St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-01-09
THE DAMASCUS OF TO-DAY.
Interesting Sights in the Most
Ancient City in the World.

interest the traveller IN the ORIENT, It's
places Of fame having long ago fallen
before the Mohammedan rulers"
The above words arrested my atten-
ton the other day while reading an
Eastern paper,says writer in the Kan
sas City Times, and to me they seemed
utterly devoid of truth or reason. Ger
talnly the person who wrote them has
never looked down upon the beautiful
Syrian plain that holds Damascus
i'll its. group of 10000 flower
gardens" or seen its countless
standing on the slope of the
western hill near one of the many caves
of the ''seven sleepers." Its claim of
being the oldest city in the world has
good foundation, for among the
many wonderful stories told in
Egyptian figures on the gigantic pill
lars at Karnak near ThebeS is one to the
effect that Damascus, or Esh Sham, as it
was called by the ancients, was cap
tured by one of the PharaOhs nearly
1000 years ago. 1t was Thothmes Ill.
who captured the city at that early day.
When at Karnak two years ago Prof.
Hill, widely-known Psychologist,
pointed out to me these very words and
said then that he was willing to admit
that Damascus was at least one sOf the
Oldest cities in the world, and that he
intended seeing it before he died. His
wish, however, was never gratified, as
he died in Cairo last year. In April last
spent several days in roaming about
Damascus. Not in the way Cook tour
lists are led about, spending two days in
seeing what should take as many weeks,
il one really wants to see and know in
telligently about the sights and wonders
OF "a. city that was mentioned as far back
as the book of Genesis. The best guide
book to Damascus is the Bible, and
then one can read the "Arabian Nights"
and appreciate those charming stories
better than anywhere else, save perhaps
lBagdad.
Damasceans hold everything connected
With their city in great reverence, and
in their old khans, bazaars. crooked
streets. and interesting native quarters
there is ever flowing stream OF bright
Oriental life that moves Oh the same as
1000, perhaps 5000. years ago. 1t mat
tiers little whether walking through the
s"street called Straight" and which, by
the way. is not straight, or day-dream-
Ing under the olive or palm trees just
outside the gate of Paradise, the same
lunfagging interest attaches to every
foot of the way. One beautiful Sunday
morning we went through the Thomas
gate'' to the spot pointed out as the eX
act place where the wonderful vision
appeared to Paul, and then walked
around to Goods gate" Where was
witnessed the reception by his
family of a young man who re-
turned that morning on barefoot from
pilgrimage from Mecca. Each year the
largest caravan in Turkey starts from
Damascus, for Mecca, and the scenes
witnessed upon the return of the pill
grims are most interesting. This Sun
day morning the young man was met
by his brothers and friends two miles
from the city and escorted by meu OH
camelS and wild, fanatcal-loOking Mos
lens careering about on beautiful Ara
ban horses to his home within the
walls. We saw the traditional lamb
slaughtered on the doorstep of the
house, while his sisters danced merrily
about the bashful boy, holding in their
hands above their heads clean linen and
new clothes, with which the young pill
grim bedecked himself, and later in
the day received all his friends, and
still later he was escorted to the great
mosque of Damascus, where the fanat-
ical MoslemS were seen at their regular
daily devotlons.
This great mosque was once Chris
ian place of worship, being the only
baSilica left in Damascus of the Roman
construction. Climbing to the top of
the famous mnaret, called here even
to-day the Flower of Jesus" mag
ifcent panorama is spread out at ones
feet Local tradition tells you that at
the last great day all mankind is to be
judged from this mlnaret. Famous for
hundreds of years, the three beautiful
minarets of this mosque have served as
models for many towers throughout the
world, one of the best known being the
beIfry of st. Marks in Venice. Not 100
yards distant from the mosque are three
beautiful marble columns and a portion
of an old arch, all that remains above 4
ground in Damascus of that Roman
supremacy that once ruled the world.
Surrounding Damascus is one of the
most beautiful and fertile places to be
found in all Syria. From the hill of
Mohammed can be counted more than
thirty distinct villages, varying in size
from the great city with more than
100, 900 to the little Kurdish hamlet of
100 souls. Great caravans are constantly
arriving from Bagdad, accompanied by
queer, ugly-looking Bedoulns, while in
most cases guard OF nifty or more hight
ing men ride about the outskirts of the
caravan all the way from the Euphrates
until the minarets of Damascus are
sighted. The spring of the year is the
time ato visit all Syrian cities, but
especially Damascus, for then it is lik-
ened, to great emerald, and with its
thousands of gardens, apricot trees,
lemon and orange groves, pomegranates
and roses, it presents a wonderful con-
trast'to the cold, dark, sullen rocks Of
the anti-l ebanon hills OH one side and
Mount Hermon and Jebel Kaslum on
the west and northwest. From purely
Oriental point of view Damascus is most
interesting. Here the purest Arabic is
spoken, aud here IN every crooked
street and baZar can be seen the sights,
scenes and treasure so wonderfully de-
seribed in the arabian Nights"