
priests, perhaps the Bishop himself, awaiting them. 
A little table in the centre of the room has been 
fitted up as an altar, with a holy picture, and lighted 

* Isa. Ixi. 10 ; xlix. 18. + Matt. xxv. 1. 



BETROTHAL AND MARRIAGE. 97 

candles, and flowers, and the ceremony begins — 
seldom, I am sorry to say, is it connected with much 
solemnity. The people, with their tapers still Ughted, 
crowd into the room ; joking, and laughing, and talk- 
ing, not imfrequently go on while the solemn words are 
read, and prayer offered, according to the ritual of the 
Greek Church. Crowns of flowers* or of some precious 
metal are placed over the heads of the bride and 
bridegroom, and hand in hand they foUow the priests 
in procession three times round the altar in the name 
of the Holy Three in One. After the ceremony the 
bride is taken into another room to be duly inspected. 
For the greater part of the three or four following 
days she must remain in this room with eyes cast 
down and motionless — the gazing-stock of the crowds 
who flock to see the bride. In the villages I have 
seen a bride thus exposed to view, seated on a chair, 
placed on a table in the comer of the room, which 
was constantly crowded to suffocation ; and one 
wondered how she had strength to support such an 
ordeaL Feastingf sometimes continues for days ; 
and a rich man wiU distribute large quantities of food 
among the poor. 

A Jewish wedding generally takes place at the bride's 
house, not at the bridegroom's ; and the ceremony, of 
course, is performed by a Rabbi under the usual 
canopy, according to the Jewish custom. 

* Cant. iii. 11. t Matt. xxii. 4. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE COUNTRY ROUND DAMASCUS. 

The winter in Damascus is sometimes long and 
dreary; and when the spring comes, all the Damascenes, 
Jews, Christians and Mohammedans, begin to think it 
necessary to ' smell the air,' as their expression is. 

The Jews begin to visit Jobar, by some thought to be 
built on the site of the ancient Hobah.* It is a large 
village about three quarters of an hour's ride from the 
city, and is inhabited entirely by Mohammedans ; but 
strange to say, the Jews have a synagogue and a few 
rooms in the court adjoining it. Only the people who 
have charge of the synagogue live there ; but during 
the spring and summer we constantly see Jews riding 
on donkeys laden with beds and bedding, and going 
out to spend three or four days or a week in these 
rooms. The synagogue they consider specially sacred 
and favoured, for they believe that a little paved cell 
below is sometimes visited by the spirit of Elisha,+ 
and sick people are often taken to this cell and left 
there alone aU night in the hope that Elisha's spirit 
will exercise a healing influence over them. No doubt 
the change of air from their damp rooms in Damascus 
*' Gen.xiv. 15. |- 2 Kings viiL 7. 



THE COUNTRY BOUin> DAMASCUS. 99 

to the more open and free air of the country does 
exercise a good e£fect upon many. The same may be 
said of Saidnaya, where the Greek Church has a 
convent reported to be the fnvourite abode of the 
Virgin, and numbers of poor ailing people are carried 
there to seek h^ blessing. This village stands 
high up on the Anti-Lebanon, about six hours' ride 
from Damascus, and the dry, bracing air from the 
barren mountains is beneficial to those who may have 
been suffering from the warm, damp atmosphere of 
the plain. The convent, like most of the convents in 
Syria^ occupies a capital situation, and about forty 
nuns are always ready to wait on the visitors and give 
them accommodation within its walls. 

Those who cannot leave home for more than a few 
hours, join the crowds who, on a certain day in Lent, 
go forth, as they say, 'to meet the monk;' the 
Catholics, of course, on one day, and the Greeks on 
another, as the^^ do not observe the same calendar. 
When questioned who the monk is, they can give no 
answer, neither does it matter which road they take. 
Needless to say the monk never comes. Great 
numbers also go out when the Hajj, or Moslem 
pilgrims, start for Mecca, or when they return from it. 

It is certainly a great matter that the dwellers 
within the walls of a great city like Damascus have 
so many lovely walks and rides within reach; and 
when spring comes, the Protestants, as well as the 
other sects, are right glad to make a few excursions 
in the neighbourhood. Some rise early in the morning 
and go out to visit the fountain of the Fijeh, rising at 
the foot of the eastern side of Anti-Lebanon, a ride of 

7— i 



100 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

between four and five hours. This is one of the finest 
fountains in Syria. Here you see the strange spectacle 
of a ready-made river bursting in one moment from the 
bosom of a great rock. Over this grand fountain are 
the ruins of a very ancient temple, buUt by the Pheni- 
cians, who seem to have worshipped the waters. The 
Fijeh rushes away wildly over the rocks till it joins the 
Barada, which has sprung to life quietly and noiselessly 
in the fruitful plain of Zebdany, and together forming 
one river, the Barada, they enter the plain of Damascus. 
By many this is considered an answer to the question, 
Where are the two rivers of Damascus,* when we can 
find but one passing through or near the city ? 

Others consider that the Awaj, a small river flowing 
certainly through the district of Damascus, but at 
least four hours' ride from the city itself, is the Pharpar. 
The Ba»d. cemMy Juslffie, i.a Lien, name, ■ aJL,' 
or ' Our Father ;' it is indeed and in truth the parent 
of the fruitful plain extending over many miles, in the 
midst of which stands Damascus, and which is simply 
an oasis in the desert. Directly the Barada reaches 
the plain, trees and shrubs spring up as by magic, and 
the road from El-Hllmeh to the entrance of the city, 
a distance of two hours by the side of the river, is one 
scene of varied beauty through valley and ravine, 
gorge and chasm, of which the following description 
may give some idea : * We follow the road across the 
desert plain, at the eastern end of which it suddenly 
dives down into a glen filled with foKage, and spark- 
ling with fountains and streams of water. Through 
the midst of it, fringed by tall poplars and shaded 

♦ 2 Kings v. 12. 



THE COUNTRY ROUND DAMASCU& 103 

with walnuts, winds the Abana. Its magic power we 
already see, for it has converted a wfld ravine in a 
wilderness into a paradise. Conical hills, white almost 
as the snow of Hermon, rise from the very brink of 
the waters, and add by their contrast to the beauty of 
the scene. Littie villages are there peeping out of 
their bowers on the right and left.' Passing the 
village of Dimmar, the ravine narrows between pre- 
cipitous walls of rugged moimtains into a winding 
gorge, just broad enough for the road, the river, and 
two canals at diflferent levels on either side. The 
road at length emerges all on a sudden from this 
romantic ravine and the green orchards, and in a little 
while the white minarets of Damascus burst upon the 
view. These canals, strange to say, were constructed 
many centuries ago, and show wonderful skill and 
power in the men who, in remote times, constructed 
them; they carry the water into every part of the 
city, I might almost add into every house, and the 
main stream, after flowing in a ciu-ious way through 
the city, sometimes through an open channel, and 
sometimes undergroimd, passes Bab es Salaam (the 
Grate of Peace), and Bab Tooma (the Gate of Thomas), 
and flows along in an easterly direction, leaving the 
great city, the child of its own creation, behind it. 
Had we no Abana, we could have no Damascus. 

After leaving the city, it flows on quietly through 
pleasant, well-cultivated country. As we wander 
along its banks, we see many a lively scene The 
women love to go out of the city in crowds, and 
sit wrapt in their white izzars on its banks, smoking 
nargil^is and gossij»ng, with their feet almost touch- 



104 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. ' 

" 'm 

ing the water, in spite of the doctor's warning that 
thus they imbibe ague and rheumatism. The men 
sit in the caf^s at the bridge, playing cards and 
sipping coffee, or, I am sorry to say, arrack. Many 
donkeys, laden with com or flour, are hurrying back- 
wards and forwards to the mills ; while in one quiet 
part, men and horses are bathing promiscuously. 

The townspeople seldom venture far from the city, 
but we can walk or ride for hours through the fields 
and orchards which surround the city for miles on 
every side, one and all the product of the river, which 
after all, in size and length, is but a small one. We 
pass splendid fields of hemp, one of the most valuable 
products of this district and fields of com ripening, 
strange to say, in many places beneath the shade of 
fruit-trees. 

We can wander among fields of beans, and forests 
of olive, apricot, and walnut-trees; but few people 
follow the river, to which Damascus owes so much, 
through all its course. After leaving the neighbour- 
hood of the city, it pursues its winding way for some 
distance till it reaches the district called the Wady — 
a lovely, lonely place of iU-repute, said to be haunted 
by bad characters fix)m Damascus, who have com- 
mitted some crime, and become marked men, and 
therefore are in hiding. It is looked upon as a Cave 
of AduUam,* and few respectable people care to pass 
through it unnecessarily. After leaving the Wady, 
the river flows on through the fertUe and extensive 
Sahl-ul-Adhra, the Virgin's Plain, tiU it loses itself 
in the marshy lakes. 

* 1 Sam. xxiL 2. 



t . 



THE COUSTRr BOtJND DA3IASCUS. 105 



Such is the whole course of the river ; but if we 
wish to make only one day's journey, we must choose 
whether we will visit the source at the Fijeh, or, start- 
ing from Bab Tooma, follow the main stream till it is 
swallowed up in the lakes. The latter excursion we 
could only make in the spring, for it would be rash to 
encounter the moist heat of the plains at an earlier 
season of the year. The shores of the Lakes of 
Damascus are so level that at no time is the water 
visible till the traveller is quite close to them ; and, 
during the hot season, they are probably dried up 
altogether. Such a hot moist district is the favourite 
abode of mosquitoes, sand-flies, and fever. Unhealthy 
though it is, the wild-boar seems to enjoy his home 
among the marshes and reeds of this district, and 
great numbers are foimd there. 

Another excursion we might make, and which would 
not be a veiy long one, is to start from Bab Tooma, 
and ride through the oliveyards and orchards to 
Kaboon, and then across the plain, and up the moun- 
tain to Burzeh. We may as well rest a little at 
Kaboon ; it stands at the very edge of the orchards, 
just on the open plain, and the air there is always 
pleasant If we go in the apricot season, we can sit 
down and talk to the poor Moslem women, who will 
be busy with their ' mishmish ' (apricots). Hudla, and 
Fatmie, and Zenab will be very glad to tell us all 
about the many different kinds of apricots they have, 
and win teach us the names of each, and no doubt 
win bring us some to taste. 

Fatmie will explain how hard they all have to 
work just now, both men and women. They gather 



106 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

quantities of apricots every morning to send into the 
city, to sell at threepence or fourpence a rattle (SJ lb.); 
and much larger quantities they preserve in different 
ways. Hudla is busy spreading out a heap to dry in 
the sun, like figs or raisins ; while Zenab will show 
us how stained and sore her hands are, because she 
has been busy all day making Kamr-ud-Deen. She 
shows us a large sieve placed over an open vat, and 
tells us that she has been hard at work all day crush- 
ing apricots, and squeezing all but the skins and 
stones through the sieve. Her daughter Besma then 
draws, off the juicy pulp from the vat, and pours it 
on long planks of wood which have been spread out 
in the sun. Some of the children break a certain 
quantity of stones, and arrange the white kernels in 
a pattern on the pulp. When it is sufficiently dry, 
Besma and her sisters strip the boards and pour fresh 
juice upon them, and repeat the process till the whole 
quantity of Kamr-ud-Deen is made. 

We have often seen this curious stuff hanging up 
in the shops in Damascus for sale, and it looks like 
long naiTovr shiny sheets of brown paper, and can 
be torn in the same way. It is eaten as it is, and 
the taste is not bad ; or it is melted and eaten with 
bread. Immense quantities of this Kamr-ud-Deen 
is made every year in the different villages around 
Damascus, and exported to Egypt and Constanti- 
nople. 

At this season, the orchards are full of people ; and 
the trees are golden with fruit ; and often the ground 
is strewn with fallen apricots. Dr. Tristram is inclined 
to think that this fruit is * the apple of gold set in 



THE COUNTRY ROUND DAMASCUS. 107 

pictures of silver;'* and says that he, and many 
other travellers, have often pitched their tents under 
the shadow-f" of the apricot-tree, and feasted on its 
delicious fruit In fact the apricot-orchards are always 
the favourite camping-ground of visitors to Damascus. 
Many of the poor fellaheen sleep in the orchards at 
this season for about six weeks, in the little cottages 
built on piu^ose; and though they have to work 
early and late, they greatly enjoy the time they spend 
there. Many are the invitations we get to go out 
and see them in the gardens. I am afraid many 
of our poor Moslem friends have no higher idea of 
Paradise than an apricot-orchard with a stream of 
fresh water running through it. 

We must not tarry too long at Kaboon. The poor 
people there are very ignorant, and some, I am afraid, 
are very wicked specimens of the lowest kind of Moham- 
medans ; and, as yet, the true light has scarcely found 
any entrance there. From Kaboon we ride across the 
pleasant open plain, and climb the foot of the moun- 
tain to Biu-zeh. As we stand under a tree and look 
back over the way we have come, the view is very 
charming. We see Damascus, like an island, in the 
midst of an ocean of green orchards ; and beyond, 
Jebal-ul-Aswad, or the Black Mountain, where the 
black stone, so much used in the city, is quarried, 
and Jebal Kesweh, across which lies the route of the 
Mecca pilgrims. In the far distance we can trace the 
Mountains of Haiu-an, or Bashan; and, to the left, 
strange-looking isolated hills, called TeMl-us-Sufaa, 
which are really on the borders of the desert. 

* Prov. XXV. 11. t Cant, il 3. 




108 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

The village of Biirzeh stands at the mouth of a 
ravine, and is very much like other Moslem villages ; 
but it is especially interesting to us, because it is con- 
nected by tradition with the name of H Khaleel, or 
' the Friend,'* as Abraham is still called in all this 
district ; and very possibly, when pursuing the kings, 
he may have passed this way, or even tarried there 
for a while. TTie people will be quite willing to show 
us the sacred Wely, called Makam Ibrahim, or Habita- 
tion of Abraham ; but they will differ in their tales of 
what happened there. One day a poor Moslem woman 
showed me a little cleft of the rock at the back of 
the Wely, in which she declared Abraham was bom ; 
but others will tell you that he prayed there when 
he turned back from piusuing the kings. A number 
of Moslem pilgrims visit this tomb every year; and 
the feast of ' the Friend ' is religiously observed, both 
by Moslems and Christians, in Damascus itself. 

We might make many an excursion among the 
numerous villages within an easy reach of Damascus, 
each one pretty in its surroundings; but the more 
we become acquainted with the poor people, the more 
we should grieve over them. As we journey through 
Sjrria, we sometimes notice people hard at work clear- 
ing away the stones on the rough mountain-paths, or 
strewing gravel over slippery places; and when we 
ask why all the villages have sent out men in such 
a hurry to mend the roads, which have been so long 
neglected, we are told that the Pasha or some other 
great man is coming, and we must ' prepare-f- the way 

* 2 Chron. xx. 7 ; Isa. xli. 8 ; James il 23. 

t Matt. iii. 3. 



THE COUiJtRt BOUND DAMASCUS. 109 

before him/ As we wander through the almost count- 
less villages of Damascus, with their poor, ignorant, 
degraded people, we are tempted to ask, When will 
anyone be found to prepare the way of the King of 
Kings, that He may enter m, and dwell among 
them? 




CHAPTER IX. 

SUMMER QUARTERS. 

One of our good kind native friends in Damascus 
had given us the loan of a house for the summer in 
the village of Nebk, in the Kalamfln Mountains, about 
two days' ride north of Damascus ; so, having made all 
our preparations, we were ready to start on our journey 
early one Friday morning. Our simple furniture, our 
personal luggage, and our household stores, were 
packed on three mules, and were already on their 
way ; and now, armed with lined sun-umbrellas, and 
our hats and heads carefully muffled up in muslin, as 
a defence against the sun, we mounted our horses, 
and began our long day's journey. It was about the 
beginning of August, and we were prepared for con- 
siderable heat; but for some time our road lay 
through the shady orchards of Damascus. We en- 
joyed the early cool of morning among the apricot and 
olive trees. In these roads the tame little hoopoes,* 
sometimes five or six together, may often be seen in 
spring. They are el^ant little creatures, with beautiful 
crests, and striped wings; and we frequently notice 
them hopping across our path, peckiog about the road 

^ Lev. XL 19; Deal xiv. IS. Laptcimg^ffocpoo in Arabic 
TinKHL 



SUMMER QUARTERS. Ill 

with their long beaks. They will allow our horses to 
come quite near them before they will spread their 
pretty wings and fly away. Oiu* native friends call 
them ' Doctor Birds/ and bid us be careful what we 
say when they are near ; for surely the little bird, not 
much bigger than a thrush, will tell all our secrets. 
Certainly they are not afraid to be seen very near the 
city ; but in the winter they seek a warmer climate 
than Damascus. 

In the woods we hear few of the songsters of Eng- 
land, but many prettily plumaged birds fly about 
among the trees ; and in the quiet parts of the woods 
we may often hear the soft,* mournful cooing of the 
turtle-dove.f Even when the heat has silenced all 
other birds, this timid, gentle creature pours forth her 
complaint from morning to evening till autumn, when 
she, too, will spread her wings for the south. 

Had we made our journey a few weeks earlier we 
might have been startled by hearing a great flapping 
overhead, as a huge stork suddenly changes its position 
in a tree ;J or we might have seen six or seven walking 
about among the com, towering above it when almost 
ripe. They generally come in great flocks§ about 
the end of March, and in six weeks or two months, 
beginning to find the weather disagreeably hot, they 
proceed on their journey northward. But the peasants 
in Syria, are always delighted to see them : * The more 
the merrier,' they say ; ' for abundance of storks is a 
good omen, and we shall have abundance of com.' They 
call the stork ' Abou Saad,' the Father of Good-luck. 

* Psa. Ixxiv. 19. t Lev. v. 7, xii. 8 ; Luke ii. 22—24. 

% Psa. civ. 17. § Jer. viii. 7. 



112 DAMASCUS AXD ITS PEOPLE. 

On no account would they hurt a stork; and the 
storks seem to be quite aware of the fsict, and walk 
about in the cornfields close to the villages, catching 
frogs and mice, and lizards and snakes, and all kinds 
of vermin with their long red bills, and devouring them 
greedily. They are very grave, solemn birds, and are 
not easily disturbed ; but should anything startle them 
we must be careful they do not startle us and our 
horses, as they suddenly spread their enormous wings,* 
measuring nearly seven feet across, and soar away. 
The Druses are said to eat them sometimes ; but I 
never heard of any other of the people of the land 
indulging in such a feast, for their flesh is said to be 
very coarse.-f- 

Before noon we reached the last village in the plain, 
Dumah, and rested and lunched beneath the shade of 
the trees. Then came the tug of war. We had still 
several hours' ride in the heat, up steep rocky roads 
with no trees to shelter us, no pretty birds to amuse 
us, only every now and then a hideous gecko, like a 
miniatiu'e crocodile, would toss up its ugly head and 
cluck as we pass a mud-wall or dry rock, teaching us 
to admire, by contrast, the many other kinds of lizardsj 
which are glorying in the burning sun and darting 
merrily about the rocks: every now and then you see 
a couple that have become too boisterous in their play, 
and end in a downright fight 

We had on this occasion little inclination to be 
amused at anything ; the heat was intense and water 
very scarce. But a little while before sunset we reached 
a level plain, and saw two or three villages in the 

* Zech. V. 9. t Lev. xi. 19. J Lev. xi 30. 



SUMMER QUARTERS. 113 

distance. The welcome sight enlivened us; and we 
were riding along more cheerily, when suddenly across 
our path dashed a flock of lovely gazelles, and dis- 
appeared like lightning in the distance. They are 
called roes in the Bible.* Afterwards at Nebk we 
often had the opportunity of watching these fleet little 
animals on the hillsides at some distance from the 
village. The people told us that they only came down 
into the plainf to drink at the river very early indeed 
in the morning before anyone was astir, and that they 
returned quickly to the mountains. 

For years we had a pet one of our own in Damascus, 
which grew at last quite at home with us, and would 
feed from our hands ; we often said that she was the 
best-tempered member of our household. The dog 
might tease her, and the fowls snatch the very food 
from her mouth, but nothing seemed to irritate her. 
Only once or twice, when a suspicious-looking lad 
found his way into her enclosure, did she show any 
sign of wrath, or try to use her horns. 

At last, in good time, we reached oiu* resting-place, 
Kuteifeh, for the night, and were kindly received at 
a Moslem house. We opened some of our stores — for 
oiu* muleteers were resting in the same village — and 
prepared a simple supper. Fearing that we might 
find too much company in the rooms to sleep in peace, 
we preferred lying down in the court, to the risk of 
encountering a battle with thousands of fleas under 
the shelter of the roof; and we had not much time to 
spare for sleep. We were to join some muleteers next 
morning, who were to act as our guides, and they 
* Cani il 8, 9. t Cant. u. 16, 17. 

8 



114 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

would Start at two or three a.m., according to the 
rising of certain stars. 

These muleteers are great star-gazers* and generally 
regulate their movements by the stars. It is the com- 
monest answer possible, to the question, 'When do 
you mean to start ?' * Oh, when the Pleiades rise.' I 
am sure the foUowmg must be a muleteer's wife's song 
to her baby : 

' Sleep, my moon — my baby, sleep ! 
The Pleiades bright their watches keep ; 
The Libra shines so fair and clear ; 
The stars are shining — ^hush, my dear !* 

Certain it was that on this occasion we had to start 
by bright starlight ; and yet, in spite of all our haste 
in packing up, our guides got ahead of us, and we 
could hear the bells of their mules far in front, and 
yet could not see them, or tell which road they had 
taken. At last, by dint of much shouting, we dis- 
covered where they had gone, and followed them. 
The day before we had travelled under a scorching 
sun ; now we felt the night air so cold f that we were 
glad to put on all our wraps, and yet till the sim was 
fairly risen we could not get warm. We travelled on 
patiently for many hours, and about two p.mu reached 
the village. We foimd that the house had been well 
swept and the walls whitewashed for us ; but, tired as 
we were, we had much to do before we could rest, and 
the next day was Sunday. We had to spread our 
mats, put up our bedsteads, arrange our camp-stools 
and folding-tables, and unpack our crockery and 
cooking utensils. To our dismay we found that the 

* Job ix. 9 ; xxxviii. 31, 32. f Gen. zzxi. 40. 



SUMMER QUARTERS. 115 

mule had thrown our crockery-box, and that most of 
our little stock of chma was broken. Fortunately we 
had tin plates and basins with us, and we could 
manage till Monday. 

We soon became much interested in the active, 
energetic people of this and the neighbouring villages ; 
and the difficulties we had in housekeeping served but 
as a little amusement. We found that our broken 
plates could not be replaced in the village ; that during 
our stay there we must be content with goat's meat 
and an occasional chicken — true, the former was only 
about tenpence a rottle (5^ lb.), but then it was tough; 
that the village did not boast a proper oven, and that 
therefore we must be content with unleavened bread ; 
and that fruit and vegetables were very scarce, and 
hornets most abimdant,* covering our table at every 
meaL But from oiu* upper windows wo looked over a 
fine plain, stretching away in the direction of Kiryatein 
and Tadmor, with the mountains of Baalbec on the 
west and Gebal Kalamtln on the east, and the air was 
generally cool and dry and bracing. In this part of 
the Kalamiin Mountains we might have searched in 
vain for villages or any human habitations except a 
convent. High up in these mountains the people tell 
you the Beden, or ibex,f the wild goat of Scripture, is 
found. It is a pretty creature, with enormous horns 
about three feet long, curved back till they almost 
touch its tail These horns are used for makinsf 

o 

knife-handles and other articles. The men living in 
the poor httle dirty villages nearest to these lonely, 

♦ Ex. xxiiL 28 ; Dent. vii. 20 ; Joshua xxiv. 12. 
f Psa. civ. 18 ; Job xxxix. 1 ; 1 Sam xxiv. 2. 

8—2 



116 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

rocky mountains, are almost as wild-looking as the 
ibex itself, and the good people of Nebk appear quite 
grand and civilized by their side. These people some- 
times hunt the wild goat ; and, if you question them, 
they will tell you, in their imcouth Arabic, that when 
hardly pressed, the ibex will roll itself down the 
steepest declivities to save itself from its pursuers, and 
that these enormous horns protect it from injury, like 
the rim of a wheel These lulls, too, are the very 
playground of gazelles, and fine large partridges such 
as are never seen in England. 

There were several villages we could visit in the 
plain, and on the spxurs of the Baalbec Mountains, and 
in Nebk itself wq soon made many friends. We were 
living in the midst of the people, and could watch 
their daily doings, and they soon learned to look upon 
us as under their care and protection ; so that if we 
returned in the evening later than usual from an 
excursion, we often found them on the look-out for 
us, and uneasy lest harm should have happened to us, 
afraid that perhaps the Bedouin might have attacked 
us. 

Many of the men were muleteers, or rather traders 
and merchants in a small way; that is, they make 
long journeys to Horus, and Hamath, and Kiryatein, 
and Tadmor (Palmyra), and Ovrfa (Ur of the Chaldees), 
and Aleppo, and still more distant places, for the pur- 
poses of trade, sometimes returning with a load of 
honey, or oil, or semman (native butter), aU of which 
they carry to Damascus and dispose of there. Then 
they return, and after resting for a day or two with 
their families at Nebk, they start away again. Many 




OOCSIBT KEN WITH IBEX 



SUMMER QUASTEB& 119 

of these journeys occupy twenty, thirty, or forty days, 
and are not un&equently attended with danger ; they 
must always go armed and prepared for attacks from 
Bedouin. Directly they see a robbing-party in the 
far distance, they prepare for defence in true militaiy 
fiEushion, forming a square: they make their camels 
kneel down, and fire from behind them, and thus a 
dozen men can keep a large party of Bedouin at bay. 

While the men are away on these excursions, the 
women are very busy at home They do a good 
share of work in the threshing-floors, and in the vine- 
yards and fields ; they prepare the buighol or crushed 
wheat for winter use : sometimes you see them plaster- 
ing or whitewashing the houses, or mending and 
rolling the roofe if the rain threatens to come before 
their husbands' return. They often care for the cows 
and goats ; and, of course, they have to fetch all the 
water from the river, tripping down the steep hQl to 
the stream, with the heavy jars balanced on their 
heads — sometimes walking so erectly and so steadily, 
that they have no need to touch the jar even with 
one hand. They cook, and wash, and make bread, 
and wind wool ; and, in het, seem never idle. They 
are up early and late,* appearing never to rest. The 
fact that all the able-bodied are so frequently away 
from hcfsjoe, makes the women active and independent. 
We became fairly well acquainted with many of 
the women, and found some of them thoughtful 
and intelligent, though not possessed of much book- 
learning; if any. Questions were asked us on moie 
than one occasion, showing a depth of feeling azd 

♦ Peot. xcri. 10-31. 



120 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

reflection which is not commonly met with in Syria. 
Many, on the contrary, were very ignorant, and wholly 
occupied with their daily care and toiL 

In this village we saw what is a most unusual sight 
for Syria: and that was a Moslem school for boys, 
taught by an energetic Moslem woTnan, called Sheikha 
Sofia. She was reported to be a very strict disciplin- 
arian, and ruled by the rod. Her boys, and she had a 
considerable nmnber, were all seated on the ground 
with the Koran, their only book of study, on a 
little desk before each one ; they were all studying it 
aloud, rocking themselves backwards and forwards as 
they read. At a word from her they were silent when 
we entered ; and at a word from her they resumed 
their chorus! 

