Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1879-11-26
Damascus.

Like all eastern cities the interior is dis
appointing. The streets are dusty and
narrow. and the effect of the shabby houses
and delapidated walls is rather that Of q
collection Of villages huddled together than
OF large and important city. Our first
call was made at an excellent hotel kept by
a Greek. Its courlyards, with fountain.
playing, and with large grange trees shad-
owing the whole place, looked SO enticinC,
its myrtles and jessamines and marble floors
50 cool, and its bedrooms so clean and COM
Portable, that we felt quite sorry it had snot
| been arranged that we should stay there,
instead of pitching out tents in one of the
| far famed gardens of Damascus. From
! the hotel We made progress through the
picturesque bazaars. Here they are COW
ered-in buildings, swarming with people in
every variety Of Oriental costume. Turks,
| Syrians, MarOnites and Druses of the town,
jostle each other. Now Bedouin of the
desert tribe rides by on a beautiful Arab
mare, with his long pointed lance at rest,
| followed by other Bedouins on foot and in
rags; unsuccessful robbers, possibly. We
wandered abont for some time. greatly
amused by looking at a crowd assembled 10
! await the prince Of Prussia's arrival. At
last We sauutercd on to our tents, but a
great disappointment awaited us in the ap-
pearauce Of the garden in which they had
been pitched. It's roses were over, the
grass looked parched and dusty, and the
Abana flowed low and sluggishiy in its bed.
But il was too late TO alter now, so there
was nothing for it except to dress and 60
and dine at the hotel. We made droll
cavalcade on horseback, the gentlemen
with loaded pistols. and the attendants car
ried lanterns, bristling with weapons.
The table d'hOte was rather bare of guests
tonight, for the diligence which plies be-
tween here aud BayTOut, and brings the ira
velcrs in time for dinner. did not arrive at
all. having been required for the Use Of the
prince Of Prussia, rs it is the only carriage
in all SYRIA. We returned to the tents in
the same melCdramaiic procession, and
had, besides four soldiers to guard the tents
during the night. Friday is the MOhom-
medan sabbath, and they make it market
dav as well, SO that the BedOuins of the
desert, who come from long distances, may
combine their temporal and spiritual duties
comfortably, and DO the marketing and 20
to the mosque on the sane day. The
streets were even more crowded than last
night. with wonderful and varied costumes,
and 50 closely packed that It was difficult
to make ones way through them. In one
corner stood 4 Bedouin Anazeh, of the
tribes near Palmyra, bargaining for 4 cane
to make spear, his goats hair cloak, with
its broad black and white stripes, hanging
from his stalwart shoulders Another of
the tribe, hard by, seemed to be doing his
best to sell horse, while others again rode
by with an abstractcd air. the graceful
mares they bcstrode often closely followed
by whinnying foals. Groups of Turkish,
Jewish or Christian women made their Pur-
chases with quite as much earneStness and
ges;iculaticn "a housewives nea-er home,
while their lords and masters lounged near,
probably keeping an eye on the domestic
expenditures, but apparently only intent on
buying sweetmea;s from some OF the many
vendors. There were no Franks except
ourselves