Litchfield enquirer., 1872-02-29
of the grape cron ia also made

propoftion of the grape crop is also made into ralslns, both for home consumption and the supply of the city markets; and sfan another large proportion of the annual grape yield is made into ssdibs," or sirup, already referred to, and which constitutes an article of diet throughout the year. Water, sweetened with the sirup and the
 Julee or the carob-tree, is sometimes used as drink in the summer months.
 Although Syria is Q wine producing
 country, there is comparatively but little
 open mtemperance among the native pop
 ulataon. There are those among the
 Greeks, Catholics, and other sects who in- dulge in theirlprivate potations; and there are those, too, in the larger towns and cities who have their midnight carousals; but 1t IS considered so disreputable that they conceal themselves from public no. dce. A native Syrian drunken in the streets IS Q spectacle never witnessed. A missionary who spent several years in that country writes on this subject as fol- lows: sI have known men that were said to be killing themselves with drink; but staggering drunken man, exposed to view Tn the street, never saw in Syria In all my residence in that country I remember witnessing but two cases of evident in- SSA@%&sSAO44s sular agent; the other that of a native, who. however, was under the power of no habit of that kind" Another returned missionary, who was thoroughly acquaint- ed with the manners and customs of the people, says: sfWhile I never in thirteen years saw native staggering by day, yet I well knew that there was not little of dissipation in the land. Revels by night were common. Nearly all the clergy and monks (Greek, Maronite, and Jacobite) in the larger towns had the repute of be- ing vine-bibbers. Perhaps the Arabs are not so much addicted to strong drink as the Nestorians, yet am confident that among Arabs able to afford it there is not a little indulgence.
 judge from recent reports that intem- perance is on the increase in Syria, espec- iaIly in the cities and larger towns, and that among the peasants in some of the rural districts wine-drinking during the vintage season is carried to excess.
 The Mohammedans, however, who con- stitute the predominant sect, are, as a general thing, rigid adherants to the prin- ciple of total abstinence, their religion prohibiting them from using wine or oth- CT Intoxicating drinks. Says Mohammed: 'fWine has it's use, but it's injury is great CT than its utility" and in another pas sage he enioins upon his followers to ab- stain from wine, stigmatizing 1t as 'sthe infamous work of the devil" and then adds, ''Satan desires to stir up enmity and hatred among you by means of wine, in order to hinder you from prayer and thoughts of God" (See Koran, chap. ii. verse 216, and chap. V. verses 92, 93, ct dL.) In another part of this passage Mo- hammed condems three evils-'s railing, the worship of idols, and the casting of lots"-but places wine at the head of the list.
 I was once present in Damascus at the time of the hodj, where twenty-five or thirty thousand Mohammedans we're col lected togetheir from the cities of Hons, Hannah, Aleppo, Mosul, and other parts of Asia Minor, preparatory to joining the great caravan that was about to set out on the annual pilgrimage to Mecca. They were encamped in the environs of the city, near the southern gate, called Bab Allah, Gate of God. It was motley concourse of men, women, and children of all ages and conditions in life; but what surprised me was the de gree of order and sobriety that prevailed throughout: there were no brawls and no dlsturbances, and no drunkenness nor dissipation. Their sole purpose and de- sire were to accomplish an object dear to every faithful Moslem-to visit once in their lifetime the tomb of the great Arab ian Prophet. The steadfastness and deyotion with which this people cherish and observe the doctrines of Islam are certainly worthy of imitation by those who profess attachment to the principles of 8 higher religion and purer faith.
 Ion some points in the foregoing state ments, particularly as respects the differ ent processes of wine-making, I have con- suited an article published several years ago in the "Bibiotheca Sacra" (vol. iii. P. 3s8 q seq.), from the pen of the late Rev. Eli Smith, D. D.. to whom have already referred, and who was for many years an honored missionary and transla- tor of the Bible in Beyrout.