I am afraid but few of the Nebk women can do 
anything but the roughest kind of sewing ; and, like 
so many of thefr country-people, most of the viUagers 
would be more agreeable visitors if they only would 
pay a little more attention to cleanliness. The houses 
in the three great villages of this neighbourhood — 
Nebk, Yabriid, and Deir Atiyeh — are really well-built 
and commodious; forming a great contrast to the 
dirty, filthy huts of some of the moimtain villages 
near, where the people are Uving in a state of degrada- 
tion little better than the heathen of Africa. I 
believe there exists a little spirit of rivahy between 
these three villages standing in the same plain, Yabrftd 
being about one hour and a half from Nebk in one 
direction, and Deir Atiyeh about the same distance in 
the other ; the natives of each place wish to be con- 
sidered the smartest and cleverest. They all possess 



SUMMEB QUARTEBS. 121 

large flocks of goats. Now the Deir Atiyeh goats 
start oflf to the hills with their shepherd very early 
indeed in the morning, and the Nebk goats are not 
much behind them ; but the Yabrdd goats are last of 
aU, and I think we may say the goats tell a true tala 
The inhabitants of Deir Atiyeh and Nebk are all 
alive and vigorous, adventurous and hardy. The 
people of Yabrdd are clever and sharp people, too ; 
but they possess many more of the luxuries of life, 
and show less of an adventurous spirit than the other 
two ; they have also the largest vineyards and prettiest 
scenery of alL 

Most of our marketing had to be done in YabrAd ; 
and every now and then we had to make an expedi- 
tion there, taking our good donkey with us to carry 
our purchases. She was led from shop to shop, and 
her capacious saddle-bags were soon filled with soap, 
sugar, coflTee, leavened bread, and fruit and vegetables, 
all luxuries which it was impossible, or almost, to pro- 
cure in Nebk ; but YabrAd boasted a little market- 
place, and a number of small'shops. The only incon- 
venience was that the inhabitants of the village, 
being little used to seeing a European lady among 
them, mobbed the door of every shop I entered ; and 
as the only light was from the door, it was rather 
difficult to make any purchases. 

The walks and rides around Yabrfid are finer 
than those at Nebk, where we can boast few trees or 
plantations of any kind. The vineyards are small, 
and the grapes do not ripen till nearly the middle of 
September; and the fields of castor-oil plants and 
madder were not very interesting to us, though no 



122 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

doubt usefuL Many of the people use castor-oil for 
their lamps ; and, in case of illness, drink it, coarse 
and unrefined though it be. It was certainly rather 
curious to walk through the madder-fields when the 
peasants were busy digging it up. It is the root 
which is used for dying the famous Turkey-red ; and 
as it strikes deeply into the earth, they have to trench 
the field over about three feet deep, that they may be 
able to get it all up. The plant is allowed to grow 
for four or five years before it is dug up ; and there- 
fore the people plant a certain quantity every year, 
that every year they may have some ready to dig; It 
is one of the most valuable crops that the land pro- 
duces. 

In the fine open plain we always foimd good pure 
air, both morning and evening ; and as we rode along, 
we noticed here and there a strange plant growing in 
every direction. When we inquired what it was, we 
were told it was ' ishnAn,' and that the village goats 
knew better than to eat it. A few weeks later, we saw 
a number of little bonfires lighted all over the plain, 
and foimd that the people had been busy collecting 
all the ishn&n that they could find, and were now 
burning it; because from its ashes they procured a 
hard metallic substance which they called El Kali, 
and said was much used in making soap.* We re- 
membered at once our English word 'alkali;* and 
when we opened our Arabic Bibles on returning home, 
we were pleased to find Job speaking of 'cleaning 
his hands with " ishn^n," ' not simply of * making his 
hands never so clean,'-f- as it is in our English version. 
* Jer. ii. 22 ; Mai. iii. 2. t Job ^ 30. 



SUMMER QUARTEBS. 123 

Our servant told us that in Nebk, and other places, if 
the women had no soap they used a little of this 
instead. It grows in many parts of the country 
bordering on the desert, and is always used in Syria 
in making soap. 

People were surprised that we should choose such 
an out-of-the-way place as Nebk for our summer holi- 
day; but we had almost daily opportunities of speaking 
and reading with the people, and we also foimd much 
to interest us in watching all the daily proceedings of 
these busy villagers, and they were never tired of 
watching us. I am afraid more than one woman 
broke her water-jar m her eagerness to catch sight of 
us as we rode* through the narrow dirty streets of the 
village. 

To one of their customs we never could get recon- 
ciled. They had no slaughter-house, and each butcher 
killed his goat in front of his shop early in the morn- 
ing, and unfortunately one of these shops was close 
to our house. Every morning, while we were dress- 
ing, we heard a heavy thud, thud, and knew that the 
poor goat that was to supply our dinner had just 
breathed his last, and the butcher was now prepar- 
ing to remove the skin by inflating and then beating 
it— a proceedmg which loosened the skin, and made 
its removal more easy. 

We made many excursions to neighbouring villages, 
starting early in the mommg, and spending the heat 
of the day at our destination, and returning in the 
evening. Thus we became acquainted with many 
people, and on the whole were well received. 

Sometimes we rode to the summit of a little hill 



124 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

near the village of Nebk, and inspected an old watch- 
tower.* From this point we could see almost to 
YabrAd in one direction, and to Kara, near Deir 
Atiya, in another, where there was a second watch- 
tower; and we were told that they had formerly 
been garrisoned by soldiers, who kept watch over the 
road to protect travellers. These and many other 
watch-towers were erected within sight of each other, 
by one of the former Sultans, along the whole of the 
road between Damascus, Aleppo, and Constantinople, 
for the protection of caravans. Large khans or 
caravansaries were also built near these towers as 
barracks for soldiers, and also for the accommodation 
of travellers. 

These soldiers or watchmen stationed in the tower 
were, of course, obliged to give an alarm-f- if they saw 
any danger approaching. The country at the present 
time is thought to be a considerable degree more safe, 
and the watch-towers have fallen into disuse ; but still 
the people in this district, at certain times, live in fear 
of the Bedouin, lest they should make a descent on 
their flocks and herds and drive them off, as they not 
imfrequently do. 

Although the old watch-tower is in ruins, and the 
khan greatly out of repair, yet the latter is still used 
for travellers ; and, when we went down in the even- 
ing to water our horses at the river, we sometimes 
found that a caravan, on its way to or from Aleppo, 
had just arrived, and that the travellers, rich and 
poor together, were trying to make themselves as 

* 2 Kings ix. 17 ; Ezek. xxxiii. 2. 

t Ezek. iii. 17 ; 2 Chron.xx. 24 ; Jer. vi. 17. 



SUMMEB QUABTERS. 125 

comfortable as they could among their baggage for 
the night ; but the best of these khans are miserable 
places. The most you can hope for is a bare empty 
room, in which you may arrange any little comforts 
you have brought with you in^ the way of rugs or 
bedding. The large khans built near a watch-tower 
have several rooms opening on a central court, but 
the simple mountain khans have only one or at most 
two rooms, into which all the guests must be packed ; 
but whether large or small, I can hardly imagine a 
greater pimishment to a European than to be con- 
demned to pass a night in one of them. We can 
only hope that the khans in the time of Augustus 
Caesar,* when the land was enjo3dng a greater degree 
of civilization than at present, were as much better 
than the present ones as the Eoman roads were 
better than the rough paths of Syria in our day. 

* Luke ii. 7. 



f 



CHAPTER X. 

A RIDE THROUGH THE DESERT. 

A JOURNEY to Tadmor,^ the ancient Palmyra, is not 
a very common thing — even in these days of travel 
and adventure — and if a party of travellers determine 
to encoimter the fatigue and peril of an expedition to 
this city in the wilderness, they usually provide them- 
selves with tents, a dragoman, and retinue of servants, 
and many other encumbrances; last, not least, aii 
escort of about twenty Turkish soldiers, and a permit 
from the Consul, which he will only grant when the 
district is in a fairly settled and peaceful condition. 
All these precautions of course are quite necessary if 
ladies are in the party. About two years and a 
half ago my husband and a young Cambridge friend 
determined to visit these famous ruins; but they neither 
wished, nor could they afford, to take tents and a 
number of muleteers. Their intention was to make 
the journey as rapidly and easily as possible ; hoping, 
by the way, to find openings for missionary work 
among the Bedouin often found encamping in that 
district. Their preparations were of the simplest 
kind. They provided themselves with two strong 

* 2 Chron. viii. 4. 



A BEDE THROUGH THE DESERT. 127 

useful horses, equal to great fatigue ; a couple of pair 
of large saddle-bags, for carr3dng a small supply of 
clothing, food. Bibles, and tracts. Over the saddle 
my husband strapped his ' abai,' or native cloak, and 
a coarse white sheet. Behind the saddles were fixed 
the nose-bags* and iron pegs for the horses. Their 
hats were covered with thick layers of white muslin, 
as a protection from the sun ; and I must not forget 
to add that they each carried in their saddle-bags a 
strange garment, such as could not be purchased 
ready-made in any part of Europe. It was made of 
coarse caUco, and in shape was a shirt, trowsers, socks, 
and gloves, all in one, and all made of the same 
material. It had a hood to be tied tightly round the 
fiice, and a girdle or sash roimd the waist. Every 
opening was closed up, except the way in. Before 
they started, these garments were carefully examined 
to see that no stitch was wanting, for they were to 
serve an important office. Every night when sleeping 
under a roof, the two gentlemen carefully removed 
their day clothes, and then drew these calico cases 
quickly over their night apparel, tying up the entrance- 
hole as quickly as possible ; and, if necessary, covering 
their faces with a piece of white gauze. Thus guarded 
and protected, they could sleep in the dirtiest abodes 
imdisturbed and untouched by the myriads of fleas, 
etc., which held their lively court around, above, and 
beneath them. 

Their only companion was a worthy Scripture- 
reader, who, of course, carried all he needed on his 
own horse. 

They left Damascus on May 13, 1880, and slept 



128 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

that night at Kiteifeh, where they had some pleasant 
talk with the kind, simple people, with whom they 
left a Bible. From this place they took a guide, and 
travelled for some horns, resting during the great heat 
of the day ; and then they rode on again from five till 
ten p.m. Their guide discovered that lie had unfor- 
timately lost his cloak, and had to return to seek it. 
From ten p.m. to twelve p.m., the party rested on the 
groimd in the middle of the open country, fed their 
horses, and partook of their midnight lunch ; but 
they dared not waste more than two hours in rest and 
sleep. The heat the day before had been terrific, and 
they were determined to press on as fast as possible 
during the cool of the night. Water, too, was very 
scarce, and they could not tarry on that account. 
Happily a second man had joined them on their road, 
who was travelling towards Kiryatein, and was glad 
to find companions. He was able to act as their 
guide. They were now in the midst of the little 
Dowh, an immense sandy plain, ten miles wide, 
bounded on right and left by mountains, and extend- 
ing from Utney to Kiryatein. It is quite flat, except 
in a few places where it is broken by winter water- 
courses, called 'sayls.' There was no road of any 
kind; but their way was easy, though extremely 
monotonous. They saw neither man nor beast, tree 
nor shrub : only here and there a few desert plants. 
In some places the horses found it difficult to tread, 
as their feet were constantly sinking into the ground ; 
and at first the gentlemen were puzzled as to the 
cause of this, bub they soon discovered that they had 
invaded the territory of a pretty little enemy of man- 



A BIDE THBOUGH THE DESEBT. 129 

kind, the jerboa — a kind of white rat or large mouse, 
which makes its holes in the groimd ; and in places 
had completely honeycombed the earth for great 
distances. They did not reach Kiryatein, their half- 
way house, without great fatigue and exertion. Some- 
times they were so weary and exhausted, that they 
fell asleep on the backs of their horses, and were 
obliged to dismoimt, and try to rouse themselves by 
walking; but when sleep overpowered them, even 
when walking, they were compelled two or three times 
to tether their horses to the iron pegs they carried 
with them, and throw themselves flat on the groimd 
for a few moments' sleep. These little naps refreshed 
them, and they could again mount and press for- 
ward 

After passing Utney, the ruins of En-Nasariya were 
pointed out on their right, curiously situated close to 
the Jerdd salt-plain (or lake in winter) ; and, strange 
to say, the Moslems call it Medinat Loot, or the City 
of Lot, connecting it, of course erroneously, with the 
land of Sodom and Gomorrah. They also crossed 
traces of the wonderful undergroimd canal which 
probably supplied that ancient city with water. This 
system of water- works resembles that of drainage in 
Europe, except that the canal is much deeper and 
larger than an English mam-drain ; and at short 
intervals is open to the surface by means of shafts, by 
which men descend to the drain or canal every year 
for the purpose of keeping it clean. This mode of 
collecting water in extensive plains in Syria is to be 
seen in various places in this district, such as that 
between Kiteifeh and Utney, where we passed several ; 

9 



130 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

as well as at Nebk and Deir-Atiya; also at Ashrafiya, and 
Sahnaya, south of Damascus. It seems to have had 
its origin in very ancient times, as no other means of 
collecting water would appear to have existed in those 
parts where it was used, the moimtains being far away. 

But the ruins of En-Nusariya and the remains of 
water-canals were passed at the beginning of this 
long and dreary ride ; and after they were left behind, 
nothing of interest occurred to break the monotony 
of the long dark ride. But the longest night 
must have an end, and about nine a.m. on Saturday 
morning they reached Kuryatein, where they were 
kindly received and entertained by the Mohammedan 
sheikh. Here they rested during the remainder of 
Saturday and the whole of Sunday, endeavouring at the 
same time to seize every opportunity of speaking and 
reading to the poor ignorant Moslems and Christians 
of this remote village.* 

While they were resting here, the Kiteifehguide,who 
had returned to look for his lost cloak, arrived with 
a long tale to tell of his toilsome, fruitless search in 
the lonely wilderness. He had suffered much from 
himger and thirst, for the supply of food and water 
were with the three travellers, and he had none. At 
one point he had been greatly alarmed by seeing a 
party of 150 mounted Bedouin cross his path at a point 
which the gentlemen had passed not very long before, 
but they were preserved and hidden by the darkness 
and by the good hand of God upon them. They would 
gladly have found the Bedouin quietly encamped along 

* By some, Kiryatein is thought to be the Hazar-enan of 
Scripture (Num. xxxiv. 9, 10 ; Ezek. xlvii. 17). 



A RIDE THROUGH THE DESERT. 131 

their route, for then they would have been able to have 
entered their tents and claimed their hospitality, and 
held pleasant intercourse with them; but an encoimter 
with 150 Arabs out on a robbing excursion was a 
very different matter, and they heard with thankful- 
ness of their escape. 

Still they had a long journey before them, and they 
knew that no water could be obtained along the 
whole route. After some consideration, therefore, it 
was decided that they should water their horses, and 
fill the little water-jars they carried with them, about 
noon on the Monday ; and that they should then start 
immediately, and endeavour to reach Tadmor the 
next day. This they accordingly did, and at seven p.m. 
they reached the ancient ruins of Kasr-ul-Kheir, which 
in former times consisted of a small but very strong 
fort, intended no doubt for the protection of travellers. 
It stands in the midst of a dry, arid plain, but close to 
it are the remains of a reservoir and aqueduct, which 
brought in a supply of water from the Ain-ul-Wu'ul, 
or Fountain of Wild Goats, several miles distant. 

They had now entered the Great Dowh, a plain 
seventy miles long, and from eight to seventeen wide. 
It stretches from Kiryatein to Tadmor, with no 
inequalities except a few small water-courses ; so that 
in front and behind, the horizon bounds the traveller's 
view, while on the right and left are mountain-ranges. 
This great plain has an aspect of solitariness and lone- 
liness too profound to describe ; and as they rode 
along quietly, they saw neither man nor beast from 
the moment they left the outskirts of Kiryatein until 
they arrived at the confines of Tadmor. Occasionally 

9—2 



132 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

they noticed a few starlings and larks, and at Kasr-ul- 
Kheir four or five ravens* were lodging in its ruins 
as its only inhabitants; and their presence, as they 
fluttered about over their heads in the ruins, only 
made the feeling of loneliness more impressive ; while, 
of course, the knowledge that at any moment they 
might be surprised by welcome or unwelcome visitors 
added to the romance of their situation in the midst 
of this dreary solitude. 

There is no road through the Great Dowh, and 
the travellers had to steer their course by the moun- 
tains, keeping as nearly as possible in the middle of 
the plain ; and, as darkness drew on, by the stars of 
heaven. At midnight they halted, and slept on the 
ground till about four a.m., a little before the moon 
set, the horses being picketed around them. 

At five they saw the sun rise over Tadmor itself, 
and then they knew that they were drawing near their 
destination, though several hours' riding still lay before 
them ; but there were many flowers and strange desert 
plants scattered over parts of the plain: indeed in 
some places the soil seemed fertile, and only needing 
cultivation ; in others, it was dry and sandy, and the 
troublesome little jerboa caused great annoyance to 
the horses. Twenty days before, both the Little and 
the Great Dowh had been full of Bedouin tents; 
but having, like the locusts, eaten up every green 
thing, the Arabs had taken flight to other regions. 
The travellers were therefore disappointed in one pur- 
pose of their journey : that is, they found no Bedouin 
to visit. 

* Isa. xxxiv. 11. 



A RIDE THROUGH THE DESERT. 133 

Across this plain they pursued their way without 
finding a single tree or a tiny stream of water ; but 
they purposely travelled by night, that neither they 
nor their horses might suffer more than was necessary 
from thirst. As they approached Tadmor, they noticed 
on the left a part of the plain covered with the 
terebinth-tree ; and a Uttle farther on, the ruins of an 
old aqueduct which had once conveyed pure water 
to the famous capital of Zenobia. 

Some time before they reached the city, they per- 
ceived some of its mausoleums ; and when they came 
up to the rising ground on which they stand, the once 
magnificent but now ruined city burst on their view. 
But, I am sorry to say, it awoke no raptures in our 
travellers ; they were so worn out and exhausted by 
twenty-four hours in the saddle, the last part of which 
had been spent beneath a burning sun, that I am 
afraid the first idea was that at last they had reached 
a haven of rest — a spot where they might hope to 
quench their burning thirst. It was two p.m., and the 
ruins lay before them, drowned, if I may so speak, in 
the dazzling light of a Syrian sun, without a vestige 
of green, except some tiny gardens, or shade of any 
kind to reUeve the aching eye ; and their first feeling 
was one of sadness and extreme amazement that such 
a situation could have been chosen for a city of im- 
perial grandeur. 

They went with all haste to the spring from which 
they were told all the people drank, but, to their dis- 
appointment, found the water warm and sulphurous, 
and unsatisfying ; but were told that it became cold 
and more drinkable when kept for a little time in the 



134 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

house, and were assured that it was very good for 
their health. After watering their horses, they entered 
the city by an ancient gateway, and proceeded to the 
house of Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah, who received 
them kindly, and did his best to make them comfort- 
able. He and all the rest of the inhabitants are housed 
within the ruins of the once splendid Temple of the 
Sun. There are probably only about forty or fifty 
families living in Tadmor at present, the city which 
was once teeming with life and gaiety. The present 
inhabitants are chiefly Mohammedan peasants, with a 
few Christians. 

Our travellers partook of a very simple meal in the 
sheikh's house, but were too weary to begin a regular 
exploration of the ruins till the next morning ; so they 
spent some little time in talking and reading to the 
people. 

The next morning they wandered about the Temple 
of the Sun, visiting some of the houses on their way. 
This temple is 470 feet long, and the magnificent pillars, 
70 feet high, resemble those of Baalbec ; and my hus- 
band was particularly struck with the beautiful carving 
over the entrances, and in the ceilings of two small 
chambers. Outside the walls of the temple are the 
remains of the once splendid colonnades for which 
Tadmor is peculiarly famous; probably no city in 
Europe could ever boast such a display of columns 
with tastefully engraved entablatures, while each 
pillar has a bracket on which once stood the statues 
of the day. Many of these pillars still remain, but 
not one of the statues stands on its place, though many 
of the inscriptions can still be read. They walked 



A BIDE THB0U6H THE DESERT. 137 

from end to end of the first colonnade, which would 
have been the chief thoroughfare of the city in old 
times. It was about 4,000 feet long, lined on either 
side with a double row of pillars, ending at the south 
in a most tastefully ornamented triumphal arch. At 
one of the crossways were four splendid red granite 
pillars standing on pedestals of some height. Many 
pillars are now prostrate, but enough remain standing 
to give the visitor such an impression as can never be 
forgotten of the beauty of this wonderful city of 
antiquity, built on so strange a site. On the one side 
were the baked, barren mountains, and on the other 
the waste, howling wilderness. Of the beautiful palm- 
trees from which it derived its name, only two or three 
small specimens remain ; and what was said of Jeru- 
salem may well be said of it, * How is the gold become 
dim, and the most fine gold changed !** 

Several Eoman Emperors visited Tadmor and helped 
to adorn it, especially Hadrian ; but now the proud, 
the gifted, and the polished who once paraded those 
thoroughfares are in the dust, and their work in ruins. 

Another striking feature of the Tadmor ruins are 
its mausoleums, built outside the walls on the heights 
to the west, in the form of great towers ; and in fact 
the lonely, sad scene is made up of ruined colonnades, 
temples and tombs, each telling its own tale of the 
past. 

The weather was very hot, but the travellers 
followed the sulphurous stream to a little distance 
outside the city, almost to its source, and there, imder 
the shade of an old mill, they indulged in a delightful 

* Lam. iv. 1. 



138 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

bath, which they found especially refreshing after 
their long rides : the warm sulphurous water did not 
need the addition of soap, but formed a perfect lather, 
and speedily removed all impurities from the skin. 

They remained in Tadmor from Tuesday afternoon 
till Thursday at noon, and then started on the return 
journey. As they reached the ridge on which the 
mausoleums stand, they looked over the salt-plain, 
about an hour's ride to the west of the ruins, shining 
white in the midst of the grey, arid desolation, and 
beyond to the boundless desert, level as the sea, with- 
out a mountain as far as Bagdad and Nejd. The 
Bedouin call it Ish-shoal and Hamad, and reckon it 
their own peculiar possession, where they can roam 
with unfettered freedom, except when the tribes are 
contending with each other, which I am sorry to say 
the descendants of * the wild man ' delight in doing. 
One of the nights that the travellers spent at Tadmor, 
a * Ghuzu,' or robbing expedition, visited the salt-fields ; 
and although they were guarded by the Government, 
the Arabs succeeded in carrying off several camel- 
loads of salt Not long after the travellers left Tadmor, 
an alarm was raised that the Arabs were coming ; but 
happily, as the supposed robbing-party drew gradually 
nearer, they resolved themselves into a peaceful band 
of merchantmen on their way to Tadmor. Though it 
proved a false alarm on their part, yet soon after they 
reached Kiryatein they heard that a party of natives 
had been attacked, and robbed of their laden animals, 
not far from that village. 

About eleven a.m. on Friday they reached Kiryatein 
ety, but very tired and exhausted ; for unfortu- 




A RIDE THROUGH THE DESERT. 139 

nately their stock of provisions had failed them, and 
they suflfered both from hunger and thirst. 

At Kiryatein they heard of a place called Ul 
Hama, about three hours' ride to the north, 
where there is a curious and very powerful natural 
vapour-bath. It was evidently known and used in 
ancient times, for there is 'still the ruins of an old 
building which was erected over it with a small 
opening in the flooring to allow the hot steam to blow 
up into the bath-room; and this it does with such 
noise and force that anyone inside is soon bathed 
with vapour. They wished very much to visit the 
place and see for themselves; but the poor horses 
were greatly fatigued, and it was not advisable to 
lengthen the journey. 

About three hours west of Kiryatein they came to 
Haw-wareen, where there are the ruins of what people 
think were old churches. One was certainly very 
ancient, and the other also old, but in a very good 
state of preservation. The first was evidently a church, 
very massively built of large stones, some of them 
pedestals of pillars of a still more ancient building ; 
possibly from the time of Solomon, as this place and 
Imheen, half an hour to the west, where there is also 
a similar ruin, are supposed by some to be the Upper 
and Nether Beth-horon, built by Solomon at the time 
he built Tadmor.* 

They intended to spend Saturday night and Sunday 
with the Bedouin at Ul-Humeira, but were again 
doomed to disappointment; on arriving there late 
after sunset, they had the vexation to find the place 

* 2 Chron. viii. 4, 6. 



140 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

deserted, and the Arabs gone beyond their ken. All 
they could do was to dismount, open their saddle-bags, 
and spread the little supper they had with them on 
the ground, and eat it in the dark. After riding on 
again for some distance, they found that there was no 
alternative but to spend the night in the open air. 
They picketed the horses 'close to them, and lay down 
on the ground to sleep. They rose at three a.m., and 
reached Deir-Atiya at 5.30 on Sunday morning, just as 
the people were awaking and sending out their large 
flocks of goats to pasture. They had breakfast with the 
Protestant teacher, and gladly joined with him and a 
few others in worship; and in the afternoon sought 
opportunities of speaking to the people in the streets 
and houses on the truths of the Bible. They, were 
interrupted in a strange way by being called to act 
the part of lawyer, and settle a serious dispute which 
had arisen between some of the peasants about the 
water. In this district, and in fact in many of the 
flat parts of Central and Northern Sjo^ia, the cultivated 
land round the villages and cities is watered, like 
Egypt, by means of artificial irrigation.* Little 
channels are formed from the principal stream, and 
the water turned off at certain hours, and for a certain 
time, into each man's vineyard or field. Perhaps the 
appointed hour may only occur in some cases once a 
week, or once in ten days. In the district of Deir-Atiya 
and Nebk, most of the men are provided with sand 
hour-glasses, and they keep a most jealous watch over 
the water, not only to obtain their supply at the 
appointed hour, but to see that exactly the right 

* Deut. xi. 10. 



A RIDE THROUGH THE DESERT. 141 

quantity was allowed to flow into their land. The 
water, therefore, is a fruitful source of quarrels and 
eveon fights among the villagers. In this instance the 
dispute was about a very nice point ; in fact, it needed 
almost mathematical accuracy to settle it, from the 
way in which the water had to be divided and sub- 
divided, and therefore these men were anxious to refer 
the matter to a European, hoping to get strict justice 
from him. 

The travellers were most thankftil for the quiet rest 
of the Sunday and the kind hospitality of their host ; 
and early on Monday morning they resumed their 
journey to Damascus, visiting on their way some of 
our old friends at Nebk and Yabrtld. They spent 
that night in the convent of the Greek Catholic 
Church at MaalMa. This is a strange, romantic 
spot. The village is situated in a deep precipitous 
gorge, and many of the houses are built in recesses or 
clefts of the rocks, so that in some cases the rocks 
overhang them. The convent stands at the upper 
end of the village, overlooking all the houses, as if it 
were intended to protect and overawe them. It is 
very strongly built, and occupies the most healthy 
position of all the dwellings. The monk in charge 
gave them a very hospitable reception, and did all he 
could to make them and their horses comfortable for 
the night. He was there as the agent of the patriarch 
to collect the fruits of the rich convent property, and 
he showed them some of the farm operations which 
occupied much of his time, such as making cheese 
and wine. 

MaalAla is one of the few villages where Syriac is 



142 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

still spoken as well as Arabic. In spite of its splendid 
and romantic situation, I am sorry to say it is a very 
dirty village, and woe to the traveller who tries to 
spend a night in one of its houses ; innumerable bugs 
will seize upon him as their lawful prey. In the 
convent, the travellers spent a fairly comfortable night, 
and early next morning were again on their way. 
They passed through Saidnaya, and visited some of 
the people there ; and a httle after sunset, tired and 
weary, they reached Damascus, where their coming 
had been anxiously expected. 



CHAPTER XL 

AGRICULTURAL LIFE — SOWING. 

Our last expedition was far away into the desert to 
the north-east of Damascus, to the borders of the 
land where wheat and barley, grapes and figs, olive 
and mulberry trees cannot grow. After such an 
outmg, it is never pleasant, even in thought, to return 
to city-life. We may therefore be pardoned if we 
leave the study of the habits and customs of the 
proud Damascenes, with their fine houses, and grand 
dresses, and ceremonious visiting, and plunge fairly 
into farm and village life, even though we may have 
to leave the district of country still called Bar-esh- 
Sham, or the country of Damascus. If we make the 
best use of our opportunities, we may be able to en- 
lighten some of our Damascus friends on certain 
subjects of which I fear they are almost as ignorant 
as most Londoners were before the introduction of 
railwajrs. From time to time many of the Christians 
have been driven from the city by war or persecution, 
or an outbreak of cholera, to take refuge in the villages 
or country towns ; but the Moslems seldom travel, 
and many a young Mohammedan of twenty or thirty 
is just as bigoted and narrow-minded as his fore- 



144 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

fathers were, because he has never seen the world, 
not even the material world from which he gets his 
daily bread. They just tra<verse the streets to and 
from their shops, and look down with contempt on 
the poor fellaheen, to whom they owe so much. I 
have been asked to describe an Eastern farm ; but I 
must say I am a little puzzled how to do so. I have 
sometimes tried to find an Arabic word expressing 
exactly what we English mean by a farm ; but I have 
never yet discovered it, because the thing itseK hardly 
exists. The nearest is *h6sh' — a kind of farmyard ; or 
' mazraa ' — a piece of land which has been sown, and 
with two or three mud cottages standing in its 
midst. 

In the great towns most of the people are given up 
to trade, though some own lands outside the cities. 
In the villages almost all the people are farmers : that 
is, each family, however poor, has a piece of ground, 
a vineyard, an ohveyard, or a cornfield, one or two 
goats, a donkey, or a cow. The richer have many 
fields and vineyards, and many animals, but they all 
live close together in the village street ; and, though 
all are farmers, you rarely find exactly what in Eng- 
land is called a farm, that is, a house in the middle 
of the coxmtry, standing in a pretty little garden, with 
bams and outhouses, poultry-yards and cowsheds, 
and surrounded with well-cultivated fields. If we 
want to learn about the agricultural life of the people 
in Syria, we must go and spend a few months in one 
of these villages. 

One strange thing I may as well mention : In Ire- 
land the people are trying to get rid of the landlords, 



AGRICULTURAL LIFE — SOWIXG. 145 

and each man wants a bit of land for himself. In 
Syria for ages the land has been almost entirely the 
people's on payment of certain tithes and taxes to 
the Government ; and nmnbers are now smik m debt, 
because they have had to borrow money to till their 
gromid at a high rate of interest Some of these 
poor people, tired of the long struggle with money- 
difficulties, are beginning to sell their land to rich 
men with capital, preferring to work for them for 
settled wages, than to remain owners with no money 
to work it 

Some of these rich landlords are beginning to in- 
troduce European improvements, and to erect farm- 
buildings. 

In England, farms are divided chiefly into two 
classes — those devoted to raisinof com and those for 
pasture-land for slieep and cattle ; but Syria even now, 
when it is so imperfectly cultivated, yields a greater 
variety of produce. In the latter, we have wheat 
^nd barley, and. Indian com, but no oats or rye ; we 
have olive-yards and vineyards, apricot and mulberry- 
plantations, fields of hemp, and madder, and darnel, 
beans and lentiles, gardens of tobacco, forests of pine- 
trees, rows of prickly pears, and orchards of figs and 
pomegranates, axid bananas, oranges, and lemons. In 
spite of misgovemment and poverty, it is still * a 
pleasant land ;'* and once more it may yet become * a 

goodly land ' * tlie glory of all lands.'f 

The climate of Syria, it has often been said, varies 
from the tropical lieat of Jericho, to the cold of per- 

* Dan. viiL 9. 
f Szek. :x^. 6, 15 ; Dan. xL 16 ; Xeh. ix, 25. 

10 



146 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

petual snow on the summit of Hermon ; so it is easy 
to see that we shall search in vain for a typical village: 
that is, for one that possesses all these riches. I am 
afraid we must be prepared to pay a number of visits 
in different parts of the country if we want to get 
acquainted with the various kinds of agriculture. 

David, we read,* had different men appointed over 
the storehouses and tillers of the ground, over the 
vineyards and wine-cellars, over the olive-yards and 
cellars of oil, over the herds of cattle, over the asses 
and flocks of sheep ; and, perhaps, we cannot do 
better than follow his division of labour, only begin- 
ning with the tillers of the ground before we mention 
the storehouses. 

The principal object of the tillers of the ground is, 
of course, to produce com. Wheat and barley will 
grow in almost any part of the land, in the hot 
vaUeys of the Jordan, and to a height of about 5,000 
feet on Lebanon ; but Dhtira, or Indian com, only 
in plains where it can be watered. The beautiful 
plain of Sharon,f stretching inland and along the sea- 
coast north of Jaffa, the ancient Joppaj: and that of 
Esdraelon, extending from Shunem to Carmel,§ would 
still produce abundance of com as in days of old ; 
but they are only very partially cultivated now, on 
accoimt of the oppression of the Government, and 
the inroads of the Bedouin. At present the Hauran, 
the ancient Land of £ashan,|| and the Bukaa, or Coelo 
Syria, are the chief granaries of the land ; and not 

* 1 Chron. xxvii. 25 — 31 ; Uzziah also ; 2 Chron. xxvi. 10. 
t Isa. XXXV. 2. t Jonah i. 3 ; Acts ix. 36. 

§ 2 Kings iv. 8—25. I Num. xxi. 33 ; Jer. 1. 19. 



AGRICULTURAL LIFE — SOWING. 147 

only supply all the inhabitants need, but, in fruitfiil 
seasons, large quantities are exported to distant 
countries. 

In the Bukaa, we shall be able to watch the pro- 
ceedings of the tiller of the ground, and of the herds- 
man, while some of the moimtains enclosing it are 
chiefly clothed with vineyards. Our first visit, there- 
fore, shall be to Zahleh and Maalaka, two large 
villages adjoining one another, and together forming 
a town of some 12,000 or 14,000 inhabitants. This 
town is a favourite resort of the Damascus Christians 
when they need a little country air. 

In Zahleh we shall easilv find comfortable rooms, 
plenty of fresh, cold water, and, even in the great heat 
of summer, we shall have cool nights. It stands on the 
slope of the Lebanon, and commands a splendid view 
of the fine plain, 90 miles long and 9 or 10 wide, 
which stretches along at its feet, bounded on the 
other side by the anti-Lebanon. It is dotted over 
with tiny mud villages, inhabited by the peasants or 
fellaheen, and is watered by the Litany, the ancient 
Leontes, and other streams. 

It is very pleasant to go out at early morning, or 
towards sunset, and stand on a point of the moun- 
tain and watch the varied tints in the plain below, 
and the ever- varying lights and shadows on the lofty 
range opposite. I cannot attempt to describe it. The 
words in which David* depicts a similar scene, per- 
haps that of the valleys and hills around Bethlehem, 
convey the best idea of the landscape. 

We shall find plenty to interest us if we spend 

♦ Psa. bcv. 8—13. 

10—2 



148 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

several months in this little town. It has plenty of 
shops, such as they are, and plenty of churches, 
Greek, Catholic, and one Protestant. 

Suppose we take up our abode there in the autiunn, 
about November, we shall find the roads, and moun- 
tains, and fields dried up with the long simimer heat 
and perfectly white with dust ; but the time of rain is 
drawing near, and the people are watching intently 
for the first signs of a break-up of the weather. It 
may come at once, or they may have got several 
weeks to wait, and watch, and pray that God will be 
merciful and send * the rain of their land in his due 
season.'* Each day as it passes increases their 
anxiety ; wheat and barley rise in price, and, imless it 
come soon, there wiU be a bad look-out for next 
year. Prayer is made in all the churches, and the 
sky is anxiously scanned at night to see if any light- 
ning is to be seen playing about the summits of the 
westemf mountains — the sure precursor of coming 
rain. It may be Christmas Day, or even later, before 
the welcome sound of the first downpour is heard. 
Great are the rejoicings J of young and old when *the 
heavens become black with clouds and wind, and 
there is a great rain.'§ 

As a rule, however, the rain comes earlier than this. 
On the higher parts of Lebanon, a few heavy showers 
invariably fall about the * Eid es Saleeb ' (the Feast of 
the Cross, September 15th), and after that, a little 
ploughing is done; but it is not tiU after the rains 
of November or December have fairly set in that 

* Deut. xi. 14, 15. + Luke xii. 54. 

Z Joel ii. 23. § 1 Kiogs xviii. 45. 



AGRICULTURAL LIFE — SOWING. 149 

the great operations of ploughing and sowing begin 
in downright earnest. The summer heat has made 
the soil almost as hard as a rock ; but as soon as the 
first showers have fallen and soaked into the groxmd, 
all the fellaheen will prepare their rude ploughs and 
begin their labour. The land is not generally divided 
into fields, separated by hedges or walls, but simply 
by the course of a stream, by the road, by a row of 
rocks, or the edge of a hill, or something of that kind. 
Very often the land simply belongs to the village, and 
in that case, when ploughing-time comes, a meeting is 
held, and the land divided out by lot to the owners of 
ploughs, the divisions being frequently marked by 
placing large stones as landmarks; and no greater 
crime can be committed than to remove one of 
these.* 

As soon as the rain ceases a little, we will ride 
down into the plain and watch the peasants at their 
work. It will be very pleasant to see the country 
fresh, and green, and bright *in the clear shining 
after rain;'-[- and as we go, we shall see everyone 
all alive and busy, delighted that the rain has come 
at last. On many of the housetops we shall notice 
people rolling their flat mud roofs with heavy stone 
rollers, that, when more rain falls, it may not soak 
through and drip, drip, drip upon all their best 
furniture, like the irritating words of Solomon's con- 
tentious woman.J We shall find plenty of mud and 
little running streams to ride through, for when it 
does rain in Syria, it rains in good earnest. 

* Deut. xix. 14. + 2 Sam, xxiii. 4. t Prov. xix. 13. 



160 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLK 

As soon as we reach the plain, and come in sight 
of the ploughmen, we must give them the customary 
salute, ' II awafeh !' (* Your health !'), to which they 
will reply, 'Allah Yuafeek!' ('May God give you 
health!'). When we notice the rude, rough imple- 
ments they are using, we are not surprised that 
Elisha* did not scruple to bum them when he 
wanted a fire ; they could easily be replaced, and at 
little cost. The plough is simply a sharp piece of 
pointed iron with a wooden handle. It is attached 
by a long pole to a clumsy yoke, which rests on the 
neck of a pair of oxen. The yoke is made entirely of 
wood, and consists of a straight rough pole, into which 
are fixed four short pieces of wood ; two are so arranged 
as to fit the neck of one ox, and two to fit the other. 
Between the two is fixed the pole of the plough. 
Each man, while he guides the plough with one hand, 
carries in the other a goad, sometimes ten feet long, 
with a sharp iron spike at one end, with which he 
every now and then pricks the poor oxf to urge it 
on, if it is inclined to be lazy, ^or ' imaccustomed to 
the yoke.'{ Sometimes the ox gets angry and re- 
bellious, and 'kicks against the pricks,' § and wounds 
himself more deeply than his master intends. At the 
other end of the goad is a piece of iron formed some- 
thing like a scoop or chisel, which is used to remove the 
earth from the plough when it gets choked up with 
it, or to break the harder clods which hinder the 
plough. Of course these goads must be kept sharp, 
and a file is used for that purpose.|| 

* 1 Kings xix. 21. fEccles. xii, 11. 

t Jer. xxxi. 18. § Acts ix. 5. 

1 Sam. xiii. 21. 



AGRICULTURAL LIFE — SOWING. 151 

In the Bukaa the ploughmen have little to fear 
from robbers, and we shall find them ploughmg quietly 
one in one part, and another in another ; but in many 
districts they go out in companies, and remain close 
together for self-defence. Their little ploughs make 
no regular furrow, but just scratch up the surface of 
the ground to a depth of about six inches. Some- 
times we may see ten or twelve, or more, ploughs all 
at work togetiier.* 

The Bedouins very seldom take the trouble to sow 
seed, preferring to rob their neighbour's corn-fields 
instead: still some do, and there is a tribe, east of 
the Lejah, who occasionally try to raise a little com 
on their own account, and with a plough more simple 
still : for they just scratch up the earth by dragging a 
number of branches over it. 

We must not hinder our Bukaa ploughmen at their 
work, they will be glad to get as much done as 
possible while the weather is fair ; but we will ride on 
to the nearest of the poor mud villages, where they 
live, and talk to some of the old people left behind. 
Some of the houses are so small, and dark, and dirty, 
that we can hardly venture into them ; but we will 
see if we can find the old Sheikh at home, and he 
will tell us some of the troubles of ^the ploughman : 
how if the rains are late in beginning, he must labour 
hard to prepare the land quickly for the seed; he 
must not loiter or delay,-|- but, come rain, or storm, or 
snow, he must persevere ; for ' if he will not plough 
by reason of the cold, he shall beg in harvest.'}: 

Poor old Abou Ibrahim will be very glad to get a 

* 1 Kings xix. 19. t Luke ix. 62, % Prov. xx. 4. 



152 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

chat with us as he sits smoking his long pipe, and wiH 
be ready to teach us all we want to learn about plough- 
ing and sowing. He will tell us that a pair of oxen are 
usually employed for ploughing ; but if no oxen can 
be got, the people are obliged to do the best they can, 
arid yoke an ox and an ass together.* Sometimes 
camels are used, but not often ; and if a man is very 
poor, and can neither beg nor borrow an ox, why, he 
must just fasten a rope to his plough, and sling it 
over the shoulders of his wife or daughter ! He sees 
such an idea shocks us a little, but hardly under- 
stands why. We must remember that a peasant's 
wife in Syria has plenty of hard work to do, and hard 
words to bear; and her husband is ready enough to 
drive her on, though he has not much thought of 
helping her as a true yoke-fellow, or of sharing the 
burdenf which is heavy for one, but light for two. 

We question him about sowing, and he shows us a 
bag of barley, and a second of wheat, which his sons 
have been carefully treasuring up for the purpose, 
adding, ' Thank God, we have enough this year ; we 
shall not have to starve as we did last year !' Then 
he tells us if the harvest is bad one year how hard it 
is to save enough for sowing the next — ^how sometimes 
the men have indeed ' to goj forth, weeping, bearing 
precious seed,' because they have to take almost the 
last bit of seed from their houses, and leave their 
children literally without bread for some weeks before 
the harvest comes. During the interval, they will 
have to live on milk, or on what they call grass : that 
is, on the diflferent kinds of herbs fit to eat, which the 

* Deut. xxii. 10. + Matt. xi. 28—30. t Psa. cxxvi. 5. 



AGRICULTURAL LITE — SOWING. 153 

women are very clever at discovering among the grass 
in the plain, or on the mountain-side. 

Sometimes my husband, when travelling m early 
spring, has reached a viUage, tired and hLgry, and 
been told that there is not even a bit of barley-bread 
in the place. HappUy this does not happen very 
often. We say to Abou Ibrahim that if the rich land 
about us were better tilled, such things would never 
occur; and tell him about the fine ploughs and 
harrows we have in England, but he hardly cares to 
hear. His father, and his grandfather, and his great- 
grandfather, up to the time of Moses, have used the 
same ; and what need has he of anything better than 
they had? 

As soon* as the ploughing is done, perhaps before 
it is all finished, they will begin to sow first beans and 
lentils, then barley and wheat. Com is generally 
sown broadcast; and we need not go far to find 
examples of seed falling on the wayside, and among 
stones and thoms.-|- 

But it is time to return home ; and, promising to 
pay our old friend a second visit later in the season, 
we rise to go. He also rises to his feet, and accom- 
panies us a little on our way ; and then, with a ' ma 
salameh,' ' go in peace,' he returns to his poor little 
hut 

It is well, perhaps, that we paid our visit to the 
plain when we did, for the winter sets in with unusual 
severity. Lightning and thunder,J unknown during 
the hot season, flash and roar, and torrents of rain 
descend. One wild storm succeeds another, and the 

* Isa. xxviii. 24, 25. t Matt, xiil 2—7. * Job xxxvii. 1—6. 



154 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

people shut themselves up in their houses, and cower 
over their little pans of charcoal The rich men and 
women wrap themselves in robes and jackets lined with 
fur, and the poor in sheepskins,* or in any warm clothes 
they can get At last one morning we wake to find 
our door barricaded with snow. The whole hillside is 
white, and aheady people are astir clearing it oflf their 
flat roofs ; for, should it melt, it will stream through 
them as through a sieve. As we sit and shiver over 
our breakfast, we almost envy poor Abou Brahim in 
his mud cabin ; for he must, at least, be some degrees 
warmer down in the plain, than we are on the hill- 
side. But we must not murmur. Such weather is 
needed to fill the wells, and springs, and rivers, and to 
water the deep roots of the fruit trees. Abimdance 
of winter rain means generally an abundant harvest. *!• 

After all, Zahleh is not the coldest place in Syria ; 
news will come by-and-by of higher mountain villages 
being buried in snow. Damascus and Jerusalem, as 
well as Zahleh and Maalaka, are robed in white. 
The carriage road between Damascus and Beyrout, 
which crosses the Lebanon at a height of 5,000 feet or 
more, will be stopped for traffic, perhaps for a month ; 
but at frequent intervals we shall have brilliant days 
of sunshine, when the snow will sparkle like diamonds, 
and Moimt Hermon, dressed from head to foot in 
white, will look its grandest. 

And all the while the people in the deep valleys of 

the Jordan, and on the sea-coast at Tyre and Sidon, 

and Jafia, and Gaza, who have never travelled far, 

will be wishing they could only see a single flake of 

♦ Heb. xi. 37. f Isa. Iv. 10. 



AGRICULTURAL LIFE — SOWING. 155 

snow as it falls, and understand exactly what it is that 
clothes the distant hills in white. 

At this season we should not forget the poor plough- 
men, who must continue their work till all the seed is 
sown, whatever the weather may be ; nor those whose 
business compels them to travel at all seasons, namely, 
the muleteers, whose laden animals transport all articles 
of merchandise from place to place, and indeed repre- 
sent the luggage-trains of England. Nearly every 
winter we hear of men who have lost their lives in the 
snow, or have reached home with difficulty. *Who 
can stand before his cold?** During such weather 
the wild beasts are sometimes driven down from the 
higher mountains into the neighbourhood of towns. 
Wolves are often heard not far from Zahleh, while in 
the district north of Damascus, where gazelles abound, 
we were told that these naturally timid creatures, 
waxing bold through cold and hunger, sometimes seek 
shelter in the villages. 

* Psa. cxlvii 16—18. 




CHAPTER XII. 

SPRING. 

Some weeks must elapse before the rains cease entirely, 
and we feel inclined to pay another visit to the plain, 
but when we do we shall find that a change has passed 
over the face of the earth. As we ride through the 
village, we shall notice * grass and tiny flowers grow- 
ing on many a house-top, and as soon as we enter the 
vineyards, we shall see that spring has really come. 
For many weeks they have been looking bare and 
deserted; the vines have been trailing their naked 
black branches along the ground, looking withered 
and almost dead, and having ' no form or comeliness.'t 
At the end of winter the vine-dressers have been busy 
among them, J pruning the fruitful branches, and 
cutting away many barren shoots, which have been 
carried away to supply § fuel for the village oven or 
bath-house. Now we shall see the first faint tint of 
green appearing on the vines, and people busy among 
them toming up the earth around the roots, and 
pMTitJTig lings of tar on each stem in different places 
tD pvoserve them from the ravages of a large kind of 

T^exxix.€L tl8a.liii.2. 

tJokaxT.S. § John XT. 6. 



SPRING. 157 

hairy worm which delights in crawling up the branches 
and deYouring the leaves. Before long, the sweet- 
smelling tiny blossom will appear, and when the firuit 
forms, each vine will be propped up that the grapes 
may have space to hang. 

As we ride along we shall notice the spring flowers 
beginning to appear, but we shall look in vain for 
snowdrops and primroses and cowslips, but instead we 
shall see banks covered both in autumn and spring 
with crocuses, and occasionally tulips. The wild 
cyclamen, as large and perfect as the English green- 
house specimens, will be seen growing as plentifully 
as daisies, and before long the mountains and fields will 
be scarlet with lovely pheasant's-eye and the anemone, 
by some supposed to be * the lily of the field.'* 

When we reach the plain we shall find it looking 
very beautiful The tops of the mountains are still 
covered with snow, and the air in the vale below is 
still fresh and exhilarating. The com will now be 
well up, and just beginning to come into ear, and the 
poor peasants are hoping to have a good harvest after 
the plentiful rains of winter. In some places, though 
the barley and wheat seem to be growing thickly, yet 
the fellaheen are not quite content, and are watching 
the further development of the grain with some 
anxiety. They know * that all is not gold that glitters,' 
and tiey fear that tares are growing up \^'ith the 
wheat only too plentifully, but the blade of wheat and 
the blade of the tare resemble each other so com- 
pletely that till the grain is well formed they will not 
be able to distinguish the two, and even should their 

* 3Iatt. vi. 28. 



158 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

suspicions prove correct, they can do nothing; they 
cannot separate them till the harvest comes.* 

Not very far from the foot of the hill below Zahleh 
and Maalaka, we shall come to a large piece of pasture 
land where the grass has been allowed to grow to a 
height of from six to eighteen inches, and here we 
shall find a great number of horses tethered in rows 
under the charge of two men. They belong to people 
in diflferent parts of the coimtiy, but have been sent 
here by their owners for a month or six weeks to eat 
the fresh grass. It is very pleasant to go in and out 
among them, and notice the intense earnestness with 
which they address themselves to their task of eating 
as much as possible, while the yoimg foals gambol 
about together like so many children at play. Of 
course all horses cannot be sent out to grass in the 
spring, but in many of the towns and villages bimdles 
of grass are sold every morning at this season for 
those which have to remain at home. In some cases 
a quantity is stored away green for future consumption, 
but grass is never made into hay. Other parts of the 
plain will be covered with grazing cattle, and among 
the cows, and feeding side by side with them, we shall 
notice a number of buffaloes, kept also for their milk 
and for their labour. It is not always very easy at 
this season to ride far along the plain. We shall have 
to cross innumerable little streams, and shall not 
always be able to make sure of a good bottom. We 
must try and cross where we see traces of others 
having crossed before us, and if this is not always 
possible, it would be well to send the Ughtest of our 

* Matt. xiii. 27—30. 




SPBINO. 159 

party over first, with instructions to be careful, for 
there is danger of sinking deeply in the mud.* In 
fact, nearly every year a cow or a bufiGedo may perish 
by sinking in some treacherous bog. If we can succeed 
in reaching a quiet place in the opposite moimtains, 
we may have a chance of hearing a sound always dear 
to English ears in a foreign land, the note of the 
cuckoo. 

But at such a season we must not tarry too long in 
Zahleh and the Bukaa. The people have a saying that 
if you would see paradise on earth, you should go to 
Damascus in the spring. We can hardly do better than 
take advantage of the still moderate weather, and on our 
way back to the ancient city, pay a visit to the grand 
old ruins of Baalbec. Before we start, we must take 
leave of the English lady who superintends the two 
British Syrian schools for girls, and of her good native 
teachers and Biblewomen, not forgetting the two 
earnest American missionaries and their wives, all of 
whom, while we have been watching the sower sow his 
seed, have been diligently trying to sow that seed 
which can never perish. Not many years ago this 
was indeed a rough, uncultivated field, overrun with 
thorns and briers, and the first seed of the Gospel was 
sown with difficulty. An American missionary was 
literally driven out of the town ; a native Protestant 
was beaten and insulted, but as he rose up and left 
the place, he prayed that on that very spot a Protes- 
tant church might yet be built In spite of all these 
storms of persecution, eflForts were still made from time 
to time to introduce the good seed, and at length it 

* Psa. Ixix. 2, 14. 



162 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

that it was the House of the Forest of Lebanon.* Cer- 
tamly it was devoted to the worship of the sun, and 
in the fourth century part of it was used as a Christian 
church. Before we return to the hotel, we must notice 
some of the enormous stones in the outer wall, not at 
the base, but about nineteen feet from the groimd; 
three of these measure over sixty feet in length, and 
about thirteen feet in height, and are about the same 
thickness, so that three good-sized rooms might be 
hewn out of each. How they were carried from the 
quarry and raised to such a height is a great mystery. 
A still larger stone lies in a quarry outside the town 
almost ready for removal, the weight of which has been 
estimated at from 1,000 to 1,500 tons. 
. Next morning, after a second visit to the ruins, and 
a little peep at the girls' school, we must resume our 
journey to Damascus, still two days distant. Our 
resting-place for the night will be at Zebdany, a large 
village so rich in orchards and gardens that, in the 
season, it supplies a large district of the coimtry with 
abimdance of all kinds of fruits. From Zebdany we 
go on to Damascus, to find the orchards one mass of 
snowy blossom ; the peasants in the fields around as 
busy and hopeful as those we have left in the Bukaa ; 
the people, Jews, Greeks, and Greek Catholics, by turns 
Qelebrating their Easters, which sometimes spread 
over a space of five weeks, and sometimes occur within 
a few days of each other; the work-people are all 
alive, and the town astir, and last, not least. Cook's 
party, numbering fifty persons, has just arrived, to 
be followed shortly by Gaze's. 

* 1 Kings vii. 2-12. 



SPRING. 163 

One thing only made us uneasy as we rode into the 
town* Along some of the lanes just outside the 
walls, we noticed a quantity of black insects, ap- 
parently just hatched, crawling along the paths and 
the banks of the stream, and our muleteer told us 
very calmly that they are yoimg locusts which have 
not yet got their wings. We asked him why do not 
the people sweep them into the stream, or bum them, 
or destroy them in some way now while they are so 
easily managed ? He quietly answered, ' If it is God's 
will they should come, what can we do ?' 



11—2 



CHAPTER XIII. 

HABVEST. 

The time of harvest in Syria and Palestine varies ac- 
cording to the elevation above sea-level, begmning on 
the sea coast, and in the Valley of the Jordan, in 
April, and around the highest villages m the Lebanon 
not till July. In all the great plains, even in the 
Plain of Damascus, 3,000 feet above the sea, the 
harvest is completed before the end of Jime, in fact 
before the heat of summer has risen to its highest 
point : first the harvest,* then the summer ; not first 
the summer, then the harvest, as in England. Still, 
in spite of early harvests, com of all kmds often rises 
greatly in price just before the new com is brought 
into the market, and, unless we have been careful to 
put in a good supply some months before, we shall 
bo in straits now. Bailey-f- for our horses will pro- 
bably have risen to three times the ordinary price ; 
and^ perhaps^ wheat for our own bread will be difficult 
topiooaie. 

hk Um East we have first the bailey^ harvest, and 
ia Um ditws it is always glad news when we hear 
M(W Iwtfoy has been seoi in the market ; and 




HARVEST. 165 

about three weeks or a month later the wheat 
harvest During all this time, the fields are alive 
with men, women, and children ; but there is none of 
the rush and hard work which usually accompanies 
an English harvest, from the anxiety of the farmers to 
get the com safely housed during a few short hours 
of simshine. The Sjnrian farmer has no need to 
regard the weather ; he is sure that the brightest sun 
and clearest sky will favour his operations, and it does 
not much matter whether his field is reaped in a day 
or a week. 

Such a thing as a thunderstorm in harvest-time is 
all but imknown, and should rain fall, the people 
would 'greatly fear.'* Only once during a sojourn 
of ten years in the land do I remember to have seen 
a storm during the harvest. Then, for a short time, 
heavy rain fell, and it was amusing to watch the 
anxious, terrified faces of some of the people. Possibly 
it was caused by some imusual and unhealthy state 
of the atmosphere, for shortly after cholera broke out, 
and carried off thousands of people in a few weeks. 

As soon as harvest begins, nimibers of people, men 
and women, fiock to the fields, sometimes travelling a 
long distance to the grain districts, for example, from 
Damascus to Bashan, to get work. The men reap the 
com with a large sickle ; the women gather it int6 
bundles, and then collect them into a heap ; and the 
gleaners follow the women, but are not allowed to 
glean between the sheaves nor to drink of the water 
which has been provided for the reapers. This is 
often brought in jars from a long distance, and is placed 

* 1 Sam. xii 17 ; Prov. xxvi. 1. 



166 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

in the coolest part of the field and carefully hus- 
banded. The gleaners must find theu* own supply; 
but Boaz allowed Buth 'to glean even among the 
sheaves/* and * to drink from the vessels.' 

From the fields, the com is carried direct to the 
threshing-floors, which are simply hard, flat, circular 
pieces of groimd outside the towns and villages. 
They soon become a scene of lively industry, and not 
unfrequently whole famihes encamp on the threshing- 
floor,t and remain till the work is finished, sometimes 
because their homes are at a great distance, and some- 
times simply to protect { their com from thieves. 
Each owner of a strip of land brings his com, and 
piles it up in the centre of a threshing-floor. In some 
parts of the land it is then simply trodden out by 
oxen, but in Syria a threshing instrument is almost 
always used. It is formed of strong planks of wood 
joined together, and is about the size of a large house 
door, and is bent upwards a little at the end. On the 
lower side are fixed a number of hard, sharp stones, 
which break the husk like so many teeth. § To this 
rude threshing instrument a couple of oxen is yoked ; 
or if a poor peasant has no oxen, a horse, a mule, or 
a donkey; and though the poor beasts are treading 
on such tempting food, you seldom see them muzzled.|| 
They go roimd and roimd the great heap hour after 
hour, and day after day, most patiently,ir till it is 
gradually worked down, and then it is swept up again 
into a he^p and threshed again, and sometimes even a 
third time. 

* Ruth ii. 9, 15. t Ruth iii. 2. 1 1 Sam. xxiii. 1. 
§ Isa. xli. 15. II Dent. xxv. 4. ^ Hosea x. 11. 



HARVEST. 167 

It is a very slow process, but the natives prefer it 
to any new-fashioned European inventions. Indeed, 
they seem to enjoy threshing-time, and the children 
especially seem to consider it very good fun; they 
like to ride on the threshing instrument, and, if no 
children are at hand, the peasant himself generally 
does so, as an additional weight makes it work more 
eflfectually, and the oxen must be kept up to their 
work, and not allowed to stand stilL 

We have often wandered about these threshing- 
floors ; sometimes you will find a single one on some 
level piece on the moimtain-side ; sometimes, if the 
country is flat, and the village large, you may find 
thirty or forty close together; and it is pleasant to 
walk from one to another and talk to the people, giving 
one of the many salutations, ' May you be blessed !' 
and receiving the answer, ' The Lord bless you !'* 

The sheikh, or rich man of the place — such as 
Oman,t the Jebusite — will have many men and oxen 
at work ; but they themselves will keep a careful over- 
sight, and very likely take their share of the work : 
their riches probably consist in great part of the pro- 
duce of their land. 

After the threshing is over, there often comes an 
anxious waiting time. The winnowing, like aU the other 
operations, is done in the open air in a very simple way. 
The com is tossed into the air with a large kind of 
wooden fork, the fan J of Scripture, and the straw and 
chaff fall on one side, and the grain on the other. It 
is necessary therefore to choose a day when the wind 
blows from the right direction, and when it is neither 

* Ruth il 4. 1 1 Chron. xxi 22, 23. % Matt. iii. 12 ; Isa. xU. 16. 



168 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

too gentle nor too strong. If we watch the peasants 
as they toss the com into the air, we shall see that 
the grain being heavy, falls straight on the ground, 
the crushed straw, being lighter, is blown ashuit, and 
soon forms a large heap a little distance off, while 
what we should call chaff and dust, being lighter 
still, falls at a still greater distance, or is blown* com- 
pletely away. The crushed straw is gathered together, 
and, after being again trodden out by the oxen till it 
is very smaU,f is carried away and sold at a cheap 
rate, to be mixed with the barley, which constitutes 
the ordinary food of horses, mules, and donkeys ; but 
the chaff is of no use at all, except to be burned. J 

Then the grain is roughly sifted, and piled up into 
one great heap, and stamped with a large wooden seal, 
till the Government has taken the tithe, and then it 
is carried away. Large quantities are taken at once 
to the markets, for many people buy their year's 
supply of corn directly after the harvest; and, in 
abimdant seasons, considerable quantities are ex- 
ported. § The rest is stored away in bams, or not im- 
frequently in imderground pits|| prepared on purpose, 
and generally about eight feet deep. They are care-" 
fully cemented to exclude damp, and the opening is 
so small that it can be easily concealed. Sometimes 
they are dug in fields, sometimes in the cities and 
villages. We remember noticing the mouths of many 
such pits in a wild part of the country close to the 
ruins of old Heshbon. 

* Psa. XXXV. 6 ; Job xxi, 18. 1 1 Kings iv. 28. 

t Matt. iii. 12. § Ezek. xxvii. 17 ; 1 Eongs v. 11. 

II 1 Chron. xxvii. 26 ; Jer. xli. 8. 



HARVEST. 169 

After the wheat and barley have all been gathered 
in, the work of the peasant is not yet at an end. 
There are still the maize and the hemp to gather; 
still the crops of * seifiya/ or fruits of summer sowings, 
v^etable-marrows, cucumbers, and other vegetables 
which are grown in great quantities aroimd Damascus ; 
but sometimes when we hope the perils of harvesting 
are all over, we begin to feel the effects of a fiercely 
hot sun, while the air is very stilL We are all 
fanning ourselves, and finding the easiest task a 
burden, when there is suddenly a cry of * The locusts !'♦ 
and, looking up into the sky, we see that the dreaded 
enemy has really come. Thousands, and millions, and 
billions of these insects are filling the air, their gauzy 
wing glittering in the sunlight On and on they fly, 
and yet there are ever more and more to come ; and 
for three or four hours the sky over our court is full 
of them. 

When we go out into the fields next day, we find, in 
spots where they have alighted, that the trees and 
bushes look as if all their leaves had been burned, 
and some have even lost their bark ; and sad will be 
the tales which wiU soon come in from the country 
of the havoc they have wrought. 

* Joel 1, 1—11. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

THE SHEPHERD AND THE FLOCK. 

As we ride along the Meedan, the south-western 
suburb of Damascus, we notice a great change m the 
people and neighbourhood. We seem to have left 
the city behind, and migrated into a great village; 
the sights and sounds are much more rural than we 
are used to in the jieart of the city. The road which 
nms through the centre is much broader than the 
narrow crowded streets through which we generally 
have to wind our way ; for it was once a great place 
for equestrian sports ; indeed, the word Meedan means 
a race-course. 

It is very badly paved, or rather not paved at all, 
but simply formed of broken stones thrown down 
carelessly ; and in winter is almost impassable, from 
the quantity of mud which accumulates there. But 
during spring and summer it is always a lively place ; 
for it is one of the principal highways leading into 
the city proper. At one point may be seen a long 
line of camels, laden with heavy bags of com, which 
they are bringing in from the Hauran to the corn- 
dealers, who have their great open stores in this 
These stores resemble very much a railway- 




THE SHEPHERD AND THE FLOCK. 171 

arch, which has been converted into a shop or ware- 
house, only they are left open in front, and the wheat, 
barley, and Indian com piled up in heaps on the floor, 
to the great delight of the sparrows and little doves, 
who take their tithe imhesitatingly, with compara- 
tively little hindrance from the corn-merchants. 

At another point of the road, we may meet a few 
Bedouin coming in to sell their native butter or 
other produce, or to make a few purchases for their 
tribe, but looking sad and crest-fallen as they tread 
the streets, and are jostled in the crowd of people 
who despise them. 

A little farther on, we may meet a shepherd walk- 
ing at the head of his little flock, which, sad to say, 
he is bringing in for sale; for people who live in 
towns will have meat. We will not follow him to the 
market, but rather, after he has disposed of his poor 
animals, return with him to the great flocks of sheep 
and goats which he and his followers are feeding in 
the plams around Damascus, or up among the moun- 
tains ; but, first of all, we must describe the shepherd 
himself, whose whole appearance is different from an 
English shepherd. We must picture to ourselves a 
dark sim-bumt weather-beaten man, whose face is 
half hidden by the folds of the coloured kafiya which 
is fastened on his head by a fillet of camel's hair. 
His clothing consists of a coarse shirt and leathern 
girdle, a sheep-skin jacket and a cloak, or abai, 
which completely envelops him, and protects him 
from heat or rain by day, and serves him at night for 
bed and blanket. He is shod with strong boots of 
red leather, which reach almost to the knees. On his 



172 . DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

shoulder he bears a lonpf sun, and frequently in his 
girdle he carries pistok, a dagger, a ba?de-axe. or an 
iron-headed club, and a shepherd's crook* 

The sheep, too, differ from those we are accus- 
tomed to see in our own land. We have sometimes 
shown a picture of English sheep feeding in a meadow 
to our native visitors, and they have frequently asked 
us what animal it was, because they miss the enormous 
tail which is the peculiarity of Syrian sheep. All 
the fat of the body seems to concentrate itself in the 
tail, which is often seen hangmg up in the butchers' 
shops just as beef-suet would be sold in England. 
When skumed and prepared for sale, it weighs from 
ten to fifteen pounds. 

The life of an Eastern shepherd we shall find, when 
we reach the pasture-lands, is not exactly that of an 
English shepherd. Before sunrise every morning he 
starts out with his flock to seek pasture ;t and, walk- 
ing before them, hej leads them along the plain, or 
down into the valley, or up the mountain-side, moving 
along slowly and quietly, sometimes, if the pasture 
is scanty, having to wander over many a mile in the 
course of the day. At noon he always seeks out 
some cool spring or fountain, where he and they may 
drink. Having satisfied their thirst, they all he 
down and rest for two or three hours under the shade 
of spreading trees, or overhanging rocks, during the 
hush of the great heat of the day, when birds, and 
insects, and men seem compelled to be silent Thus 

* Possibly this is the origin of the royal sceptre, as the crook 
is of the bishop^s crozier. 
1 1 Chron. iv. 39, 40. 
X Psa. Ixxvii. 20 ; Psa. IxxviiL 52 ; Izxx. 1. 



;< 



THE SHEPHERD AND THE fLOCK. 175 

the shepherd leads the poor hot, thirsty animals to 
the * waters of rest/* 

Not unfrequently several flocks meet at the same 
spring, and lie down together for the midday repose. 
But when the heat of the day begins to lessen, we 
shall see one of the shepherds rise ; and, giving his 
own peculiar caU, walk away from the assembled 
flocks towards the green pastures. Immediately his 
own sheep one by one separate themselves from the 
rest, and follow him ; for they ' know his voice/f Then 
another shepherd and another will lead forth his flock 
till the fountain is again deserted. No dog is needed 
to separate the flocks, and no sheep will be found 
foUowing the wrong shepherd. 

We are apt to look upon sheep as poor, helpless, 
silly creatures ; but as we watch them under the 
guidance of a Bedouin shepherd, we shall wonder at 
their docility and comprehension. 

On one occasion we went to water our animals at a 
spring near a large encampment of Arabs. Our poor 
thirsty horses had hardly begun to drink, when a wild 
Bedouin shepherd appeared, and tried to drive us 
away with violence, saying, * The sheep— the sheep 
are coming T At first we feared the supply was 
scanty ; but when we found that a beautiful, limpid 
stream was flowing out of the very heart of the 
mountain not far from the troughs, we saw that it 
was simply the Arab nature cropping up — ' his hand 
against every man.' The wild shepherd lad proceeded 
to fill the troughs from the fountain, carrying the 
water in a skin, such as Hagar used,J and in a few 

* Ps. xxiii. 2. t John x. 4. f Gen. xxi. 14. 



176 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

minutes a large flock appeared, and rushed in a crowd 
to quencli their thirst ; but, when the shepherd gave 
the word, they moved off, and arranged themselves 
behind him. Having again filled the troughs, he gave 
a signal ; and the obedient sheep filed past in single 
file, drinking in turn, and then returning to their 
station behind the shepherd. This process he re- 
peated twice or thrice, till all were satisfied, and passed 
the troughs without drinking. He needed neither 
dog nor stick, for the sheep knew his voice, and 
obeyed him. 

But if the sheep are docile and obedient, it is 
because the shepherd cares for them, watches over 
them, and knows his favourites by name.* Walking 
at the head of the flock, he may sometimes be seen 
carrying the youngest lamb. One day, as we rode 
along a mountain road on the Lebanon, we noticed a 
shepherd sitting among his sheep, with two little ones 
in his arms ; we asked, * What is the matter ? are they 
hurt V ' Oh no,' was the answer, ' but they are the 
little ones.'t Thus the shepherd learns to know each 
sheep almost as a mother knows her children ; better 
perhaps than a teacher each child in her class. A 
few years ago the Arabs carried off a number of goats 
belonging to the village of Deiratiya, north of Damas- 
cus. The mother of our servant boy, a poor ¥ddow, 
was among the losers. At the time she could get no 
redress, but a year and a half or two years after, the 
Turkish soldiers seized a number of goats in possession 
•of the same Arabs, and brought them into Damascus^ 
.and proclamation was made that any people who had 
♦Jolmx.a tl8a.xLll, 




THE SHEPHEBD AND THE FLOCK. 177 

lost goats should come and see if they were among 
them. Our servant was all eagerness to go, but we 
asked him, * How can you possibly know your goats 
among such a number, and after so long a time?' 
* Not know my own goats !' was his indignant reply ; 
'not know my own goats that I have brought up and 
fed ! Of course I shall !' 

We must not think that the life of an Eastern 
shepherd is simply a life of quiet, constant watch- 
fuhiess. His sheep need teaching and trainmg; 
teaching to distinguish his voice and foUow his call, 
and not start away frightened and terrified when he 
speaks, as they do at a stranger's voice ; and training 
to follow him promptly and obediently, not to wander 
wherever their own wiU may lead them. 

The shepherd's daily work is to seek * out food for 
his flock, sometimes in one direction, sometimes in 
another, just where he can best find it. He has no 
well-kept, weU-fenced fields in which he can leave 
them ; and he must be always on the alert Many of 
his sheep or goats follow him closely, and seem to 
love to be near him ; but others are wilful and careless, 
and are constantly wandering and lagging behind, so 
that occasionally he has great trouble in seeking out 
a lost one.-(" He is obliged to take pains in teaching 
his flock, and sometimes has to mingle severity with 
his usual gentleness, using his staff for correction as 
well as guidance. He has no wise colley-dog to do 
his work for himu At best he has one or two half- 
starved cursj resembling those which swarm in the 

• Ezek. xxxiv. 23 : John xxi. 15—17. 
t Luke XY. 4. ;|: Job xxx. 1. 

12 



178 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

streets of Eastern cities. They just saunter lazily 
along behind the flock, and give warning by their 
furious barking if any danger approaches. Only the 
shepherd who brings his flock from very distant places, 
such as Persia, or Kurdistan, or Northern Syria, may 
have a handsome Kurdish dog to help him. If the 
ordinary shepherd has little help from his dog, he 
often has walking by his side a stately sheep or goat, 
called by a name almost equivalent to the word 
' preacher.' This preacher-goat wears a bell, and leads 
the whole flock in the steps of the shepherd : his eye 
is on his master, and where he goes, there he follows 
closely.* 

Even when night draws near, the shepherd cannot 
leave the sheep to sleep alone in the quiet fields, but 
he must lead them back to the village or town ; and 
it is often a pretty sight in the evening for anyone 
spending a few days in one of the villages north of 
Damascus to watch the long black lines of goats 
coming down the sides of the mountains in different 
directions, and all converging towards the 'stream, 
where they rest a little while, and get their evening 
draught of fresh cold water. Then the shepherd 
must make his arrangements for the night. If, as is 
frequently the case, his flock is the property of a 
number of the villagers, the older sheep or goats are 
sometimes allowed to find their owners' houses, which 
they easily do, wandering along the narrow streets 
like children returning from school, some hurrying 
home most demurely, others dawdling and playing on 
the way ; but at last they all find their homes, and it 

* 1 Cor. xl 1. 



^ 



THE SHEPHERD AND THE FLOCK. 179 

is a curious sight to see the goats waiting in twos and 
threes at the diflferent doors till they are admitted 
into the court and housed for the night, while the 
joungel: ones are collected, or in many instances the 
whole flock, and put into a low, flat-roofed building 
outside the village. On winter nights they are shut 
up inside the buUding, but in summer they are left in 
the courtyard, which is surrounded with high walls, 
and defended as well as may be against the robber * 
and the wild beast. The shepherd remains with them, 
or at least is near at hand. 

In some districts, during the summer months, the 
flocks must be led out to find pasture in the higher 
parts of the mountains, very far away from any town 
or village. In that case the shepherd leads his flock 
home, but can sometimes find a ' marah,' or resting- 
place, bunt for the purpose in the midst of the wUd 
solitude ; or he must make a strong palisade of thorn- 
bushes, and allow them to sleep there, guarded by his 
dogs from wild beasts. Often for weeks together he 
must remain alone in these quiet mountains with his 
charge, hardly ever seeing a human face, but occasion- 
ally visited by some of his relatives at rare intervals 
to bring him fresh supplies of food, or fresh clothing ; 
but I fear few of the shepherds care very much for 
cleanliness. 

All this care and watchfulness over the sheep, we 
must remember, is very necessary. The sheep must 
have good pasture ; but the shepherd has enemies to 
fear — the wild beasts, the robber, and the Bedouin — 
and both by day and night he must be prepared to do 

♦ Johnx. 1. 

12—2 



180 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

battle. A missionary writes : ' When nearly across the 
Bukaa, just opposite Migdol, on Thursday morning, I 
heard violent cries as of one m distress, and thought 
there had been a fight, and that a man was being 
severely beaten ; but on inquiry a few steps on, I foimd 
that it was the piteous cry of a shepherd lad a little 
oflf the road to the left, to frighten away a wolf which 
he saw approaching his flock of goats. It reminded 
me of " the hireling fleeth because he is an hireling ;" 
" the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep."* 
This poor lad did his utmost to drive away the woK, 
and arouse others to help him.' 

A few years ago we met a shepherd on the heights 
of the Lebanon leading home his flock, and he told us 
that had we come half an hour sooner we should have 
seen a leopard watching his sheep, and seeking an 
opportunity to attack them; adding that only two 
years before he had been laid up for a month from the 
wounds he had received in his encounter with one 
of these savage beasts. The leopard never attacks 
the sheep openly, but hides behind a bush or rock, 
and then springs upon them like a cat; and does 
he by any chance gain admittance to the sheep- 
fold, he springs at the throats of the poor creatures 
and sucks their life-blood. A few years ago a shep- 
herd in one of the Lebanon villages thought he might 
safely leave his sheep one night in the fold, so he 
locked the door and went home; next morning he 
foimd thirty-nine lying dead and covered with blood, 
the cruel work of a leopard which had gained an 
entrance. 

* John X. 11. 



THE SHEPHERD AND THE FLOCK. 181 

Occasionally, too, the poor shepherds have desperate 
encounters with robbers, and cases have been known 
in which they have really resisted to the death the 
attempts of wicked men to rob them of some of their 
animals. 

Many of the villages to the north of Damascus are 
rich in flocks, possessing in some instances from three 
thousand to seven thousand goats. Both sheep and 
goats are kept for the sake of their milk and for their 
hair and wool, and the flesh of both is sold in the 
markets. During a great part of the year the goats 
are brought into Damascus from villages in the close 
neighbourhood, and milked at the doors of the houses; 
and we are always glad to hear afber a long winter that 
the goats are coming into the town — a sign that the 
winter is considered to be over and gone. 

One curious custom prevails both among Druzes and 
Christians of some mountain villages on Lebanon, which 
must be mentioned. Early in the summer the head 
of each family buys or sets apart one, two, or three 
sheep, according to their rank in life, and also accord- 
ing to their wealth. Then the women and children 
devote themselves with the greatest zeal to the task of 
fattening the poor beasts. The children fill large 
baskets with mulberry leaves, and bring them to their 
mother, who several times in the day, and also in the 
night, takes a little wooden stool and sits down beside 
the sheep. With one hand she keeps its mouth open, 
and with the other crams it with leaves, forcing them 
down its throat. Once or twice a day it is led quietly 
down to the village fountain to drink, and its coat is 
frequently washed, for, strange to say, the people seem 



182 DAMASCUS AKD ITS PEOPLE. 

to understand that an animal to be kept in health 
must be kept clean. I am sorry to say that in this re- 
spect they pay more attention to their sheep than to 
their little children, who may constantly be seen run- 
ning about the village, the dirtiest of the dirty, while 
on no accoimt must any defilement be allowed to re- 
main on the skin of the poor patient sheep which is 
being fattened. About the end of September, the 
work of the women and children comes to an end ; the 
sheep have grown so fat that they can hardly stand up 
or walk at all, and then, sad to say, after all this feed- 
ing and pettiiig, they axe kiUed. and their flesh bofled 
down with spices, and put into pots for winter use. 



CHAPTER XY. 

VINEYARDS. 

The month of August has come, the month of the first 
ripe grapes;* and we must be away to the vineyards, 
for the SjTians have a sajdng, ' Aw-wal-ul-anab wa akhir- 
ut-teen ;' ' The first of the grapes and the last of the 
figs ' is the sweetest and best. The people of Damascus 
think no grapes equal to their famous ' Tears of Mo- 
hanmied/ long, narrow white grapes ; but in August 
the city is very hot, and none of the villages aroimd 
can boast fresh cool air at this season; not even 
Helbon,f though it is three or four hours* ride up the 
mountains. It is a dirty, miserable village nowadays, 
and the people rich in nothing but grapes. The 
country to the east of the Jordan is now desolate, 
though still beautiful in its desolation. Near Safad 
and Es Salt, or Ramoth Gilead^: there are still abimd- 
ance of grapes, which the people at the latter place 
make into raisins; but the fine old vineyards of 
Heshbon§ and Elealeh, Sibmah'l and Jazer, are gone, 
because the land is without inhabitants. At Ain Jidy, 
the Foimtain of the Goat, the ancient Engedi1[ on the 

* Micah vii. 1 ; Nom. xiii. 20. t Ezek. xxvii. 18. 
J Deut. iv. 43 ; 1 Kings xxii. 3. § Isa. xvi 8 — 11. 
Jer. xlviii. 32, 33. % Cant. i. 14. 



184 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

western shore of the Dead Sea, we search m vain for 
grapes, though we still see traces of vineyards with 
their rock-hewn cisterns. 

On the west of the Jordan, where the land is far 
more thickly inhabited, we still have vineyards in 
abundance ; and no nation wishing in the present day 
to spy out the land, need send farther than Eshcol* 
for bunches of grapes such as Europe can hardly 
equal In Hebron, a little to the north of Eshcol, we 
might see, perhaps, the most carefully kept and well- 
arranged vineyards in the land ; but at this season we 
will not tarry in the south even to see the vine-clad 
moimtains near Jerusalem and Bethlehem, but will 
seek one of the highest villages in the Lebanon, where 
if we like we can ' smell the air ' and eat grapes all 
day long. 

At first, people who have never seen a vineyard, 
or only the vineyards of Italy, may be disappointed ; 
they will probably picture to themselves rows of large 
vines, trained on trellis- work, with beautiful bunches 
of grapes hanging down overhead, a long series of 
beautiful arbours ; but the vines in Syria are planted 
in terraces on the mountain-sides row above row, row 
above row, stretching for miles aroimd some of the 
villages. In the Lebanon, they are left trailing on the 
ground, or, in some places, propped up by pieces of 
stick when the grapes are ripening, that they may 
not be spoilt by touching the ground. In some parts 
of Hermon, where the soil is very stony, the vines are 
trained over rows of stones, which have been piled up 
on purpose. Of course in cities or towns where a 

* Num. xiiL 23. 



VINEYARDS. 185 

single vine may be grown in a garden, or the court- 
yard of a house, it is allowed to grow much larger 
than the vines in the vineyards, and is trained against 
the wall,* or over trellis-work, to form an agreeable 
shade. The vines in the vineyards are pruned care- 
fully, and are seldom allowed to grow large; but 
they are planted at short distances, and cover the 
whole face of the groimd. To people living in the 
country, they are always a pleasant sight ; for they 
remain fresh and green when all the rest of the vege- 
tation is withered and scorched with the siunmer 
heat, when not a blade of grass is to be seen, and 
when we search in vain for a handful of wild-flowers. 

Such large districts in the Lebanon are covered 
with vineyards, that we might travel for days from 
place to place visiting different grape-viUages ; and 
learning a little here and there about the different 
kinds of vines, and about the duties of the vine- 
dressers. The people will tell you that there are 
seventy kinds of grapes in the land, some red, some 
black, some white, some tinged with pink, like a 
maiden-blush rose, some hard and substantial, some 
soft and luscious, some fall of stones, and some with 
the soft stones, the kind from which Sultana raisins 
are made. 

In some parts of the country we find the vineyards 
carefully walled in, and with a well-built tower in the 
midst,-(- as in days of old — ^for example, in the neigh- 
bourhood of Hebron and Damascus; but in other 
places in the Lebanon, they are little more protected 
or divided than the corn-fields. Such is the case at 

* Psa. cxxviii. 3. t Isa. v. 2 ; Matt. xxi. 33. 



186 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

B'hamdoon ;, where, perhaps, we cannot do better than 
settle down for a little while if we want to watch the 
whole work of the vineyards. Here we shall find 
plenty of kind friends and neighbours; for at the 
time of grapes all the houses in the village will be 
full During the greater part of the year, some of 
the people are away on business of different kinds, 
living with their families in other places ; but at the 
grape-harvest, everyone who owns a little strip of 
vineyard will try and return home for a while to 
gather in the fruits of his land. I cannot say it is a 
very pretty village, for there is, I believe, but one tree 
in the place ; but the air is good, and the whole 
mountain-side is given up to vmeyards, which belong 
to the people — some have large vineyards, some small. 
We shall find most necessaries, such as meat, eggs, 
and cheese, at the little village shop ; but fruit, in all 
probability, we shall not have to buy. Very early in 
the morning no doubt presents of grapes and figs will 
come in ; and the puzzle will be, How can we dispose 
of them all ? We shall be invited to spend hours in 
the vineyards ; and while the good women are tending 
their vmes and gathering their grapes, they wiU fiU 
our laps with the choicest bimches, and when we leave 
will insist on our carrying home some pounds more. 
If we leave the village behind, and ride away among the 
hills near the distant vineyards, we shall have to tell 
the same story. People will run out to meet us with 
bunches of red, green, or white grapes, till sometimes 
we have been obliged to watch the kind donors out of 
sight, and then feed our horses with fruit, which in 
London we could have sold for a good many shillings. 



VINEYARDS. 187 

As we go about the vineyards, there is one person 
whose acquaintance we are sure to make : and that is 
the ' nat{lr/ or watchman. We shall see him, gun in 
hand, stationed on one of the highest pomts of the 
vineyard ;* whence, perhaps, he can see the whole side 
of a hilL At a certain distance will be stationed a 
second, and then a third, if the vineyards are exten- 
sive; and their duty, though not laborious, is un- 
ceasing. They must be always on the watch by day 
and night to prevent thieving by man or beast; and 
their shoutsf may often be heard, annoimcing to one 
another that a party of peasants or travellers is 
coming that way. Should any real danger threaten, 
they immediately call to their fellows for help. 
Strong, J active young men therefore are usually 
chosen for this office ; for a lazy,§ sleepy watchman 
would never do. 

Now and then the natftr has a mud tower or hut 
for his station ; but generally on the Lebanon he is 
satisfied with a little tent of leaves || to protect him 
from the heat of the sim by day, and the dew by 
night. I believe our good friends at B'hamdoon 
would tell you that the owners of the vineyards 
generally make some arrangement with the watch- 
men. He undertakes to watch the vineyards in return 
for a certain proportion of the fruit ;ir and thus he 
has an interest in the prosperity of the vineyard. 
Eich men, who perhaps have vineyards in different 
parts of the country, make a similar arrangement 
with the vine-dressers; and, after the harvest of 

♦ Jer. xxxi. 5, 6. t Isa. lii. 8. ± Cant. i. 6. 

§ Isa. IvL 10. II Job xxvii. 18 ; Lam. ii. G. ^ Cant. viii. 12. 



188 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

grapes, send their ' wakeel,' or agent,* to reckon up 
with their servants. 

We must not think that the watchman's office is by 
any means a sinecure. Probably, if he did not keep a 
good look-out, we should hear of people coming quietly 
by night and lading their donkeys from their neigh- 
bours' vineyards for next day's market. If the natdr 
is not troubled with the visits of dishonest peasants, 
the wild beasts have no qualms of conscience about 
feasting on the sweet produce of the vineyards. No 
sooner does the sun set than the mischievous jackals, 
or ' binat wawee,' as they are called in Sjnia, begin to 
make merry, in theu: gloomy fashion, in the fields and 
vineyards around almost every village. They swarm 
like mice, and scream and howl and wail so that the 
sound of their chorus can be heard from far, and has 
been compared to the wailing of a thousand infants. 
The watchman must do all he can to keep them away, 
and he has all kinds of devices for the purpose. You 
will often see an empty oil-can hung on a tree, and a 
stone or bit of iron hung on the same branch, so that 
every breath of wind may cause them to knock 
together; sometimes the natfix will paint pieces of 
rock white to frighten them in the pale moonlight, or 
he will fix up some kind of scarecrow, or will fire off 
his gun at intervals, while he must also keep moving 
about himself: they will give him little rest, and he 
must give them none, and if possible drive them off to 
seek food in some other quarter ; for they eat carrion as 
well as fruit, and they love to dwell among ruins. They 
always go about in packs, and are very often mentioned 

* Matt. xxi. 33. 



VINEYARDS. 189 

in the Bible, though in our English version they have 
the strange name of dragons.* The naughty little 
foxes,t too, are very fond of grapes, and sometimes we 
have noticed their holes J just outside the vineyard, 
but they go about singly, and not in packs like the 
jackal Perhaps the animal the natflr dislikes most 
of all is the wild boar § which is foimd in most parts 
of the country, and does terrible harm to the vine- 
yards, not only by eating up both the grapes and 
young shoots, but by tearing up the plants and feeding 
on the roots. 

The great Syrian bear,|| too, does not despise a 
feast on grapes when he has a chance ; but there are 
not a great many bears in Sjnria now, except on Moimt 
Hermon and in the higher parts of Lebanon. 

We must be careful how we wander about the 
vineyards, for the watchmen not unfrequently set 
traps IT for the wild beasts, and our donkey or our little 
dog may be caught in one of them. If these men are 
the sworn foes of thieves of all kinds, they are always 
very kind and hospitable to any tired traveller who 
may pass their way, and whom they will be sure to 
regale with a fine bunch of grapes : perhaps they will 
beg him to rest in their little tent of leaves, glad to 
break the monotony of their solitary watch by a chat 
on the latest news. 

The time of grapes lasts from the beginning of 
August to Christmas, but September and October are 
the two busiest months in the vineyards. In some 

* Isa. xxxiv. 13 ; Psa. Ixiii. 10. t Cant. ii. 15. 

X Matt. viii. 20. § Psa. Ixxx. 13. 

1 Sam. xvii. 34. % Jer. v. 2Gj Job xviii. 10. 



190 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

villages men and women will go out in companies * to 
gather the ripe grapes and pack them in boxes, and 
an hour or two after midnight the muleteers may 
often be seen wending their way with their grape- 
laden mules through the mountain-paths and down 
to the nearest market-town, where they will dispose 
of capital grapes at three, four, or five pence a rattle, 
a measure equal to five pounds and a quarter. As 
day after day, day after day we watch the long rows 
of mules leaving the vineyards, each carrying from 
one hundred to two himdred pounds of grapes, we 
cannot help wondering at the boimtiful supply, and 
yet vast tracts of ancient vineyards are now lying 
waste. We must remember that at this season grapes 
form a great part of the food of the people. They are 
eaten at almost every meal by rich and poor, and you 
may often see a labouring man sitting at the road-side 
making his simple dinner of a couple of native loaves, 
a little bit of native cheese, made of goats* milk, and a 
pound or two of grapes. 

Towards the end of September the women will 
begin to make their raisins by preparing a smooth, 
flat place in the vineyard, and spreading out their 
grapes to dry. At intervals they sprinkle them with 
oil and ash-water that they may not shrivel up too 
quickly. This is always rather an anxious time, for 
about the middle of September generally occurs two 
or three days' rain, and should this not come till 
after they have spread out their raisins, many will be 
spoilt Foolishly, it always seems to us Europeans, 
they pick off the grapes from the stalk, so that though 

* Ho3ea ii. 15. 



VINEYARDS. 191 

they make excellent raisins, their appearance is spoilt, 
and they would not be thought worth much in a 
London market. They, in their turn, think our plan 
very improper, and that it is almost dishonest of the 
seller to weigh in the useless, worthless stalks. In 
old times, people in the East * seem to have thought 
differently. Like the grapes, raisins form an im- 
portant article of food, and every wise housekeeper, if 
she has a large household to provide for, puts in her 
winter supply of raisins in the autumn. We have 
often found it wise to carry a bag of raisins with us 
on a journey, for when growing weary and faint with 
a long, hot ride, it is often reviving to eat a handful 
of them; indeed they sometimes seem to act like a 
charm.-f- 

After all, the great business during grape-harvest is 
the making of wine, and dibs, or molasses. About 
the end of September great quantities of grapes are 
gathered and brought to the wine-press, t which 
always consists of two vats, an upper and a lower one. 
Into the upper and larger one the grapes are thrown 
in great quantities, and a certain quantity of 'hawira,' 
a kind of earth, is sprinkled over them. Then two or 
three men with naked feet jump in and begin treading 
out the grapes; the juice flows out through a hole 
into the lower vat, clarified sufficiently from all im- 
purities by the ' hawS,ra ' which was sprinkled on the 
grapes, and which causes the sediment to sink to the 
bottom. If bottled immediately, and well corked by 
an experienced person, this juice can be preserved for 

* 1 Chron. xii. 40 ; 2 Sam. xvi. 1 ; 1 Sam. xxv. 18, 
t 1 Sam. XXX. 12. t Num. xviii. 27 ; Joel iii. 13 ; Matt. xxi. 23. 



192 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

some time, and even brought to England and sold as 
unfermented wine. As a rule, tlie juice is carried to 
the house and placed in khawabeh or large earthenware 
jars, and left for about forty-eight hours, till, by 
placing the ear to the mouth of the jar, a bubbling, 
whistling sound is heard, which tells that the process 
of fermentation has begim. Then it is placed on the 
fire, and boiled tiU the quantity is somewhat reduced. 
If a very strong wine is desired, the fermentation is 
allowed to continue for eight or ten days. Sometimes 
a kind of wine is used which is not boiled, but this is 
made from grapes which have been spread out for ten 
days in the sun. 

' Dibs,' or molasses, is made by boilmg down the 
juice of the grape to about one-third, or one-half, of 
its original quantity, so that it becomes as thick as 
honey. Did the people only know how to refine it, it 
would far surpass the best golden syrup. Dibs is 
much used by the natives, who purchase it in the 
autumn, and store it up for their winter supply. 

The skins and stones are cleared out of the upper 
vat, and thrown out as rubbish; and then a fresh 
supply of grapes is thrown in, and the treading begins 
afresh. 

It is a busy, merry time, and many are coming and 
going — women, children, and grown men, all have 
their share in the work; and strange indeed would 
it be to find one sad, solitary man left to tread* 
the wine-press alone. I wish I could leave the last 
and worst use of the beautiful grape unmentioned ; 
but I must add that quantities of fiery arrack are 

* Isa. Ixiii. 3. 



VIKEYARDS. 193 

distilled every year from them, and drunk in ever-in- 
creasing quantities. The Mohammedans, who are for- 
bidden by the Koran to drink wine, say that no 
mention is made of arrack ; and many, even in 
Damascus itself, now drink to excess. The intoxica- 
tion produced by arrack is of a violent nature ; and 
the poor man, maddened by drink, is a dangerous 
enemy to meet in a narrow road, for he knows not 
what he does. Not many years ago, a man in a fit of 
drunkenness murdered another, and was lodged in 
prison, and loaded with chains. When he awoke in 
the morning, he asked in amazement, ' Why am I 
here ? What have I done V He was answered, ' Do 
you not know that last night you killed a man V 



IS 



CHAPTER XVI. 

A VILLAGE HOME. 

Visit I. 

We have talked a good deal about ploughing, and 
threshing, and such things, and now, for a change, we 
will go and have a chat with one of our good neigh- 
bours — ImTn Yacoub — and get her to let us into all 
the secrets of her housekeeping. She lives on the 
mountain-side, on the outskirts of the village ; and 
from her house we shall have a splendid view of the 
valley below, while we enjoy the fresh mountain air 
blowing in at her glassless windows. 

Directly she sees us coming, she will bid us ' Tafud- 
daloo r — ^literally, ' Be preferred ;' but in plain English, 
* Come in !* — and will come forward to kiss our hands, 
which good manners wiU teU us to withdraw instantly, 
as a sign that we are no better than she, and do not 
wish her to be too humble. We will waste no time 
in the usual inquiries after her health, and the health 
of her mother and grandmother, her aunts and great- 
aimts ; but will tell her at once that we want to learn 
from her how to manage a native house. She will be 
pleased to show us her home, and will let us see all 
that is necessary for a sitting-room. The iBoor is 
made of ' hajirya ;' that is, tiny stones mixed together 



A VILLAGE HOME. 195 

with a kind of mortar, and beaten with an upright 
mallet till it is quite dry and hard. It is covered 
with a rush mat. Around the walls are arranged 
hard, oblong cushions, stuffed with straw, and covered 
with bright chintz, and two or three Persian rugs. 
We sit on the rugs, and lean against the cushions, 
while we examine the rest of the furniture. In the 
comer is a large chest or box, in which she brought 
all her clothing to her husband's house on the day of 
her wedding. It is generally made of walnut-wood, 
inlaid with mother-of-pearl, and is a handsome piece 
of furniture. On the shelf above it are arranged the 
nargilehs, four or five, with their long, gay-coloured 
tubes. On the wall is himg a ' mukah-haleh,' a case 
containing a little bottle of kohl, and a meel, or ivory 
pencil, for painting the eyes. We tell her that we 
have no such custom; but she assures us that it 
strengthens the sight of old and yoimg — that the eye- 
doctors use many kinds of kohl for eye-disease, and 
that she is quite sure they do good sometimes. Cer- 
tainly we hate known cases such as she mentions ; 
but, I fear, the ignorant native doctors often do as 
much or more harm than good in their efforts to 
heaL If she were only a little more acquainted with 
her Arabic Bible, she would show us a text where 
kohl is used for the English word eye-salve.* We 
know, however, that the chief purpose which women 
make of kohl is, as they think, to heighten their 
beauty. Next to the ' mukah-haleh ' hangs a little 
padded cushion, just a circular ring which Imm 
Yacoub places on her head beneath the great jar 

* Eev. ill. 18. 



196 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

when she goes to fetch water from the spring ; and 
there, too, hangs a piece of calico, on which is sown 
a quantity of ' leef,' a fibrous substance just like the 
shavings used in our grates in summer-time. This is 
used in washing instead of a piece of iBannel, or a 
washing-glove. These, and other things of the same 
kind, perhaps a little mirror, are the drawing-room 
ornaments of a village house. 

The walls are made simply of earthen bricks 
baked in the sun, and whitewashed inside ; but still, 
Imm Yacoub means to rival the aesthetic ladies of 
England, for she has six willow-pattern plates em- 
bedded in the plaster. 

We ask about the bedrooms, for Imm Yacoub has 
a husband and four sons ; and two are married, and 
have children. She is amused, and draws back a 
curtain hanging over a recess, and shows a quantity 
of beds and quilted coverlets, called ' lahMs,' rolled up 
and piled one over another almost to the ceiling ; and 
tells us that ' at night we spread them on the floor 
and sleep — some here, and some in the other room ; 
for we are better off than many, and have two rooms. 
If it is very hot, some of us carry our beds* to the 
roof and sleep there, for that is easily done.' 

AU our European ideas are shocked when we 
inquire a little further, and find that they have no 
washstands or baths, or even night-clothes. When 
they go to bed they just put off some of their outer 
garments, and sleep in the rest. In the morning they 
go into the yard and wash their faces and hands,t 
poiuing water over each others' hands, for they have 
* Matt. ix. 6 ; Mark ii, 4. 1 2 ?angs iii. 11. 



A VILLAGE HOME. 197 

no servant. The women smooth down their hair and 
tie a coloured handkerchief over their heads, and 
outwardly look really neat Poor Imm Yacoub is 
surprised and amused when we tell her how we bathe 
and make our toilette every morning, and is simply 
horrified at the idea of a morning cold bath. She 
tells us that about once a fortnight or three weeks 
they go to the Turkish bath, and that very particular 
ladies imdo their long plaits and comb their hair 
about once a week, but many not so often ; they use a 
coarse kind of small-tooth comb, but never a brush. 

As she talks to us she goes on busily with her usual 
occupation, winding silk for the silk-weavers, by which 
she gains a few pence every now and then. As she 
works, we notice that her arm is covered, from her 
wrist to her elbow, with an elaborate blue pattern. 
She is pleased and proud to have this examined, for 
it tells us that she has been on pilgrimage to Jerusalem, 
and has had a picture of the Holy Sepulchre and the 
Virgin Mary tattooed on her wrist in the Holy City. 
Many of the women and children in this village have 
the date of their birth marked in this way on their 
wrists. The skin is pimctured, and a dye rubbed in, 
and a mark thus printed on the flesh* which is never 
lost, and cannot by any possibility be rubbed off*. 

As we take our leave she shows us a tiny little 
room which she uses in winter for a kitchen, but tells 
us that in smnmer she prefers to cook out of doors, 
and points to a part of the yard which has been pre- 
pared for the purpose with one or two places for 
charcoal fires. We promise to pay her a visit again 

* Isa. xlix. 15, 16. 



198 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

in a few days, when some of the younger women may 
have finished their work in the fields. 

Visit IL 

Some little time elapsed before we could pay a 
second visit to Imm Yacoub, but at last we set out 
for her cottage. As soon as we drew near her quarter 
of the village, we noticed that all the people looked 
grave and solemn, and were not so hearty as usual in 
their salutations; and we were reaUy quite alarmed 
when, on reaching Imm Yacoub's house, we received 
almost a silent welcome from her. There is no sign 
of illness or death in the house, and yet we feel that 
there is something the matter, and we cannot make 
out what it is. Imm Yacoub and one of her 
daughters-in-law have been mpking bread, and are 
now seated on the floor, patting it up into little flat 
cakes ready for the oven, and they do it almost 
silently. 

At last the sad truth comes out. During the night 
the yoimgest son's wife has given birth to a little 
daughter, her fourth girl, and the event depresses the 
whole family and neighbourhood. The trouble is too 
recent for us to offer much comfort as yet, but we ask 
quietly if we may see the naughty woman. We are 
told that she is in the second room, and we go in 
alone ; no one cares to accompany us. We find the 
poor woman lying on her bed on the floor, with the 
tiny babe beside her. She is weak and feverish with 
crying, but thankful that her mother-in-law has been 
good to her, and not beaten her, as so many mothers- 
in-law would have done. Had the baby been a boy, 



A VILLAGE HOME. 199 

her room would have been crowded with women 
coming in the greatest joy to see the new arrival, and 
to Avish all kinds of blessing to ' the bridegroom ;' for 
the minute a boy is bom the women begin to think of 
his marriage, and a baby boy is often called an ' agrees,' 
a bridegroom. We only wish the mother a safe 
recovery ; we must not say anything about the child : 
poor little baby girls get few blessings. 

When we return to Imm Yacoub, we try to cheer 
her up, and tell her how fond English fathers are of 
their baby girls ; and that better still, in the sight of 
God there is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 
male or female.* All she can answer is, * Such is the 
will of God towards us ; but how people will mock my 
poor son ; we shaU call the child TamlLmeh, or Enough/ 

Visit III. 

Our last visit to Imm Yacoub was such a sad one, 
that before we left the neighbourhood we made a point 
of going to see her again, though we had only a short 
time to spend with her. 

It is never considered proper to pay a visit late in 
the afternoon, either in town or country. Supper is 
the great meal of the day, and is always eaten about 
sunset; indeed, an unexpected guest arriving after 
that hour is often reminded of the saying, * An evening 
arrival gets no supper,' and will have to content him- 
self with eggs fried in native butter, a little dibs, or 
molasses, and some native cheese, made of goats' milk. 
It is quite white, and a little resembles our cream- 
cheese. All the cooking, even in the richest city 

♦ Gal. iil 28. 



200 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

houses, is done by the women of the femily, or at least 
superintended by them. Even in houses where a 
number of servants or slaves are kept, the ladies of 
the household take it in turn to look after the pre- 
paration of all the food. Imm Yacoub and her 
daughters-in-law, being simple villagers, are of course 
always busy towards sunset, and we took care there- 
fore to reach her house early in the afternoon ; but in 
spite of our considerate carefulness, we foimd the 
women already busy with the important work of 
preparing their husbands' suppers. 

It was early summer, and the vine-leaves were still 
tender, and they meant to have one more feast on 
* Yabuck' Native cooking, I must say, takes a good 
deal of time, and this dish is one of the most trouble- 
some. Early in the morning they had gathered a 
quantity of vine-leaves which had been washed and 
spread out one over another, and the three women were 
now busy filling each leaf with minced meat, rice, and 
spices : the leaf was then rolled up to about the thick- 
ness of a man's finger. As the household was large, 
a great number of these little vine-rolls would be 
needed; and busy as Imm Yacoub and her daughters- 
in-law had akeady been, they had still a number of 
leaves to fill. When all were ready they were boiled 
for some time. When vine-leaves are not to be had, 
cabbage-leaves are often used in the same way. Seeing 
they were so busy, we hesitated about entering, but 
Imm Yacoub begged us to sit down, and watch them. 

Poor little Tamfi,meh, now a month old, lay on her 
back in her wooden cradle, strapped in for fear she 
should fall out ; and her eldest sister Wurdeh (Rose) 



A VILLAGE HOME. 201 

sat by her side, rocking her. Her mother Ameenie 
(the Faithful One) had not yet been out to the bath, or 
the church, or the village ; for, after the birth of a 
daughter, a woman is supposed to remain in retirement 
for sixty days, though forty* is considered enough after 
the birth of a boy: probably most of the coimtry 
people are not very particular about this. 

If poor Sitt Ameeneh had only had a son, I should 
probably never have discovered her own name; she 
would immediately have been called Imm Haleel, or 
Imm Saleem, the mother of Haleel or Saleem, as the 
case might have been. 

The first few weeks, I might almost say months, of a 
baby's life are spent in the cradle, and directly it cries 
it is fed, still in the cradle, and rocked. Sitt Ameeneh, 
however, allowed us to unfasten it, and nurse it on our 
laps. I dared not admire it too much, for even Christian 
women of the Eastern Churches have many supersti- 
tions about the evil eye, and little Tam^meh had a blue 
stone hanging on her forehead, to avert the bad con- 
sequences of a look. Women may be heard singing : 

' I have circled you round with Allah, 
From my eye and the eye of your brother, 
From the eye of your father and mother, 
From all who admire and respect you. 
May the eye of Allah protect you.^ 

Or— 

' The evil eye won't harm you. 

You're safe in Allah's hand ; 
May she who would alarm you 
Be like a burning brand.' 

The baby is a pretty child, but with a well-formed 
nose and mouth like a grown person; and indeed you 

* Lev. xii. 




202 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

seldom see, among Syrian babies, the soft, fat, dimpled 
imformed features of an English baby. They are bom 
with the features of men and women. Unfortunately 
Tam&meh has such dark hair and eyes that I cannot 
please her mother by saying 'How fair she is !' and to say 
* How dark she is !' would only grieve her. The child's 
dress, too, is quite unlike an English baby's. I never 
saw a Syrian baby dressed in white. The little frock 
is often bright red, and the cap perhaps of blue silk, or 
violet velvet. The dress is always made high with long 
sleeves, and only a Uttle longer than the feet. It is 
folded round the child and turned up at the bottom ; 
and then the child is swaddled* or bound round and 
round, with the arms fastened down at the sides. There 
is no difficulty in carrying a swaddled child, for the 
bands make the Uttle body as stiff and firm as a wooden 
doll. Its eyes are painted with kohl, to strengthen its 
sight, as the mother would say. I am afraid the poor 
little babies, like the rest of the Syrian world, get little 
washing. A Druze woman told me that among them, 
a baby, as soon as it was bom, was washed in salt and 
water,-f- and then not washed all over again till the 
mother went to the bath. Imm Fahud (the Leopard), 
the elder daughter-in-law, is very fond of her boys, and 
when anyone asks her how many children she has, will 
answer, 'Three — Asad (the Lion), Saleem (Peace), and 
Haikal (the Temple). Fahud, her eldest son, is dead, 
but she still bears his name. Her youngest, Haikal, 
is a strong, sturdy boy, of two and a half, not yet weaned, 
but already ruling his mother with a rod of iron. She 
calls him her eye, her spirit, her darling, her tender one ; 

* Luke ii. 7 ; Lam. ii. 22 ; Ezek. xvL 4. t Ezek. xvi. 4. 



A VILLAGE HOME. 203 

but unhappily she is bringing him up like so many 
Syrian parents, to despise her, and at last to become 
her trouble and torment. When very troublesome and 
perverse, she will occasionally beat him, and then im- 
mediately let him take his own way.* All the three 
boys are still yoimg, and yet they rule both father and 
mother. 

Little Tam&meh's birth was hailed with silent sorrow, 
but theirs with great rejoicings.f The crowds who 
flocked to the house to see each new arrival were feasted 
with * mughleh ' — that is, a drink made from poimded 
rice and spices, which is poured into httle bowls,and nuts 
and almonds sprinkled over the top of each bowl : but 
no 'mughleh' is prepared for girls. Indeed, Imm Fahud 
never counts her two pretty daughters Jameeleh (Pretty) 
and Lulu (the Pearl) among her children, but will 
only tell you she has three, though her girls are grow- 
ing up and beginning to be useful in the house. 

'The threshold weeps forty days when a girl is 
bom,' is an old Arabic proverb, still only too true in 
many parts of the country, but happily beginning to 
lose its force in places where the spread of Christian 
education is beginning to raise woman to her proper 
level 

One thing always pleases in Imm Yacoub's house, 
and that is the love and harmony that seem to exist 
between her and her two daughters-in-law. She is 
a clever, sensible woman, and as Imm Fahud was only 
twelve and Sitt Ameeneh hardly thirteen when they 
were married, she has really had the education of 
them both in domestic matters. Their mothers no 
* 1 Sam. iii. 13. t John xvi. 21. 



204 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

doubt taught them as much as they could before they 
left their own homes, that they might make a good 
start with their mother-in-law, and not give her too 
much trouble. Now they seem to have acquired the 
habit of looking to her for advice and assistance on 
all occasions ; and she is always considered the mistress 
of the house, and their children are reckoned her 
children.* Indeed, I rather suspect the elder grand- 
children would have fared badly if they had had no 
one to care for them but their child-mothers when 
they were little. I cannot say that aU daughters-in- 
law are as fortunate as they, and a young Syrian bride 
has two causes of anxiety : first, will her almost im- 
known husband love her and cherish her? and secondly, 
wiU his mother take a fancy to her and be kind to 
her, or will she dislike her and heap work upon her 
and worry her in every way ?f 

I fear, too, that all daughters-in-law are not so duti- 
ful as Imm Fahud and Sitt Ameeneh. We have been 
sometimes grieved to see an old lady, who ought to 
have been taking her rest and ease after a life of labour, 
turned into the household drudge, and expected when 
her daughter went out to carry the baby for her. 

* Ruth iv. 13—17. + Gen. xxvii. 46. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

A DRUZE VILLAGE. 

Geramana stands in the middle of a fertile plain 
within about half an hour's ride of Damascus. It is 
surroimded with fine cornfields and beautiful trees, 
chiefly olive, apricot, and walnut. We must not 
expect to see rows of neat cottages, with pretty little 
gardens, and with roses and honeysuckle creeping 
over the windows. We shall see no village church 
standing in the middle of its churchyard. We shall 
find no village inn, only rows of low, square, drab 
houses with flat roofe, but with no windows opening 
on the street. Here and there we shall find a tiny 
village shop for selling a little calico and print, buttons 
and thread, sugar and coffee ; perhaps it contains a 
few pairs of red leather shoes, and a basket of oranges 
or grapes. A little farther we shall find a butcher's 
shop with a few joints hanging up. 

We shall see few women but plenty of children 
playing about, and rows of men squatting on the 
ground in the principal streets sunning themselves 
and chatting. As we pass they will all rise to their 
feet, and give us the customary salute. Probably we 
shall find some of our old friends among them, who 
will immediately invite us to visit their houses. We 



A DBUZE VILLAGE. 211 

day, at the Sheikh's house. Druze villages in the 
mountains generally have a sacred place, a Wely, in 
some lonely spot at a considerable distance from any 
houses, and they meet there. 

The Druze always profess much admiration for the 
English, and a great affection for them ; but it is not 
easy to find access to their inmost thoughts. Their 
religion teaches them deceit, and allows them to 
profess what rehgion they like. They say a man 
frequently changes his coat, but he does not thereby 
change himself; and that in the same way a Druze 
may profess to be a Christian one day, and a Moslem 
the next, and so forth, but that at heart he always 
remains a Druze. This idea of theirs renders mis- 
sionary work among them difficult ; and yet we have 
good hope that a few have become sincere Christians. 

Our friend, the Sheikh, will be anxious to show us 
his fields and orchards, and very probably will suggest 
that we ride through them, and then, instead of return- 
ing to Damascus by the main road, find our way home 
through the olive groves to a quieter and more secluded 
path. People fresh from England cannot admire the 
sombre grey of the olive leaf, or see anything to 
admire in the gnarled, knotted trunk ; but we count 
ourselves old Syrians, and have long ago learned to 
love the soft shade* and silvery glitter of an olive 
grove ; indeed, the very thought of olive trees brings 
to our memory many a pleasant time spent luider 
their shade,, and we may well pass away an hour 
or two in recalling by-gone days as we sit and gaze at 
the bright cheerful blaze of our olive-wood fire. 

* Jer. zi 16 ; Hoeea xiy. 6. 

14—2 



( 



CHAPTER XVIIl. 

THE OLIVE. 

It is quite true that the best, and by far the most 
plentiful, fuel for our stoves is the prettily-grained 
olive-wood ; and we have to lay in an abundant supply 
for winter use, not only for the stoves in our rooms, 
but for heating all the water needed for baths, and for 
laundry work. A good old Moslem acts as broker ; 
and when he sees a good load of wood being brought 
into the city on the backs of camels, he leads the 
owners to our house, or to the house of some one else 
in need of it, certifies that its quality is good, and 
helps us to settle the price. The camels are unloaded 
in the street, the man with the weighing-machine is 
brought, and the load weighed. Five or six men are 
hired to chop it into pieces small Plough for the 
stove, while three or four more gather it into hand- 
baskets, and carry it down into our cellar ; one of our 
own men keeping watch all the while to see that they do 
their work properly and honestly. Sometimes it does 
seem a shame to bum such pretty wood ; but, as the 
natives say, 'ShA buddna naamal?" ('What can we 
do V), We have no coal. The fumes of charcoal, 
which most of the Syrians use, are most unpleasant 



THE OLIVE. 213 

and injurious ; and olive-wood has in it plenty of oil, 
and soon makes a cheerful fire. We have once or 
twice rescued a specially good piece, and given it to 
our carpenter to make into a picture-frame.* 

Certainly the olive tree figures largely in Eastern 
domestic life. In the autumn the cook must purchase, 
and then prepare, a large supply of the fine, green 
olives, almost the size of a plum, for which Damascus 
is famous, by soaking them for some days, and then 
pickling them in lime-water. It is said sometimes 
that you will never learn to speak Arabic till you 
have learned to eat olives ; and undoubtedly the sooner 
you acquire both accomplishments the better. It is 
very difficult at first to eat a single olive, it is so 
bitter ; but we must persevere, and then we shall soon 
get reconciled to the taste, and in the end delight in 
it, and be quite ready to agree with all our neighbours 
that olives are botJi pleasant, and wholesome, and 
nutritious. They declare that it almost takes the 
place of meat ; and in our own little household, we 
find it no easy thing to keep our big olive-jar full: 
probably it will be quite empty before the season for 
the black, or ripe, olives comes. There are many 
kmds of oUves, and many ways of preparing them; 
and we must r;member that a^ ohve, fresh from the 
tree, is bitter beyond the power of words to express. 

Olive-oil, too, is largely used in Syria ; and, strange 
to say, the people are often fond of introducing the 
subject of oil into their religious discussions, 
especially the members of the Greek Church. During 
their fasts, they have strict rules about their food, in- 

♦ 1 Kings vl 23, 31, 33. 



214 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

creasing in severity according to the duration of the 
fast: that is, at the beginning of Lent they are 
allowed a greater variety than at the end. Not that 
they must abstain from eating and drinking, but that 
all meat must be abjured, and their vegetables and 
food in general cooked in oil They are constantly 
expressing their astonishment, and even horror, at us, 
because we do not eat * zait,' or oil, as they do. We 
try to avoid such discussions, and endeavour to lead 
them to think of the kind of fast that God enjoins ;* 
but they only answer us with an exhortation ' to eat 
oil.' Just before Lent, donkeys, laden with skins of 
oil, may be seen going from house to house, especially, 
I am sorry to say, on the Sunday before Ash- Wednes- 
day, selling oil for the approaching fast. Some of 
the dishes they prepare in oil, especially a kind of 
little cake, are really very nice ; but the daily con- 
sumption of so much oil has an injurious effect on the 
health of many people, and a few are glad to avail 
themselves of the doctor's opinion that eating oil will 
do them much harm, and so they get a dispensation 
from the priest. No doubt the free use of olives,f 
and of olive oil, does away with the necessity of much 
ianimal food ; but such a diet can only be indulged in 
during the cold weather. 

In very ancient times, I suppose, the olives were 
trodden out like the grapes ;J but I pity the feet of 
the poor men who had to tread on the hard stones of 
the fruit. The usual way now is, and probably has 
been for centuries, to place olives under a large round 

" JoeL i. 14 ; il 12. t 2 Chron. ii. 10 ; Ezra iii. 7. 

X Micah yi. 15. 



THE OLIVE. 215' 

Stone, which is worked round and round by a mule oi? 
donkey, tUl all the oil is squeezed out into a trough 
below. It is capital oil, only we do wish the people 
would be a little more careful about the cleanliness 
of the oUve-presses, and would also try to clarify the oil. 
It needs just a little more care and nicety in its pre- 
paration, the want of which spoils so many of the pro- 
ductions of Syria, such as the dibs (or molasses), and 
the various dried fruits. 

In the city we see the use of the olive ; but we 
must go out into the country to notice its growth, and 
the way it is cultivated. All over the land we shall 
find the olive, though the cedar and the palm have 
become so rare, that could a little child fly, like a bird, 
over the whole of Palestine and Syria from north to 
south, and from east to west, most certainly he could 
easily* count the cedars, while the number of palm- 
trees would not try his little brain very much ; but I 
doubt if even the Turkish Government could tell us 
the number of the olive-trees,f and yet, sad to sayj it 
taxes every olive tree, whether only just planted, or 
laden with fruit, instead of putting a tax on the oil, 
which would seem to us a better plan. The poor people 
now, who have a Uttle land, are afraid of planting 
new olive trees, because they do not bear much of a 
crop till they are fourteen or fifteen years old; and 
they think perhaps they may not Uve to get any 
return for the money thus spent in taxes. When . an 
olive tree does begin to bear fruit, it generally has an 
abundant crop, and goes on yielding fruit even in 
very old age, so that it is said one tree may feed 
* Isa. X. 19* t Deut. viii. 8. 



246 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

that they seem hardly to notice our big vessel at all. 
Sharks, too, abound on different parts of the coast, 
especially at Alexandria, and make bathing dangerous. 
Our lunch-time quickly passes in thinking and talking 
of the 'great fishes'* whose acquaintances we have 
made as we sailed over ' the Great Sea/ 

Our muleteer, as we re-mount, reminds us of the 
' Sitt-il-Kebireh,' the great lady who even yet is not 
quite forgotten in these parts, though she died in 
1839 — Lady Hester Stanhope, whose house was not 
far from Neby YunHs. We must now press forward 
to reach Sidon before sunset, and we are growing 
excessively weary of the long, monotonous ride, and 
are much relieved when we reach the door of our 
good kind friends, the American Missionaries, to 
whom we have often been indebted for a night's rest 
and shelter. We are very glad to spend a quiet night 
in this once prosperous, pleasure-loving city.-f- All 
its ancient splendour has departed, and its richest 
merchants are the owners of poor little shops in some 
of its dirty streets ; but though strangely altered from 
its former proud estate, yet Sidon has still great 
attractions. We shall not have much time to explore 
all its antiquities, and the streets are not very pleasant, 
but if we can reach the remains of the old castle, 
standing out in the middle of the sea, and only con- 
nected with the land by a narrow causeway, we shall 
be able to look back and get a good general view of 
the town with its mosques and towers, with the hills 
rising at a little distance behind it, and the green 
orchards of orange and lemon trees at their feet, 

* Jonah i. 17. j* Judges xviii. 7. 



A RIDE ALONG THE SEA-SHORE. 247 

reaching down almost to the fine sandy beach. Sidon, 
or Saida, the place of fishing, as it is now called, has a 
population of about 10,000 inhabitants, chiefly Moham- 
medans. 

As we return to the house, we can visit the schools 
and church of the American Missionaries who, for 
many years have laboured here quietly and patiently 
amid many difficulties. They will probably be able to 
put us in the way of purchasing some of the Sidonian 
curiosities, earthenware lamps, and old coins, and 
tear-bottles* from the ancient tombs which aboimd 
in the hill to the east of the town. These rock tombs 
are excavated chambers with little recesses, or shelves, 
cut out to receive the body. The tear-bottles and 
lamps are made of simple pottery, not unlike that in 
general use now in all parts of the land, and we have 
to be careful that we purchase real, and not imitation 
ones, for I am afraid such things are made even in 
Sidon, and it would be provoking if, while we thought 
we were treasuring up a tear-bottle 3,000 years old, 
we had only secured one of a week — a sham, and 
nothing more ; we shall not be able to distinguish the 
difference between the modem and ancient pottery, 
but any one who has any experience will be able to 
decide for us at once. The lamps, too, are almost the 
same shape as those used in simple mountain houses 
at the present day : in form they are something like a 
large leaf with the edges turned up ; this is filled with 
oil, generally olive oil, but in some cases castor oil is 
used, and a little wick is laid in it. The light, of 
course, is very feeble, but in many village houses it is 

all the people have. 

* Psa. Ivi. 8. 



218 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

Syria to get on without olives, they are naturally very 
anxious for a good crop, and, as a rule, they take good 
care of their oUveyards. The wild olive trees must be 
grafted; then, when they have grown up to a good 
age, shoots are taken from them above the grafting, 
and if these turn out well, they will need no fresh 
grafting, but be good from the root.* This grafting 
requires some care, and then every spring the ground 
must be ploughed, or dug up, and the earth piled up 
round the roots. Com is often planted imder apricot 
and plum trees in the neighbourhood of Damascus, 
and botb the com and the fmit flourish, but, as a 
rule, nothing is ever planted imder the precious ohve 
tree. Now and then we do tsee an old olive-yard 
choked with thorns, but when that is the case, either 
the owner must have gone too far away to care for it 
at the proper seasons, or he must be desperately lazy. 
The people in general take pains with their olive-yards, 
and watch the wind and the rain anxiously, and above 
all things they dread the locust, which might rob them 
of all their labour.-f- 

The olive harvest does not take place till late in the 
autimm. For some time previously the olive-yards 
are guarded by * natftrs,' or keepers, to prevent people 
from stealing their neighbours' olives, but at last, 
about November, a proclamation is made that the 
right time has come, and then all the people — ^men, 
women and children — ^who possess any of the trees, 
go out into the olive groves and begin to collect the 
berries. I should have said that the olive-yards 
seldom belong to one man, but to many : perhaps a 
* Rom. xi. 17, 18. f *^^^ ^^' 3« 



THE OLIVE. 219 

poor widow's worldly all consists of a few olive and 
fig trees ; perhaps a rich man has one or two hundred ; 
and in harvest-time each one must look after his own 
possessions. If the weather is fine, it is a merry time ; 
the women and boys cUmb into the trees and shake 
and beat the branches, and the olives come down in 
showers : the others gather them into sacks and carry 
them away. As the olive harvest is always so late, 
rain and snow sometimes begin to fall before it is 
finished. After the trees have been shaken and the 
olives gathered up, there alwajrs remain a few on each 
tree, and these are left for the very poor, and glad 
indeed they are to get them.* 

* Deut. xxiv. 20, 



250 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLK 

enter the poor little miserable town wliicli now 
occupies a small part of the site of ancient Tyre ; and 
are only anxious to find the English school-house, 
where we hope to rest a few days while we explore 
the neighbourhood. It is a great treat to find our- 
selves in a neat, simple room, with a door-key which 
would surprise an English housemaid. It is a long 
piece of wood, furnished with a number of little 
spikes, which fit into the native lock, and open it 
most cleverly. Certainly a key of this kind fastens 
a door as securely as Chubb's best patent ; but it is a 
ponderous thing to carry about. A bedroom door-key 
measures nearly a foot in length, while » the key for 
the gate of an orchard is indeed a burden, which the 
owner may well * lay on his shoulder/* Another in- 
convenience of this lock and key is, that it can only 
be used on one side of a door, and not on both sides, 
as we use an ordinary EngUsh key. The lock of an 
orchard door is generally on the inside ; but if the 
owner wishes to enter from the road, he puts his hand 
through a hole, purposely made in the door, and in- 
serting the key in its place, opens it-f* 

We care little, however, when we first arrive, about 
the kind of key which fastens our door, but are glad 
as quickly as possible to retire to rest ; and, after a 
good night's repose, we are ready next morning to 
commence our explorations in a quiet way. 

There is plenty to see close at hand, and taking one 
of the school-children to guide us, and our muleteer, 
we try to gain the sea-shore ; but, unfortunately, 
English ladies are stiU a curiosity in Tyre, and a 

* Isa. xxii. 22. t Cant. v. 4. 



A RIDE ALONG THE SEA-SHORE. 251 

number of street children pursue us, striving to get a 
peep at the strange creatures, and our man has hard 
work to drive them away. We feel that we are a 
kind of Punch and Judy show to the poor little 
Tyrians, and it is hard to deprive them of their fun, 
and yet they do hinder our progress not a little. At 
last we manage to reach the remains of the grand old 
Cathedral of St. Mark, the Crusader's Church, where 
the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa is said to be 
buried. Only part of it is now standing ; but many 
fine granite pillars lie scattered about. Then we 
reach a flat, open piece of ground, the * links ' of Tyre, 
where we have a famous promenade, which we can 
walk up and down, while we admire the splendid 
sands on each side. It is difficult at first to realize 
that we are standing on the shore, close to the ruins 
of such an ancient, and once magnificent, city ; but if 
we scramble down upon the beach, we shall find 
enough to sadden us. We wander about, not among 
rocks only, as at an ordinary sea-side place, but 
among prostrate ruins. The glory of Tyre is literally 
laid low — nothing seems left standing ; but we climb 
from one pillar to another as they lie half-buried in 
the sand, or embedded in the rocks. Pieces of beauti- 
ful marble are almost as common as shells, while bits 
of a kind of green glass show what the old Tyrians 
could make. Probably these remains have not been 
yet half explored ; and if they were excavated more 
thoroughly, many curious remains might no doubt 
be discovered. At a little distance from the sea, we 
are taken to see a fine female statue, perhaps of 
Ashtoreth,* which has been discovered in a quarry ; 

* 1 Kings xi. 5. 



222 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

be on the ground, and the women, with heavy wooden 
mallets, will soon be busy driving in the tent-pins, as 
Jael* of old no doubt often did. These pins are usually 
large wooden pegs ; occasionally, but very rarely, they 
are made of iron, and Dr. Porter tells us that the 
Hebrew word used in Judges iv., and translated 
' nail,' is the very same as the Arabic name for tent- 
pin. 

It is a strange sight to come suddenly upon a settle- 
ment of Arabs, and to see all their black-f- striped tents 
ranged in order ; and perhaps only those who have 
noticed in detail all the arrangements for a* Bedouin 
encampment can fully understand the wisdom and 
beauty of the minute directions given to Moses for the 
order J of march, and the encampment of the children 
of Israel, while they dwelt in tents in the Wilderness. 

The Bedouin call their tents ' houses of hair,' and 
they bear no resemblance to ordinary English tents, 
with a pole in the middle and a nicely arranged door. 

All the Bedouin tents are long and narrow, closed at 
the back, but partly open in front ; and when we are 
walking about an Arab encampment, we must remem- 
ber our manners, and pass at the back of the tents, and 
not go peeping and peering about the front, any more 
than we should think of peeping in at a gentleman's 
window. To look into an Arab's tent, or even to pass 
near the front of it, would give the deepest offence. 
Some of the tents are very poor, and ragged, and dirty ; 
others are more respectable, for they belong to the 
middle-class Bedouin, and « others, especially the 
Sheikh's tent will be quite comfortable, and such no 

* Judges iv. 21. f Song of Sol. i. 5. J Num. i., ii. 




BKDODIN WOMAS AHD CHILD 



254 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

whicli the walls are covered — much to the amazement 
of the natives, who wonder what we can be going to 
do with such grass — we start on our journey home, 
returning by an inland path which will lead us close 
to the remains of a splendid ancient aqueduct. 

One more excursion we must make before we leave 
Tyre and return to Damascus, and that is to the so- 
called Tomb of Hiram.* We cannot tell if it is really 
the grave of the great King of Tjrre, but at any rate 
we are riding about the district which once owned his 
sway. 

The little town of modem Tjrre has long been much 
in darkness and ignorance ; but about thirteen years 
ago a simple school was opened, at first in a very 
humble way and among many diflSculties. Now there is 
a double school for boys and girls, numbiBring nearly 
200, with Sunday services and a Sunday school, and 
we hope the light is gradually breaking on this 
desolate spot. 

Instead of returning to Damascus the way we came, 
we may as well strike directly into the interior, if we 
can only brave a night in a native house. We shall 
probably have to sleep in the family apartment with 
crying children, swarms of fleas and worse, and perhaps 
lowing cattle. The second day we shall reach Hasbeya, 
a large town on a spur of Hermon, and not far from 
Banias, or Csesarea Philippi,-f- which is close to one 
of the most picturesque of the sources of the 
Jordan. Here we shall find one of the oldest of the 
British Syrian schools, and have a warm welcome 
from the lady in charge, who, for many years, has 

* 1 Kings v. 1—12. t Matt. xvi. 13 ; xvii. 1. 



A RIDE ALONG THE SEA-SHORE. 255 

been spending a soKtary and devoted life among the 
people of Hasbeya. She has no European or American 
neighbour nearer to her than Sidon, Beyrout or 
Damascus, each two or three days' journey distant ; but 
she is happy among her Druze, Moslem and Christian 
chadren, who have learned to repeat many passages 
from Holy Scripture. She thinks no place on earth 
more lovely than Hasbeya, with its mountains and 
hills, its oUve and mulberry trees, its vineyards and 
cornfields. From Hasbeya we ought to ascend 
Hermon, either by way of Kasheya or of Shubaa, a 
pretty village within three hours of the summit, rich 
in goats, cheese and charcoal, while almost the best 
pears in the country are found growing wild on the 
mountain sides. 

From the top of this ' exceeding high mountain '* a 
grand view can be obtained of Palestine, with Carmel 
and Tabor, the sea of Galilee and the Waters of Merom, 
with the Dead Sea 120 miles to the south, Lebanon 
and Anti-Lebanon, and in the distance the green oasis 
of Damascus, and to the east the magnificent plain 
and distant mountains of Hauran, and to the south- 
east Jaulan, and the mountains of Ajliln (ancient 
Gilead). If we ascend by way of Shubaa we may 
make our descent on Kasheya, and from thence find 
our way to Damascus, where, after all our wanderings, 
we shall be glad to rest awhile. 

* Matt. iv. 8. 



CHAPTER XXL 

RACES AND RELIGIONS. 
By W. Mackintosh. 

The language of Syria is one — Arabic ; a language 
probably as old as the time of Ishmael, the father of the 
Arabs, and up to the present time almost unchanged, 
written in beautiful characters of its own, resembling 
Hebrew in its construction and roots ; but the races 
and phases of religion are many and complex. The 
growing and predominant class of the people of Syria 
are the Mohammedans,* who include a variety of sects 
and races. 

1st. — The Sunnites are the leading and orthodox 
sect of Mohammedans. They embrace a number of 
different races, which in some instances keep distinct 
and apart, but in some of the large towns mingle and 
amalgamate so that it would be impossible to analyze 
them. Take Damascus for example — ^when the Moslem- 
Arab invading armies took the city in the beginning of 
the seventh century, its Christian inhabitants would 
have been Syrians, mixed with a certain amount of 
Greek and Roman blood. Most of them were prose- 
lytized to Mohammedanism by the sword of their 
Arab conquerors, who not only imposed upon them 
their religion, but also their language, and from hence- 

* Muhammad is the correct Arabic spelling of the Prophet's 
name. 



RACES AND RELIGIONS. 



257 



forth settled among them, and in time they became a 
new but amalgamated element in this already com- 
pomid race. Afterwards, the doors opened by Moham- 
medan polygamy, allowed a further variety of mixture, 
such as the Turkish, Circassian, and no doubt, in the 
towns of Palestine, some of the Crusader element. All 
this may be seen illustrated in some of the famous 
ruins of Syria — say Baalbek, where may be seen in 
the ground layers of the walls, the massive foundations 
laid by the Phoenicians 3,000 or 4,000 years ago, and 
overlying them, or mixed up with them, pieces of 
Greek, Boman, Saracen, and Turkish structure, each 
becoming less massive than the preceding. 

As to doctrine, most Mohammedans are Unitarians, 
and in practice polygamists. Ablutions, prayers, fast- 
ings, alms, and pilgrimages, are their chief works of 
duty and merit. Mohammed, according to them, is 
the last and greatest of the seven Prophets, beginning 
with Adam. They place Christ sixth in rank; but 
while in the Koran His birth is acknowledged to have 
been miraculous, and remarkable expressions are ap- 
phed to Him that are not appUed even to Mohammed 
or any other of the seven, yet, among most of their 
religious teachers. His divinity is denied : and although 
He is represented in the Koran as blessing * the day of 
His hi/rthy death, and resurrection' and also as com- 
mending His disciples to God's keeping, in view of 
' His causing Hira to die/ yet, in common teaching, all 
this is denied, or strangely per\rerted, and He is said 
to have been taken up to heaven alive, while another 
person in His likeness is believed to have died in His 
stead. Man's lost and helpless condition in sin and 

17 




258 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

guilt is not known, nor taught, and so the atoning 
death of a Divine Saviour is not recognised nor felt 
to be necessary. 

2nd. — The Metdwileh, or Arfdd as they are termed 
in Damascus, from their bigotry in refusing to mix with 
those outside their own sect, correspond in the peculi- 
arities of their creed to the Shi'ites of Persia, whose 
great hero among the EJiaMs was Aaly, They inhabit 
BilM Bash^ra, which is the mountainous district lying 
between the coast of Tyre and Sidon, and the HAleh or 
Upper Jordan Valley. The Mohanmiedans of Tyre, 
and some of those of Sidon, are Metgiwileh ; and they 
are also found in some villages of Lebanon, and the 
Btikaa, or valley of Coele-Syria. Twenty or twenty- 
five years ago, Baalbek was their great centre and 
stronghold, where, subject to their own chiefs, they 
reigned in full power, defying the Turkish Gk)vemment 
and making raids for robbery all around — even putting 
peaceful Christian villages only six hours' ride from 
Damascus, such as Saidnaya, imder regular taxation. 
At length some of their chiefs were captured in war- 
fare, or by stratagem, and put to death or imprisoned 
in Damascus, and thus the backbone of the ' Taifeh* 
or sect, was broken, and they have now become menial 
and degraded-looking, inhabiting very dirty and ill- 
favoured villages, in some instances feared to this day 
by native travellers as having once been the abode of 
high-handed robbers. Before the Turks harried their 
nest, travelling was dangerous within the bounds of their 
beat: on one occasion, an American missionary was 
returning to Damascus from visiting his village sta- 
tions, and was met by a robbing band of the Met&wileh, 



RACES AND RELIGIONS. 259 

who summoned him in robbers' speech, * Ishlahk ;' and 
at the point of their spears he was obliged to part with 
all he had — ^his purse, his beast, his clothes, etc., and 
was left almost naked. ^ 

Some of their tenets and practices are extremely ex- 
clusive, as Arfdd, their Damascus name, indicates. For 
example, a Christian, Druze, Jew, or other Moham- 
medan, is passing along the road and asks for a drink 
of water, it is sometimes altogether refused, or very 
grudgingly given ; and when they have given it, they 
have often been known to break the jar from which 
the alien drank. They look upon all outside their own 
sect as unclean, and cannot mix with them without 
being polluted : yet, strange to say, many of their 
villages are the dirtiest in the land. Their exclusive- 
ness in not eating and drinking with others seems to 
be founded on a ceremonial code, and in this they re- 
semble the Jews. Indeed their quarter is within that 
of the Jews, and they seem to fraternize with them 
far more than with the Suimite Mohammedans, who 
in Damascus are hated by the ArfM. They in turn 
are despised and hated by the Sunnites, which leads 
them to welcome the sympathy of Christian and Jew ; 
and this, too, makes them more open and amenable in 
certain places to the efforts of missionary agencies. As 
far as race goes, the Met^wileh may possibly have been 
originally immigrants from Persia, who have been 
mixed up with their proselytes in Syria from other 
races in the land. 

3rd. — The NUbaairiya are an interesting but almost 
unknown section of the people of modem Syria. With 
the exception of three villages near Banias, they are 

VI— ^ 




260 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

found only in the mountainous region in the north of 
Syria, extending from Tripoli and the north end of the 
Lebanon range to Iskanderfln, Antioch, and Aleppo. 
Their number may amount to upwards of two hundred 
thousand. Some good authorities are of opinion that 
they are the direct descendants of the ancient Canaan- 
ites (perhaps of the Hittites, on whom late discoveries 
have been shedding light), many of whom were pressed 
out of their own land, by the report and fear of Joshua 
and his deeds ; and may naturally have taken refuge 
in the more remote mountains of the north. Certainly 
of all the religions of Syria, theirs is the nearest to 
heathenism. They practice to this day some of the 
ancient heathen acts of worship to sun, moon, and stars, 
referred to in Job xxxi. 26 — 28 ; and ' the high places' 
on the tops of the mountains are still retained by them 
in common with other sections of the modem Syrians. 
The Niisairiya passed through the period of Judaism, 
but were not Judaized; and through the period of 
Syria's Christianity, but seemed not to have been 
Christianized, or but in small measure ; and we may 
say they have passed through the period of Mohamme- 
danism, and have not been Mohammedanized, but they 
still retain in great measure their original heathenism, 
with fragments of Judaism, Christianity and Mohamme- 
danism rudely grafted on the heathen stock. They 
include several sects, of whose peculiar differences but 
little is known; and they are not disowned by the 
orthodox or Sunnite Mohammedans, as are the Druze, 
but are admitted and classified by them as a mongrel 
or heretical and degraded member of the Mohamme- 
dan family. The Niisairiya divide themselves into 



BACES AND KELIGIONS. 261 

initiated and uninitiated; and their ceremony of initia- 
tion is a wicked and degrading one, too hideous to be 
described, and which gives over to death the man who 
divulges it. But some years ago, one of their number, 
on professing Christianity, took flight to Egypt, and 
wrote a book in Arabic, reveaUng their whole system, 
doctrine, and practice — a dark revelation indeed! 
About twenty-five years ago, this poor, benighted people 
of Syria attracted the deep interest and compassion of 
the Rev. Mr. Lyde, a devoted young clergyman of the 
Church of England ; and he was moved in his heart to 
go and settle down in the midst of them, in their wild 
moimtains, east of Latikia, and spend himself and his 
means for their evangelization and the instruction of 
their youth. He built simple mission premises at his 
own cost, and spent several years amongst them. At 
last, one night, on overhearing a party of them in an 
adjoining room consult about the assassination of some 
persons obnoxious to them, his nerves were so unstrung 
that he was obUged to leave for Cairo, where he soon 
afterwards died, but not without leaving decided fruits 
of his earnest teaching and whole-hearted self-sacrifice, 
for several of the N6sairiya boys whom he taught and 
trained were baptized, and afterwards became Christian 
teachers among their own people. They endured a 
great deal of persecution, when about six years ago they 
were compelled by the Turkish Government to abandon 
their schools, and with much cruelty and against its 
own laws (for Christians are not permitted to bear the 
sword by a Mohammedan Government) to enter the 
army. Three or four of them went through a severe 
ordeal at Damascus, but were enabled to be faithful. 



262 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

Before Mr. Lyde*s death, he offered, by his will, the 
mission which he had so faithfully founded, to any 
evangelical church that would be willing to carry it on 
as he had begun it; whereupon one of the Presby- 
terian churches of America came forward and took it 
up, and continues to carry it on to the present day, 
with Latikia as a centre. Antioch is also one of 
their stations, and Sahikia {Selucia of St. Paul's 
time) another, in which the late Dr. Yates took a great 
interest. Well would it be if the story of the gifted 
and devoted Mr. Lyde, and his most interesting 
mission among the wild, heathen Niisairiya of Syria, 
were xmiversally known, and his example followed. He 
spent his means and his life for the enlightening of 
these poor, dark people, and built and conducted his 
schools at his own cost, unaided by any society ; and it 
seems strange that such devotion should be almost 
unknown, even among the Christians of the present 
day. But the darkness and the need of the two or 
three hundred thousand Niisairiya of the mountains 
of Latikia and Antioch are just as much unknown as 
Mr. Lyde's zeal and love for their souls, and 'The 
Asiatic Mystery,* his learned book on the Niisairiya, 
ought not to be allowed to lie unread in second-hand 
book-shops. 

There are other less-known sects of Mohammedans 
mixed up in the mass, such as Sulfites, Sh^dhaliya, 
Ismailia, etc.; and of races who profess Mohamme- 
danism, and who have immigrated into Syria within 
late years, and retain their distinctness, there are the 
KHrds, who form a colony of their own in Salihhiya, 
a suburb of Damascus, and mostly follow the calling 



RACES AND RELIGIONS. 263 

of mounted police — the Turlco7nans,who possess certain 
villages north of Damascus, and are found in small 
encampments south of Banias — and the Circassians, 
whom the late Russian war drove from their homes, 
and who live in small settlements in different parts of 
Syria. 

The Bedouin Arabs. — Such a halo of charm and 
romance has been cast aroimd 'the people of the 
Desert,' that it seems unworthy of their name to give 
them here only a passing notice. To those who desire 
fuller information, we would commend Lady Anne 
Blunt's interestiDg four volumes of travels amongst 
the Bedouin in the Arabian desert, recently pubhshed. 
In a previous chapter some account has already been 
given of these dwellers in tents of black goats'-hair and 
the reamers of the desert, who so often vary the mono- 
tony of Eastern life by their raids and exploits, and 
who form a considerable supplement to the ordinary 
population. Throughout its whole history, Syria,, from 
its position as a long strip of country lying on the 
western skirts of the Arabian desert, has been inti- 
mately connected with nomadic Bedouin, roaming from 
place to place. Some of these tribes, called ' Arab-ud- 
Dairat,' or district Arabs, are settled on the borders of 
Syria, or rather, in most cases, within its borders, 
according to the requirements of shelter, water and 
pasture for their flocks, and seldom roam beyond their 
comparatively limited circuits, which are usually within 
an easy distance of villages or towns ; whereas the large 
tribes, called ' Arab-ush-Sh61,' or desert Arabs, wander 
far into the wilds of the desert, being often known to 
go eastwards fifteen or twenty days' journey, only 



264 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

appearing in the vicinity of Syriaa towns with their 
flocks of camels for six or eight weeks in the spring 
to feed on the pastures, and in autumn to eat up the 
stubble, and purchase from the villages their winter 
stores of wheat or other grain. Then they laimch out 
again eastwards into the xmknown wilds of the desert, 
with their new pui'chases on their camels' backs, to 
spend the winter months in the warmth and solitude 
of the HamM. 

The true Bedouin are free and lightsome as school- 
boys, and agile and erratic in their movements bs 
birds, coming and going like the locusts or the winds. 
Their origin is as far back as the time of Ishmael and 
Abraham ; their language one of the oldest, grandest, 
and most accurate in the world, remaining to this day 
almost unchanged ; and while the great mass of them 
have lived from time immemorial in dwellings as light 
as themselves, and inhabit a region called desert, yet 
in this very desert arose a religion, 1,300 years ago, 
that sways at the present hour, nearly 200,000,000 of 
souls; and from the depths of that Arabian desert 
went forth the hosts of conquering warriors, who bore 
with them Mohammed's code and a certain species of 
civilization, to the whole of western Asia, the half of 
Africa, and even a large portion of Europe. What a 
strange people ! What a strange land they have come 
from ! What a strange mode of life they live ! And 
what strange feats they have accomplished ! 

Yet the Bedouin, from whose race and desert region 
sprang this wide-spreading religion, are themselves 
almost without a profession or form of religion. They 
breathe in a pre-eminent sense the pure air of heaven, 



RACES AND RELIGIONS. 265 

and possess a degree of truthfulness, and show a cer- 
tain respect for women. They obey unswerving laws of 
hospitality, in the carrying out of which they will often 
sacrifice their own Uves in defence of their ' dakheel,' 
or guest (whoever he may be), who has fled to them 
for refuge, or has put himself under their protection. I 
speak personally, for I have often been treated by them 
in their encampments with the greatest kindness and 
politeness, and on one occasion, being met in perfect 
solitude, with no escort, by wild-looking, half-naked 
members of a tribe who had known and entertained 
me in their tents three years previously, instead of 
attacking me, to my surprise, for I did not recognise 
them, they came forward and embraced me with true 
desert fidelity. While possessing all these commend- 
able traits of character, yet, in strange contradiction, 
they are otherwise dark, ignorant and degraded, living 
in a state of chronic warfare, every man's hand against 
his neighbour, and in short knowing no recreation but 
robbing, and no constraining power but the spear. The 
'Ghuzu,' or raid, is their desert sport and pastime. 
Except when a blood-feud exists, they will seldom kill 
for killing's sake, but will not scruple to do so if re- 
sisted when robbing. ' There is,' literally, ' no fear of 
God before their eyes ;' ' the way of peace have they 
not known.' The 'Hadhar,' as they are called, of 
Arabia, have given a reUgion to one-seventh of the 
world, and yet the ' Bedu,' though nominally Mahom- 
medans, have, with rare exceptions, none themselves. 

And how strange that Christians of England should 
be so tardy in acknowledging that the Bedouin are in- 
cluded in the divine words : ' Whosoever will, let him 



266 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

come and drink of the water of life freely.' Would 
that a Livmgstone were raised up for Arabia to explore 
its wilds and cany the healing balm of the Gospel of 
peace to its unknown depths ! SmaJl beginnings are 
being made by a missionary in Damascus, and by others 
in Palestine, but ' what are they among so many V 

The Druze are disowned by the Mahommedan 
Sheikhs, or doctors, as not belonging to their family. 
The Druze themselves often declare that they do, 
but no one that knows them believes their Mahom- 
medan profession to be true. They are an inde- 
pendent race, and sometimes turbulent, bold and 
courageous m warfare, extremely polite and hospitable 
to strangers, having special partiality for the English. 
They are spirited in pubUc affairs and imited in 
obedience to their chiefs, being always well informed 
and on the alert as to the political movements of the 
day. They are usually neat and tidy in their dress, 
food and dwellings; and on Lebanon their acuteness 
has often been observed in their choice of the most 
salubrious and picturesque sites for their villages near 
good foimtains of pure water. They are tenacious 
and exclusive in keeping within their own bounds, 
never intermarrying with others than Druze, nor 
seeking to proselytize, believing that the niunber of 
Druze in the world is always fixed, and cannot be 
increased nor diminished. Yet, in mingling with 
others, they have no bigoted, ceremonial scruples as to 
imaginary clean and imclean in the matter of caste 
or food, but pay much attention to real cleanliness. 
They never object to eat with people of other sects, or to 
allow others to eat with them ; and in this they are at 



RACES AND RELIGIONS. 267 

the opposite pole to the Niisairiya. As to the origin 
of the Druze as a race, they are supposed to have 
been Arabs, and their exclusiveness has preserved 
them as one of the purest in Syria for at least a thou-, 
sand years. They are said to have come originally from 
the region of Baghdad, or Babylon. They travelled 
up the valley of the Euphrates, and at first settled in 
the mountains of Aleppo ; and when the land became 
too strait for them, they journeyed southwards, and 
being a warlike and courageous people, fought their 
way until they reached Lebanon and the Btikaa, where 
they dispossessed many of the original inhabitants, or 
settled down amongst them. The pecuharities of 
their religious system were introduced by emissaries 
of II H&kim-bi-Amrihi, the notoriously cruel Fatimite 
Khalif of Egypt, in whose divinity they believed. 
Around their belief in him there has been worked 
a system of secrecy and mystery which is only 
made known to the Ak-kal, or initiated class among 
them; the Jah-hal, or ignorant, being, as the term 
indicates, hterally without even the form or profession 
of religion. The initiated meet in a private Khtilweh, 
or chapel, every Thursday night, with closed doors ; 
and if necessary a watchman is posted outside to 
insure perfect secrecy. Their leading tenets are the 
unity of God and the transmigration of souls, but they 
do their utmost to keep their religious beUef and prac- 
tices hidden in all their details, never allowing them- 
selves to be seen praying or performing any reUgious 
act, except in the graveyard when burying their dead, 
which I saw only once during a residence in Syria of 
fourteen years. The ceremony and recitations — ^mostly 



268 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLK 

from the Koran — ^resembled those of a Moslem funeral 
When a Dmze dies, relatives and acquaintances come 
from distant villages to the 'A'za/ to 'comfort' the 
family by wailing over the dead ; and if it be a person 
of note, crowds will come from all the surroimding 
villages, and keep up the wailing for days in succes- 
sion. So with a marriage, the noisy rejoicings are 
continued for days. Their children, for whom they 
have great aflfection, are usually brought up to be 
polite, obedient and respectful to their superiors, and 
many of them are being now instructed in the Bible 
in Protestant Mission Schools. The Druze have been 
accustomed to centre their hopes for the future in 
China. They believe the Chinese, or the mass of 
them, to be Druze — no doubt from the belief in the 
transmigration of souls being common to both — and 
they hold that ultimately there will be a great final 
war among the nations, with Jerusalem and Mecca as 
its centres ; and after the powers that be, have been 
exhausted in fighting against each other, the Chinese 
hordes will come westwards Uke a flood to make, in 
union with the Druze, the whole world their posses- 
sion. They have fancied that inner China has been 
sacred and sealed against all foreign intruders, and 
that no alien could possibly penetrate there. But the 
knowledge of geography, received through their 
children at school, is gradually modifying their ideas 
on this and similar points. 

The Christians. — Counting aU the sects of nominal 
Christians in Syria, the number has been greatly in 
the minority for ages past, compared with the aggre- 
gate of the various sects and races professing Moham- 



RACES AND BELIGIONS. 269 

medanism. The proportion of nominal Christians is 
probably, on an average, about a third of the whole 
population. In all the large towns, except Beyrout, 
their minority is very small indeed, being in Damascus 
no more than one in nine, whereas in Beyrout, which 
is by fer the most growing and prosperous town, as 
well as the most enlightened in the whole of Syria, 
the preponderance is considerably on the side of the 
Christians, which fact will tell an important tale to 
thoughtful men. There are also many villages, and 
some whole districts, on Moimt Lebanon entirely 
occupied by Christians. Here, too, even with many 
defects, there is, as is admitted on all sides, more just 
government along with material prosperity and free- 
dom, as well as comfort and contentment, than in any 
other part of the Turkish Empire. Even Moham- 
medans themselves have often told us, that when 
travelling, for example, from Damascus to Bejnrout, 
as soon as they get within the limits of the Pashalic 
of Lebanon, they have a feeling of safety and satisfac- 
tion which they had not before. Christians are foimd 
prospering in a few villages to the north of Damascus, 
such as labrood, Nebk, and Deir-Aatiya; while in 
most of those in the fertile and extensive plains of 
Hauran, they have scarcely shown as yet any dis- 
position to rise above their neighbours. In most 
instances their houses and garments are as dirty and 
squalid-looking as those around them. Their garb is 
that of the Bedouin ; and they are usually ignorant, and 
often dejected. Wealth and power are in the hands 
of the Druze. The favour of the Government is with 
the Mohammedans. The Bedouin go and come as 



270 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLK 

they please, but the poor Christians have to pass 
their hves, ahnost like serfs, as submissively as 
possible ; now paying tithes to the Druze, again to 
the Mohammedans, occasionally to the Turkish 
Government, and more frequently to the Bedouin, 
who may come into their villages whenever they like, 
and, without leave or opposition, quarter themselves 
upon them, imtil the demanded KhUweh is produced. 
And all this as the price of suflFerance ; while if you 
go and examine some of the famous ruins, such as 
Bosra, or Izraa, you will find standing pillars and 
pieces of wall, the remains of once beautiful churches 
now in heaps, telling of the glory and power that once 
belonged to the Christians of Hauran, but have long 
ago departed : and these are but too true an emblem 
of their sadder spiritual fall and ruin. On one occa- 
sion, when spending the day of rest in one of those 
Hauran villages where the priest's visits were few and 
far between, the poor Christians (of the Greek Church), 
glad to have some one to sympathize with them, 
invited me to hold a meeting for them in their village 
church, which T found to be a room of an ancient 
ruined house, 1,500 years old, rudely repaired by black 
basalt stones of the neighbouring ruins being huddled 
together to fill up the breaches in the waUs, and a 
rough flat roof of stone and clay overhead, with 
rude thick mats of reeds or straw on the ground for 
the people to squat on, with the stump of an old 
broken piUar fixed in the ground as the only attempt 
at a reading-desk or pulpit. But here, it was to me a 
great joy to read and speak from the Book of Life to 
these poor dejected people. On another touching 



RACES AND RELIGIONS. 271 

occasion, at the village of Izraa, in the midst of a laby- 
rinth of black ruins, pointing as far back as Og, King 
of Bashan, I was asked by a group of the Christians of 
the place to hold a similar meeting with them in the 
roofless ruins of an ancient church, on the doorways 
of which we found Greek inscriptions, and over one 
was well carved the instructive figure of the Cross of 
Christ, with a vine growing out of it on either side, 
bearing beautiful bimches of grapes. Many times 
when traveUing, or visiting schools, originally opened 
by the Rev. Dr. and Mrs. Parry, and now maintained 
by the Church Missionary Society, have I had the 
privilege, in similarly sad but interesting circum- 
stances, of holding out a helping hand to our poor, 
down-trodden fellow-Christians in Hauran, where, sur- 
rounded by ruin and degradation, and weighed down 
by ignorance and oppression, and knowing little more 
of Christ than His name, I trust they may yet have 
received some seeds of life into their hearts. 

The Oreeh Church, — The three chief Christian sects 
in Syria are the Greek, the Greek Catholic, and the 
Maronite. The following is a brief summary of the 
principal points in the creed of the Greek Church, or 
Greek Orthodox, as it calls itself: 

1. They declare Jesus Christ to be the only Mediator 
between God and man ; but that saints and angels, 
and especially the Virgin Mary, are intercessors to 
bring our prayers and petitions to Him. Thus Christ, 
the one only Mediator, is almost hidden in the back- 
groimd. 

2. No Christian, nor Church, can exist without 
Episcopacy and Apostolic succession. 



272 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

3. The Church is composed of those who embrace 
the faith of our Saviour Jesus Christ, as delivered by 
Himself, the Apostles, the holy Fathers, and the 
(Ecumenical Coimcils. 

4. Their ideas on the fall of man, justification, faith, 
and works, and their relation to Christ, are thoroughly 
confused. 

5. Seven sacraments, viz., baptism, confirmation, 
the eucharist, penance, extreme imction, holy orders, 
matrimony. 

6. Transubstantiation held to a gross degree. 

7. Baptism cleanses from original sin, regenerates, 
and is necessary to salvation. 

8. No purgatory, but Umbo, the intermediate state 
between death and the resurrection ; yet they practise 
prayers, alms, and masses, in behalf of the dead. 

9. Holy Scriptures not to be read by the common 
people. This rule has been lax in Syria for years 
past. The New Testament is read in the churches 
in Arabic, the vulgar tongue ; and the Bible is pos- 
sessed and studied by many of the people. This, and 
other points in their ancient creed, have been greatly 
modified in practice within late years through the 
influence of missionary effort and teaching. I have 
seen the voweUed New Testament, printed by the 
Protestants, being studied in the Greek Patriarch's 
schools in Damascus. 

10. They believe in the authority of the Apocrypha 
as weU as of the Old and New Testaments. 

11. Their ideas of the Virgin Mary as * the Mother 
of God ' are, amongst the imenlightened, almost more 
gross than those of the Papists. They present their 



RACES AND BELIGIONS. 27J^ 

prayers most commonly to the Virgin Mary, and Mar 
Giryis (St. George), and kiss and do honour to 
crosses, images, and pictures, paying great attention 
to priestly robes, candles, and such like parapher- 
nalia. 

12. Convents, monasteries, fasts, pilgrimages to 
Jerusalem, were in great vogue ; but seem to be losing 
their hold upon the people to some extent in the 
present day. 

13. The Pope of Rome entirely disowned. Their 
heads are the Patriarchs of Constantinople, Alexandria, 
Antioch, and Jerusalem. The Patriarch of Antioch 
resides at Damascus. 

14. Priests may marry once, but not Bishops. 
Prayers are mostly said in Greek, which is not under- 
stood by the people. Infants are baptized by im- 
mersion repeated three times. 

The Greek Orthodox Church diflfers from the Latin 
in points like the following : The Pope's Supremacy — 
the procession of the Holy Spirit from the Father 
and the Son — the commimion of the laity in one 
kmd— purgatory— priestly ceUbacy. 

As to race, the people composing the Greek Church 
in Syria now possess a greater admixture of blood 
than they did at the time when the Mohammedan 
invasion took place. Even at that period the in- 
habitants of the towns and plains would have had a 
proportion of Greeks and Romans and other foreigners 
mixed up with the pure Sjnrians ; and since then they 
have had Crusaders and Modem Greek immigrants 
added to the older elements. 

Until late years most of the priests were very 

18 



274 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

ignorant and degraded, and many are sov. stilL They 
kept their people in utter darkness — especially in the 
villages ; but, at the present day, some of them, and 
many more of the people, are enlightened and well- 
disposed towards any efforts made for their benefit 
Some of the priests are known to us personally ; and 
although they are of the old school, and never likely 
to get entirely free from the trammels of ignorance 
and superstition in which they were brought up, yet 
we believe them to be upright, God-fearing men, as 
far as their light goes. In the case of some of the 
higher ecclesiastical officials, their having so much 
secular power in their hands has become a snare ; so 
that they have become to a great extent assimilated 
in practice to the Turks, the rulers of the land, with 
whom they are daily negotiating the business of their 
people in respect to taxes and other civil matters. 

One thing must be observed as distinguishing the 
Greek Orthodox from the Catholic sects, and that is, 
that they have shown much less repugnance to the 
circulation of the Bible among the people. They 
have been more ready to fraternize, and much less 
opposed to the efforts of American and English 
missionaries. Their prejudices have been more easily 
broken down ; and they have come in many instances 
to appreciate highly the proffered help which the 
West has brought them within the last twenty or 
thirty years. The village homes are now in many 
places blessed with a copy of ' the Holy Book ;' and 
many, both of the yoimg and middle-aged, can read 
it. About 1,400, or half of the youth being instructed 
in the British Syrian Schools, for example, are of 



RACES AND RELIGIONS. 275 

parents belonging to the Greek Orthodox Church. 
The great want now is — that ' the Word ' should be 
made ' spirit and life.' 

The Oreek Catholic Church, until about seventy or 
eighty years ago, was part and parcel of the Greek 
Orthodox; but through the proselytizing efforts of 
the Jesuits, a great split or disruption was caused, 
and a large portion left the Orthodox, and joined the 
Papal Church, and formed what is now denominated 
the Greek Catholic Church. Except in the one point 
of admitting the Pope's supremacy, it scarcely differs 
from the Orthodox, unless it be in an excess of zeal, 
particularly against the Protestants. They are ex- 
clusive and bigoted, and more thoroughly religious 
in their way— being much more strict in attending 
church on saint days, and in providing for then- poor, 
than the Orthodox. One of their centres is in 
Damascus, where their Patriarch resides. They have 
a large and flourishing school for boys at Masaitbeh, 
Beyrout, where a good deal of polish and intelligence 
may be seen. They have smaller schools in Damascus, 
and in connection with convents at various places on 
Lebanon. 

The Maronites. — Some religious tenet or theory, 
whether right or wrong, has not unfrequently been 
the pivot or rallying-point for a sect or a nationality. 
Such has been the case with the Maronites. Two 
individuals are mentioned by Church historians as 
having been instrumental in forming and consoli- 
dating this small but tenacious community. By their 
first leader Mar6n, a monk, they were induced iq the 
end of the sixth century to adopt the views of the 

18—2 



276 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

Monothelites against the Melchite Greeks ; and about 
a century afterwards were led to leave the fertile 
plains and the banks of the Orontes by another monk 
John Maron, whom they made their chief, and, 
impelled by the repressive measures of the Emperor 
Anastasius II., and the exigencies of the times, those 
Syrian Mardaites, or ' rebels,' as the term signified, 
took refuge and settled down in the natural fortresses 
of Northern Lebanon. In 1182 they renounced their 
Monothelite error, and were admitted into the Romish 
Church. The Maronites,numbering upwards of 200,000, 
are supposed to be the purest representatives of the 
ancient Syrians ; and stiU use ancient Syriac in their 
liturgy. With the exception of some Greek villages 
near the cedars, and a few MetHwileh villages in the 
neighbourhood of Afka (Apheca), where the ancient 
heathen shrine of Venus stood, until destroyed by the 
Emperor Constantine, nearly the whole of the wild, 
rocky districts of Kesraw^, and the northern ex- 
tremities of Mount Lebanon, are exclusively inhabited 
by them. Here they have been securely perched in 
their mountain fastnesses for the last thirteen centuries, 
holding their own, first against the Orthodox Greeks, 
and long after against the Mohammedan invaders, 
and able to look down in troublous times upon the 
turmoil of the outer world without concern. They are 
a bold, warlike people, and within recent times, imder 
their leader Yiisif Karam, they kept up a feverish 
strife for independence ; and as late as 1868, they had 
the courage to threaten war against the Government, 
when a considerable force of Turkish soldiers had to 
be sent to quell them. Even now, though nominally 




BACES AND RELIGIONS. 277 

under the Pasha of Lebanon, they are semi-indepen- 
dent. When travelling over their rugged mountains, 
one finds it hard to conceive, when he sees the pre- 
valence of rocks in most parts, and the scantiness of 
soil, how they can possibly eke out the most meagre 
subsistence ; and yet they cling to their rocky homes, 
and can boast that, amidst these rocks, they performed 
great feats in warfare, such as the routing of the 
well-trained, and elsewhere victorious Egyptian army 
of Ibrahim Pasha, forty years ago, as the Druze did 
in the rocky Leja of Hauran. 

The independent spirit of the Maronites has been 
strikingly shown in the hard bargain they drove with 
the Pope of Rome as well as the Sultan of Constanti- 
nople in disposing of their religious and civil freedom 
— that is to say, they made their own terms, and 
obtained special advantages ; while they surrendered 
nothing of their rites and customs further than paying 
an imperfect allegiance to the Papal Head. Although 
they originally adopted no Popish tenet except the 
supremacy of the Roman Pontiff, and bore much more 
resemblance to the Greek Church from which they 
seceded than they did to the Roman, yet by con- 
stant communication and intercourse with emissaries 
from Rome, and the influence of the college founded 
there for their clergy in 1584, many of the priests 
have imbibed a rigid form of the spirit of Popery. 
They have a Patriarch as their local head, who resides 
far up the mountain during the summer months, at 
the romantic monastery of Kanobin. He and the 
Bishops follow celibacy, but the priests marry. Their 
district is dotted over with convents, perched on 



278 DAMASCUS AST) ITS PEOPLE. 

almost every mountain-spur and prominent eminence, 
like so many fortifications to defend their territory. 
Kesraw&n is probably so called from its extremely 
' broken ' and rugged surface, and there is no other 
inhabited part of Lebanon where wild, barren rocks 
are so profuse ; and no doubt this characteristic of the 
region has given the Maronites great advantage for 
self-defence against intruders, and has conduced to 
the maintaining of them unmixed in race and stem in 
their religion. They have persecuted to the death those 
who differed from them, as the sorrowful but interest- 
ing tale of Asaad-ush-Shidiak, ' the Martyr of Lebanon* 
amply illustrates ; and yet when Maronites or Greek 
Catholics have come to see the simple gospel as taught 
by Protestants, they have carried their zeal into their 
new life. 

Judging from the large number of appUcants for 
admission to the Protestant Church from among 
priests and monks from all the Eastern Churches 
within the last twenty years, we must infer that 
the bondage is acutely felt, and many long for deliver- 
ance. The unsatisfactory training they receive and 
the life they lead in convents seriously injures them 
both in mind and body, so that when they do leave 
them, as many have done, they are, with a few bright 
exceptions, literally good for nothing. 

Most of them return, because they have no aptitude 
for work. Some leave the convents because they 
desire to marry. This is no doubt a commendable 
object in itself, but when mixed up with a profession 
of religious convictions it is somewhat out of place. 
But, notwithstanding many disappointments, there 



RACES AND RELIGIONS. 279 

have been a few genuine cases of conversion from* 
among both priests and monks. It has been our 
privilege to aid some of them in their searchings after 
the gospel foundation of true rest. One was a priest 
of the Greek Church in a village of Hauran, two or 
three days' journey from Damascus, who had been a 
student of the Bible for twenty- five years. Indeed, he 
had begun to study it before he was ordained priest ; 
and for this reason, and on account of his inquiring 
spirit and leanings towards Protestantism, he was 
chosen for the priesthood, not because the objects of 
his researches were to be commended, but solely that 
his drifting towards Protestantism might be arrested 
and himself secured to his Mother Church. In short, 
the chief object of his appointment was to make it a 
bait or snare by which he might be retained within 
the pale of the Greek Orthodox community. He was 
caught in the net, for the dignity of being a priest, 
having a standing among the people, and of being 
looked up to, and of having his hand kissed, as well as 
having the power of binding and loosing, not only in 
respect to sins and offences, but also in matters such 
as the celebrating of marriages and the like — all this 
gUttered before the eyes of the young man, and for 
the time being quite turned away his mind from the 
idea of following his new-bom convictions. He settled 
down as a priest in one of the darkest parts of Syria, 
among people poor and benighted, dwelling in the 
black ruins of past ages, knowing little more than to 
scratch the soil of their fertile plains with their 
primitive ox-ploughs, and to carry their grain pro- 
duce on camels' backs to Damascus. But even in 



280 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLK 



*;^. 



these untoward circumstances the rays of light that 
had already penetrated his mind through his study of 
the Bible, and through meeting occasionally with 
Protestant missionaries and teachers, did not cease to 
operate; and when opportunity was presented, he 
pursued his study, not only of the Bible, but of other 
useful books when he could procure them, for in those 
days they were exceedingly rare. However, his mind 
was not at rest, while in act he was performing the 
duties of his office ; for, as the course of years ran on, 
he felt more strongly than ever that the teaching, or 
rather the utter want of it, along with the empty rites 
and customs of the Greek Orthodox Church, only 
tended in great part to deceive and mislead the 
people and keep them fast in the bonds of superstition 
and error. He had many struggles of conscience as 
to what he should do, and felt his bondage very irk- 
some ; but for a long time he could see no way out of 
it. At length he was greatly aided by a zealous and 
faithful Protestant teacher, who was settled for one or 
two years in his village; his convictions deepened 
untn he could no longer perform his priestly offices, 
and felt constrained to close his church, or only use 
it for teaching the people from the Scriptures of truth. 
This of course was a great event among his own people 
and the people of the neighbouring villages. Great 
excitement was produced among them; the priest 
tried to go to Damascus two or three times, but was 
pursued and forcibly brought back by a large body of 
men. Indeed, his life was in danger ; and at last the 
news of what had taken place reached the Patriarch 
in Damascus ; and the priest was summoned there to 



\'i.. RACES AND RELIGIONS. 281 

answer for his misdeeds, and retract his protest against 
the vanities of his Church. This move turned out to 
the furthierance of the very object which it was desired 
to frustrate. 

The priest when he arrived at Damascus was 
detained there, and for a full month was treated day- 
after day to solemn counsels from Patriarch, Bishops 
and priests, accompanied with threats, promises and 
flattery; till at last he was persuaded to copy out, 
in his own handwriting, a profession of faith and 
recantation composed for him by one of the Bishops, 
wherein he was to promise solemnly to have no more 
dealings with Protestants or their books, and to abjure 
all his past hankerings after truth. In this document 
the Protestants were declared to be as far from the 
Orthodox Church as earth is from heaven. This 
paper he wrote out, but did not sign ; and in the after- 
noon of the same day he met one of the Protestant 
teachers, who inquired how it was faring with him ; 
whereupon he asked to be allowed to go with him 
to his house that he might tell him all his tale. 
During the whole month of his stay in Damascus, 
although we watched the proceedings with intense 
interest, yet no encouragement was given him till 
then, to enter a Protestant house, so that his decision 
might stand entirely on the strength of his own con- 
victions'; but now when the request proceeded from 
himself, he could not be repelled nor treated with a 
cold shoulder. In the evening the teacher brought 
him to our house. That night's interview, and the 
struggles that ensued then and afterwards, we shall 
not soon forget. The poor fellow was in a great strait 



282 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 






in having to choose Between two courses as far apart 
as heaven is frem earth, according to his own Bishop's 
putting ; and the greatest trial of all seemed to him to 
have to be separated and cast out by his own wife and 
family, as he knew he most certainly would be if he 
joined the ' Injiliyin' as the Protestants are termed. 
But being reminded how God gave His beloved Isaac 
back to Abraham as soon as he was proved willing to 
part with him for His sake, his faith was braced up ; 
he was told the story of Cranmer, who, when he was 
led to the stake, plunged his right hand in the fire, 
because with it he had signed his recantation; and 
he then determined to try and recover the profession 
of faith which he had copied with his own hand. The 
next morning he succeeded in doing so, and tore it 
to pieces. Instead of this paper he sent another to 
the Bishop, in which he stated respectfully that he 
could not possibly continue to act against his convic- 
tions by retaining the position in the Greek Church 
which he previously held ; and that he had now once 
and for ever cast in his lot with the Protestants, who, 
he believed had the truth and teaching of the simple 
gospel on their side. Several messengers were sent to 
try and persuade him to go to the Patriarchate and 
have another discussion with the Bishop, but we well 
knew that if he did this, he would be carried off 
bodily, and that what mental persuasion failed to do, 
physical force would be used to accomplish, Indeed, 
he had already been beaten by his own son, a man of 
thirty, and his wife proposed that he should be be- 
smeared with paraffin oil and burnt to death, a fate 
which had overtaken a Druze murderer in the very 



' * 



SAdES AND BELIQIONS. 283 

same village a short time before. However, he was 
not caught in the Bishop's net; but he had to be 
protected in our house in Damascus for sej^en months, 
and during the first three, until it was seen that he 
had come to a final decision, he had to be carefully 
guarded, lest violence should be used to induce him to 
change his mind. 

While. he spent these months under our roof, we had 
ample opportimity for becoming intimately acquainted 
with his mind and character, and we must say that his 
acquaintance with Holy Scripture was remarkable, not 
only in the way of head knowledge, but more especially 
that experimental kind which leads the heart to have 
joy in Gpd and in His Word. His humble, Christ-like 
spirit, and his gentle, patient demeanour in very try- 
ing circumstances, and his daily aid in family prayers 
with our household and at Bible meetings, and in con- 
versation with our native visitors, were really a source 
of great cheer and comfort. At the same time we had 
to bear with him in his difficulties and trials, some of 
which might seem to those who cannot understand the 
circumstances almost absurd ; for instance, his having 
to lose a portion of the hair of his head, which for 
cleanliness seemed to us absolutely necessary, was to 
him for some time a great trial, to which he could not 
submit — the hair of a priest being thought sacred by 
himself and others, probably on the principle of the 
Nazarite. Again, it was impossible for some time to 
persuade him to see that it would be better for him 
and us to have the shape of his coat and turban altered, 
so that it might be patent, even to the outside eye, that 
he was no longer a priest of the Greek Church. How- 



284 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

ever, in time he got over these difficulties, but although 
his son who had beaten him, and other relatives when 
they came in from Hauran to visit him, were civil to 
him on our premises, yet he had still before him the 
great trial of again facing them in his native village. 
This trial came after about eighteen months, and when 
entreaty and persuasion were for some weeks employed 
in vain to induce him to return to his former position, 
he was afterwards persecuted and obliged to leave his 
village once more, first to wander in some neighboiu'- 
ing villages, and then to return to Damascift. The 
last intelligence we have had of him was, that he was 
being employed by the Mission to the Bedouin, to 
teach some of the children in one of their encampments. 
May God help him to continue faithful, and to be a light 
shining for Christ in a dark place ! 

One other instance may further illustrate the con- 
dition of Syrian Churches. It is that of a young man 
who had gone through two years' training and proba- 
tion in a convent school, previously to his taking the 
perpetual vows of a monk. This convent belongs to 
the Catholic Jacobites ; and the zeal of the inmates in 
seeking to have their pupils well armed for the strife 
against Protestants, suggested their having something 
like a debating society, at which sides should be taken, 
so as to have the controversy thoroughly sifted. This 
plan was intended for the equipment of the monks in 

the defence of Popish teaching ; but as to Y , it 

proved the means of enlightening his mind, and inclin- 
ing him to take exactly the opposite side ; and he 
always found it much easier to argue in favoiu' of the 
•J*rotestants than against thenL Ultimately the de- 



RACES AND RELIGIONS. 285 

bates brought on, in his case, a crisis which ended in 
his leaving the convent and the sect it belonged to ; and 
he is now a member of the Protestant Church in 
Damascus. While in the convent, his conscience was 
much troubled by an order from the Superior to the 
students, to write their prayers, each one on a piece of 
paper, and assemble in the chapel to have them sent 
up to heaven, by being burnt in front of a large picture 
of the Virgin Mary. This practice, even to his only 
half-enlightened mind, seemed thoroughly heathenish, 
and helped to bring him to a decision against the 

whole system. Y *s time of initiation within the 

walls of the convent had been comparatively short, 
and he was in proportion less disabled for work when 
he left it, and did not at all demur to follow his own 
trade as a weaver. Indeed, willingness and ability to 
work, either as a teacher or at any trade, have always 

been the best test of the reality of convictions. Y 

is now married, and we trust that he and his partner 
may prove to be true followers of Christ, and a blessing 
to their coimtrymen. 

On one occasion, some years ago, a companion and 
myself, along with a native muleteer, made an evange- 
listic tour of twelve days among the moimtains of 
Kesraw&n. We were kindly received and hospitably 
treated in the villages, and the people, and even some 
of the priests, were quite willing to meet with us in 
the evenings to read the Bible and converse, until an 
order was launched forth against us from the mountain 
fortress of the Patriarch. From that time even our 
friends begged us to leave; and at last we were 
literally starved out, no one daring to give or sell us 



286 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

any food ; but we did not return to Beyrout till we 
had set the truth of the Bible before many, and had 
also circulated among them some copies of the Arabic 
Gospels. 

Similar facts might be cited to prove that while the 
people have often been foimd ready to welcome mis- 
sionaries and be taught by them, yet the determined 
fanaticism and unceasing opposition of many of the 
Maronite priests to all attempts on the part of the 
Protestants to evangelize or teach their people, have 
tended to keep the Kesrawlln and other exclusively 
Maronite districts in a great measure sealed against 
the knowledge of the simple and unmixed gospel, and 
every effort to give it to the people. In short, they 
follow the policy which gives all tyranny — whether 
civil or ecclesiastical — its power, and that is to keep 
the people in utter ignorance, or, to use the somewhat 
rough but no less true phraseology of a native of the 
country, 'They make the people donkeys, and keep 
them so, that they may continue to be ridden on/ 
The priests hold great power in their hands — indeed 
they are practically the rulers; but sometimes their 
oppression and injustice in secular matters, such as 
the buying and arranging of a piece of ground for a 
grave-yard, have roused against them whole villages 
of their people, as actually took place in a village 
near Beyrout not long ago. On such occasions the 
villagers go over wholesale to the Protestants, as being 
the acutest species of revenge which they could inflict 
upon their oppressors. And it soon effects its object, 
for the hearts of their oppressors yield — Eastern argu- 
ments in the way of threats, promises and flattery are 



RACES AND RELIGIONS. 287 

exchanged — ^mutual friends mediate between them 
and the people, until promises are given that the 
demands of the villagers shall be granted and their 
rights respected ; whereupon, finding Uttle prospect of 
temporal gain among the Protestants, they return 
after a few weeks or months, as the case may be, into 
the arms of their Mother Church, and things fall back 
into their status quo ante, leaving behind, it may be, 
one or two less pUable or more enlightened individuals 
in the hands of the Protestants. And in the mean- 
time there has been abundant opportunity for sending 
missionaries and native preachers to the villages to 
instruct the community, so that while the movement 
in the mass has been only temporary, yet it has given 
time for some rays of light to penetrate the darkness. 
And although the system pursued in the Kesrawan 
has excluded, to this day, all permanent mission 
agencies, notwithstanding its being within three to 
five hours' ride of privileged Beyrout, yet it is hoped 
that it is not now so dark as it was fifteen years ago. 

At the beck of their priests they have been notorious 
for resisting missionary efforts ; yet it is an interesting 
fact that some of the most inteUigent, zealous and 
useful members of the Protestant Church in Be3rrout 
and elsewhere, were originally Maronites. 

Jacobites, calling themselves the 'Syrian Church,' 
Armenians, and representatives of other sects, are 
found in some parts of Syria, but in comparatively 
small numbers. The Jacobites derive their name 
from that of the Bishop whose Monophysite teaching 
they followed when they seceded from the Greek 
Church in the fifth century. They are found in Sudud 




288 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

and other villages, two or three days' journey north of 
Damascus. There is a branch of this old Syrian 
Church still surviving in the south-west of India 
that has resisted the absorbmg power of surrounding 
heathenism through the long centuries that have 
elapsed since, as is supposed, St. Thomas the Apostle 
founded it. It is a feeble and illiterate member of 
the Christian body, and yet we have known indi- 
viduals among the Syrian Jacobites who seemed to 
love and follow Christ up to their light. One such 
was a priest over their small conmiimity in Damascus, 
whom we came to know intimately, and who was sent 
out two years ago to be a bishop in their Church at 
Travancore. 

The Jews. — Those to whom the land was peculiarly 
one of ' promise,' and who actually possessed it in the 
reign of Solomon, from the borders of Egypt to the 
great river — the river Euphrates — are at the present 
hour but a handful of the people. If we count those 
of Jerusalem, Damascus and Aleppo, and all inter- 
vening places, the number will be found not to exceed 
35,000. The Jews at Aleppo and Damascus are 
aboriginal, having been resident in those cities from 
time immemorial. They speak only Arabic, the lan- 
guage of the country, and wear the ordinary dress of 
the people, having no special peculiarities in custom 
or costume. The Jews of Jerusalem, Safad, and the 
other towns of Palestine, on the other hand, are mostly 
immigrants from foreign countries, and wear every 
variety of dress and costume, in many cases exhibiting 
the extremes of ugliness, poverty and untidiness, and 
speaking fragments of a number of languages, without 



RACES AND RELIGIONS. 289 

really knowing one thoroughly. But, generally speak- 
ing, religious exclusiveness is still the rule in all those 
places alike. When kindly and wisely visited they 
are hospitable and friendly — at least, we have found 
them so in Damascus. They are very unwilling to 
commit their hoys into Christian hands to be in- 
structed. They do their utmost to keep this matter 
almost entirely in their own hands. Mission schools 
for their hoys are carried on with great difficulty. 
But they have much less objection to have their girls 
instructed by Christian teachers. In different towns 
a goodly number of them are being educated by 
various missions. As far as we have seen, there has 
been as yet no general spirit of inquiry evinced by 
them ; yet we have heard individuals cast doubt upon 
the assertions of the Khakhams, or Rabbis, as to the 
coming of the Messiah, on account of the time fixed . 
by them proving so often illusive, and suggest that 
after all, Jesus of Nazareth, in whom the Christians 
believe, may be the true Messiah. Some of the Jews 
of Damascus have been very wealthy, and possess 
palatial houses ; but of late years they have suffered 
great losses through lending to the Turkish Govern- 
ment. The poorer Jews are extremely industrious. 
As in all the world besides, both poor and rich, at 
times, come in for a special share of scorn and 
oppression. 

Protestants and their Missions, — ^The land that was 
so highly favoured above all other lands in being for 
centuries the home and centre of God*s light and 
truth, and the earthly abode of the great Redeemer 
Himself, and of so many holy men of old who lived 

19 



290 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

before and after Christ, and which gave forth the light 
to so many other lands, strange to say was itself over- 
taken by a dark night, and from the beginning of 
the seventh century till less than fifty years ago was 
shrouded in gross darkness. Its primitive Christianity, 
once so worthily upheld by men famous in the history 
of the Church, such as Eusebius, Origen, and St 
Jerome, was first shattered and divided by end- 
less strife and disputings over the most difficult and 
abstruse questions of doctrine and belief, and after- 
wards nearly overwhelmed by the flood of Mohamme- 
danism; till at length the lamp that had lightened 
the world grew dim, and for twelve centuries flickered 
in its utterly feeble and deceptive light, 'ready to 
die.' 

Some English and American missionaries were first 
moved, about half a century ago, to go and inquire 
after their brethren. When they arrived, they could 
scarcely find a place whereon to lay their heads, but 
they laboured on in the face of great opposition and 
persecution, not so much from fanatical Moslems, 
or from bigoted Jews, as from so-called Christians, 
then full of fanaticism and bigotry. Indeed, on 
the first arrival of these missionaries in Syria, the 
Druze of Mount Lebanon were those who specially 
befriended them, and but for their protection, they 
could not in some instances have remained in the 
country at alL 

They laboured on for many long years in the 
midst of discouragement and opposition with very 
Uttle fruit. At last came a time of trouble and dis- 
tress in Syria, specially on Lebanon and at Damascus, 



RACES AND RELIGIONS. 291 

when, in the year 1860, from 10,000 to 14,000 of the 
Christians — ^heads of families, fathers, brothers, and 
sons, were cruelly massacred at the hands of Moham- 
medans and Druze, with the connivance of the 
Turkish Government. 

But that year of bloodshed in Syria proved, like 
the mutiny in India, to be a means, in God's all-wisQ 
and powerful hand, of drawing attention to Syria, and 
of awakening many souls, and of ushering m great 
blessings, A fresh unpulse was then given to existing 
missions, and new missions were begim. That year 
gave birth to the British Syrian School and Bible 
Mission, which has now many schools, Bible-women, 
and other agencies at work in the land. 

About that time the American missionaries re- 
doubled their efforts on a new and more correct 
translation of the Arabic Bible, and soon after it was 
issued from their printing press at Beyrout, a com- 
plete and beautiful volume, which has proved the 
greatest treasure to every missionary labourer in the 
field. 

There are now Protestant congregations and Pro- 
testant churches in many towns and villages through- 
out the coimtry, mostly gathered from among the 
nominal Christian churches. In some instances -the 
care of the congregations has been committed to 
native pastors, who are under the superintendence of 
the American missionaries in Northern and Central 
Syria, of the Church Missionary Society in Palestine, 
and of the Irish Presbyterians in Damascus. Besides 
the American and English, various missions from 
Scotland and Germany are at work with devotion and 

19—2 



292 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

success, all tending to the growth of the native 
Church. May God speed them, and cause His Divine 
power to rest on every effort. 

Efforts of different kinds are being made to reach 
the Mohammedans, and they are not without fruit. 
But they are as yet very limited, and comparatively 
new. The Mohammedans form two-thirds of the 
whole population, and as a mass are yet untouched, so 
that a great work remains to be done before they are 
evangelized. A certain number in large cities have 
been enlightened, and there is an inquiring spirit 
abroad, but a Gospel ' crusade ' is needed to go forth, 
humbly and patiently in the spirit of Christ, into the 
very 'backivoods' of Mohammedanism — or as ex- 
pressed by a zealous friend of Mahommedans — a 
Jihdd, if you wiU, in the Christian rather than in the 
Moslem sense ; faithful men, ready to return good for 
evil, and love for enmity; armed not with carnal 
weapons, but with those that are mighty for the 
pulling down of strongholds, and for bringing every 
thought into subjection to Christ. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

SUNDAY IN DAMASCUS. 

The preceding chapter will have given some idea of 
the various religions represented in Damascus, and of 
the different sections of the Eastern Church, and in 
conclusion we will say a very few words about the ob- 
servance of Sunday, especially among the little flock 
of the Injeliyin, literally. Gospellers, or Protestants, 
who, through the labours of different missionaries, 
have been gathered out in Damascus. 

On Sunday morning the services of the Eastern 
churches, such as the Greek, or Greek Catholic, are 
held at an early hour, that is about 7.30 or 8 a.m. 
Unhappily, as soon as public worship is over, most of 
the men go to their business or amusement, spending 
a great part of the day in calling on their acquaint- 
ances, or in drinking and playing cards in the public 
gardens. Some of the shops in the city may indeed 
be closed, but the streets where meat, fruit, vegetables, 
etc., are sold, present a more lively aspect on Sunday 
than on any other day in the week. People from the 
country bring in certain articles for sale which can 



294 DAMASCUS AND ITS PEOPLE. 

hardly be obtained at any other time, and it is ex- 
tremely difficult to convince the people of the sin of 
buying and selling on the Lord's day. 

Do what we may, we cannot secure the calmness 
and quiet of an English Sabbath; but avoiding as 
much as possible the more public streets, we turn 
our steps towards the Presbyterian church, where at 
9.30 a.m. the native Protestants assemble for divine 
worship ; the men being arranged on one side, and 
the women on the other. A rail runs down the 
centre of the church, for, tiU within the last few years, 
a curtain concealed the women from the view of the 
men. The service, of course, is held m Arabic, and 
the men's side of the church is generally well filled. 
A second service is held in the Britist Syrian school 
in the Meedan at the other end of the town. The 
Arabic service in the church is followed by an English 
Church of England service in St, Paul's School, con- 
ducted by the Missionary to the Jews, for the little 
company of English residents or travellers who may 
be passing through ,as they make the tour of the 
Holy Land. In the afternoon and evening, Sunday 
Schools and Evangelistic services are held, but out- 
door preaching in a bigoted city like Damascus is at 
present impossible. 

Though small, the Protestant community furnishes 
a very fair proportion of earnest Christian workers, 
and we trust the leaven is spreading, and that many 
still members of the Eastern Churches are being en- 
lightened. 



INDEX OF TEXTS KEFERRED TO. 



Genesis. 



CHAP. 

viU. 11 

X. 22-23 

xii,6-8 

„ 11 

V 16 
xiiL2.18 



>i 



6 
» 2 

xiv.l4 



»i 



XV. 2 
xviil 10 
,. 6 

7 
8 



13-16 
15 



tt 



PAGE 

217 

1 

- 221 

- 226 

- 221 

- 221 

- 221 

- 221 

- 221 

- 234 

- 98 

1 

- 225 

- 225 

- 226 
225, 227 

- 221 

- 89 
175, 225 

- 221 



t» 
XX. 1 

xxi. 4 

» 14 

„ 25 

xxia 11 - 71 

xxlv. 1-6 - 95 

„ 58 - 95 

„ 67 - 225 

XXV. 11 - 221 

xxvii. 46 - 204 

xxxi.40 - 114 

xxxli. 32 . 41 

xxxvii. 27, 28 - 235 

xxxix. 1 . 235 

Exodus. 

ix. 81, 32 - 164 

xii 15 - 48 

xxil. 25 . 45 

„ 26, 27 - 231 

xxiii. 19 • 54 

LEvrricns. 

V. 7 - 111 

vii. 26 .54 

xi. 19 110, 112 

„ SO - 112 

xii. . 201 

xxiiL 15 . 49 

„ 40 - 243 



NOMBERS 
CHAP. 

i. ii. 
xiii. 20 
M 23 
xvUi 27 
xxi. 33 
xxxiv. 6 
„ 9, 10 



PAGE 
222 
183 
184 
191 
146 
243 
130 



DEUTEEIONOM7. 



iv. 43 


vii. 20 


vili.8 


xLlO 


„ 14, 15 


xiv. 7, 8 


„ 18 


xix. 14 


xxii. 8 


„ 10 


xxiv. 20 


XXV. 4 


xxxU. 13 


xxxiv. 3 


Joshua. 


14 


iL6 


xL 17 


xiii. 11 


xxiv. 12 



183 
115 
215 
140 
148 
54 
110 
149 
25,57 
152 
219 
166 
217 
242 



243 
56 
161 
253 
116 



Jttdoes. 

iv. 21 

V. 10 

vi. 3-6 

vH. 12 
xvilL 7 

Ruth. 

122 
114 

,. 9, 15 - 
iii. 2 

iv. 13-17 - 



222 
232 
233 
231 
231 
246 



164 
167 
166 
166 
204 



I. Samuel. 
CHAP. page 

iil 13 • 203 

xii 17 - 165 

xiii. 21 - 150 

xvii. 34 - 189 

xxii. 2 - 104 

xxiil 1 - 166 

xxiv. 2 - 115 

XXV. 18 - 191 

XXX. 12 - 191 

II. Samuel. 

xi. 2 - 25 

xiii. 1 - 243 

xiv. 27 - 243 

XV. 2 - 249 

xvll - 191 

xviil 24 - 249 

xxiil 4 - 149 

I. Kings. 

iv. 28 - 164 

V. 11 - 168 

„ 1-12 - 254 

vi. 2.<J-33 - 213 

vii 2-12 - 162 

xl5 - 251 

xvil9 - 248 

xviil 45 - 148 

xix. 21 - 160 

XX. 34 - 41 

xxil 3 - 188 

II. Kings. 

18 - 228 

iii. 11 - 55 

iv. S-25 - 146 

V. 12 4, 100 

ViU. 7 - 98 

ix. 17 - 124 

„ 80 - 45 

xvl 9-11 - 76 

I. Chronicles. 

iv. 39, 40 - 172 

xii. 40 - 191 

xxi 22, 28 - 167 

„ 23 - 71 

xxvii. 25-31 - 146 

„ 25 - 168 



II. Chronicles. 


CHAP. 


] 


PAGE 


ii. 10 


- 


214 


viii. 4 


« 


126 


» 4,5 


- 


189 


xvii. 11 


- 


232 


XX. 7 


« 


108 


» 24 


- 


124 


xxvi. 10 


. 


146 


xxvlil 15 


m 


242 


XXXV. 25 


- 


20 


Ezra. 






iii. 7 


. 


214 


viil 15 


- 


49 


Nehbmiah. 




ix. 25 


- 


146 


Esther 


• 




vii. 10 


. 


60 


ix. 26 


- 


60 


Job. 






13 


. 


281 


ii. 11-18 




225 


ix. 9 


- 


114 


„ 80 


_ 


122 


xiv. 19 


. 


244 


XV. 33 


_ 


217 


xviil 10 


• 


189 


xxi. 18 


. 


168 


xxvii. 18 


. 


187 


XXX. 1 


. 


177 


xxxvii. 1-6 


• 


58 
158 


xxxviil 31-82 


• 


114 


xxxix. 1 


« 


116 


xlil 12 


• 


232 


Psalms 


I 




xxiil. 2 


• 


176 


XXXV. 5 


. 


168 


xlix. 7 


. 


234 


Ivi. 8 


m 


247 


lix. 6-14 


. 


6 


Ixiii. 10 


. 


189 


Ixv. 8-13 


« 


147 


Ixix. 2-14 


. 


159 


Ixxiv. 19 


. 


111 


Ixxviii. 52 


. 


172 


Ixxx. 1 


- 


172 



296 



INDEX OF TEXtS REFERRED TO. 



Psalms (continued). 



CHAP. 

xlxxx. 13 
Ixyyjx. 12 
xciL 12 
civ. 17 
„ 18 
cxxvi. 6 
cxxviL 1 
cxxviii. 3 
» 3 
cxxix. 6 
cxlviL 16 



PAGE 

189 
253 
242 
111 
115 
152 
77 
216 
185 
156 
18 155 



Proverbs. 

•xix, 13 - 149 

XX. 4 . 151 

XXV. 11 - 107 

xxvi. 1 - 165 

xxxl. 10-31 - 119 

„ 23 . 249 

ECCLESIASTES. 

xiL 11 - 150 

Canticles. 

i. 5 - 222 

„ 6 - 187 

„ 14 - 183 

ii.3 - 107 

„ 8, 9 - 113 

„ 15 - 189 

,, 16, 17 - 113 

ill. 3 - 77 

„ 11 - 97 

iv. 8 - 253 

V. 4 - 250 

,,7 -77 

viL7 - 242 

viiL 12 - 187 



Isaiah. 
iL4 
V. 2 
vii8 
X. 19 
xiiL20 

„ 21,22 
xvi. 8-11 
xxii. 22 
xxiii.12 
xxviii. 24, 25 
xxxiv. 11 



XXXV. 

xL 
xli 

f» 

»i 

»> 
xlix. 



13 
2 

11 

8 

15 

16 

19 

15,16 - 

18 



235 
185 

1 
215 
235 
235 
183 
250 
248 
158 
132 
189 
146 
176 
108 
166 
167 

3 

197 

96 



Isaiah (continu^. 



CHAP. 

Ul. 8 
liU. 2 
Iv. 10 
Ivi. 10 
Ixi. 10 
IxU. 6 
IxiU. 3 



PAGE 

. 187 

156 

154 

. 187 

. 96 

• 77 

192 



Jeremiah. 

U. 22 - 217 

„ 22 - 122 

V. 26 - 189 

vi 17 - .124 

viu.7 - 111 

„ 20 - 164 

ix. 17, 18 - 20 

X. 5 - 242 

xl. 16 - 211 

xlli 1-10 - 228 

xviil. 4-6 - 238 

xxii. 14 - 42 

xxxi 6, 6 - 187 

„ 18 - 150 

xU. 8 - 168 

xlviii. 32, 33 - 183 

1.19 - 146 

Lamentations. 

ii. 6 - 187 

„ 22 - 202 

iv. 1 - 137 

„ 2 - 238 

„ 3 - 245 



EZEKIEL. 

iiL17 
xvL4 
XX. 6-15 
xxiii.40 
xxvi. 4 
„ 12 
xxvii. 17 
18 
18 
2 



}> 



xxxiii. 
xxxiv. 23 

xlvii. 17 

Daniel. 
viii. 9 
xi. 16 

Hosea. 
ii. 15 
X. 11 
xiv. 6 

Joel. 
i. 1-11 
„14 



124 
202 
146 

45 
252 
252 
168 

76 
183 
124 
177 
130 

145 
145 

190 
166 
211 

169 
214 



Joel (continued). 

CHAP. PAGE 

iL3 - 218 

„ 12 - 214 

„ 23 - 148 

iii. 13 - 191 

Amos. 
11 - 58 

ix. 9 - 55 

Jonah. 

i3 - 146 

„ 17 - 246 

iLlO - 245 

MiCAH. 

vl. 15 - 214 

viLl . 183 



Zephaniah. 
i,5 - 56 

Zechariah. 
18 - 3 

V. 9 - 112 

xiv. 6 - 58 

Malachi. 
lit 2 - 122 



Matthew. 

iii. 3 

3 

4 

4 

12 

12 

8 

28 

20 

6 

27 

28-30 - 
2-7 

27-30 - 
13 
1 



»» 
t» 
1* 
») 
iv. 

vi. 

viii. 

ix. 

X. 

xi 
xiiL 



xvi. 

xviL 
XX. 8-7 

xxL33 
S3 
S3 
4 
17 
1 



n 



XXiL 

xxiv. 

XXV. 



Mark. 
a4 
vii. 24, 31 - 
XV. 42 

Luke. 
ii.7 
„ 7 
„ 22,24 - 



108 

228 

231 

167 

168 

255 

167 

189 

196 

57 

152 

153 

158 

254 

254 

78 

191 

185 

188 

97 

56 

96 



196 

241 

46 

126 
202 
111 



Luke {cotUuiued). 



CHAP. 

iv. 26 
vil 14, 16 

ix.62 
xii.3 



54 

4 
35 



»» 

XV. 

xvii 

xxiLSl 

xxili.54 

John. 

X. 1 

„ 3 

" K 
» 11 

xii.13 

xiii. 26 

XV. 2 

» « 
xvi 21 

xviii. 1 

xxi 15-17 



PAGE 

248 

20 

■ 151 
. 57 

148 

- 177 

- 225 

56 

■ 46 

. 179 

- 176 
. 175 

- 180 

- 242 

- 54 

- 156 

- 156 

- 203 

- 216 

- 177 



Acts. 

ii. 1 - 49 

v. 6-10 - 19 

ix. 5 - 150 

„ 10 - 13 

„ 11 - 41 

„ 11 - 67 

„ 25 - 19 

„ 36 - 146 

X. 9 - 56 

XV. 20 - 54 

xxi. 3-7 - 253 

Romans. 
ii. 22 - 47 
xL 17, 18 - 218 

I. Ck>RINTHIANS. 

xil - 178 

Galatians. 
iii. 28 -199 

Ephesians. 

V. 22 - 63 

I. Timothy. 
ii. 5, 6 - 234 

Trrus. 
ii. 5 -60 

JA3CES. 

ii 23 -108 

I. Peter. 
iiLS -63 

„ 6 .60 

Revelation. 
iiL 18 - 195 
viL9 • 243 



billing and sons, printers, GUILDFORD AND LONDON. 



7 r