The Portland daily press., 1894-05-18
DAMASCUS AS SHE is TO-DAY.
Her Extensive and Interesting Bazars.-
The Walls of the Ancient City.


The bazars of Damascus, says special
correspondent of the Boston Sunday Herald
are quite extensive and more interesting
than those of Cairo, with which they are
frequently compared because they are en-
tirely untouched by European influences.
They are generally covered and some OF
them have lofty roofs. In them are, found
all the products of the East. Caravans go
from here to Bagdad and beyond, ana
great deal of merchandise is carried to ana
fro. There are special large, pretentlons
Buildings, with numerous domes, IN when
wholesale trade is carried on 1t was rainy
day when we first went through the bazar'
and we appreciated the advantage OF 60
ing shopping under cover. The largest pa-
gar is in 1.-THE street called Straight" It's
great roof extends for 200 feet, with small
shops on each side. 1t is wide enough Tor
carriages. By the way, this street is
straight, though Mark Twain made a refec-
ton indicating that the expression IN the
Bible (see Acts was ironical. The consul
who represents the United States govern
ment in Damascus is Syrian, ana that
fact makes him permanent ofncer. he Is
not obliged to turn over his office to some
body else when new administration comes
into power. He received Us very politely,
and detailed ''kawass''-a sort OF ofnclal
military escort-to attend US while we re-
manned in the city. This is rather desirable,
as 1t insures respectful treatment. without
such an escort we might have unklnd re-
marks thrown at us, though we should not
understand them. The ''kawass could not
talk English, but another young man from
the consurs office also went with us. he
spoke English, and was an Intelligent ana
agreeable guide. He took US to see the IN
terror of two very handsome houses, one
Mohammedan's and the other Jews. We
did not see the proprietor of the first, but
the Jew took us into his library and showed
us comics of the Jewish scriptures on double
rolls. AS the reader proceeds he unrolls
from one to the other. We also visited an
English mission school for girls, in which
the pupils had pretty and bright faces.
They are mostly Greek Christians. but our
sskawass.,' who is a Mohammedan, seemed
to take great pleasure in pointing out his
daughter in one of the classes.
OF the walls of Damascus, only the lower
courses date from Roman times. Above
these courses is Arabian work, and, still
higher, Turkish. 1t is rather unfavorable
to strong emotions when looking at the
place where Paul was let down to observe
that this part of the wall is Turkish, not
more than 800 years old.
About the most satisfactory thing we did
in Damascus was to ride to the northern
suburbs, where from a slope of a hill we got
a fine view of the whole irrigated valley,
with the city set in a frame of verdure. All
outside of this was brown and barren. The
domes and minarets of the city make very
pretty picture, in the center OF which stands
the citadel and the great mosque, which
was partially destroyed by fire only last
year. Our guide pointed out to US the car
AVIAN roads to Mecca and Palmyra, extend
ing across the great desert to the horizon.
This view gave us by far the best idea OF
Damascus and its surroundings. Twenty
miles away we caught the CLEAN OF lake,
into which the Barada (the ALBANIA of scrip
tres) pours its flood Except in the spring
it is rather morass than lake.
Our hotel at Damascus, the Hotel Dia-
matri-Kara, was formerly the palace OF
wealthy pasha, and it contains interesting
specimens of decorative work of the first
class. 1t is very well kept-far better than
my hotel in Jerusalem. In fact, the Jerp-
salem hotels are the poorest we have en-
countered SO far in our travels. Our Da-
maseus hotel was built around central
court, embellished by a handsome fountain
and orange and lemon trees. Every window
on the street in Damascus, the streets be-
ing very narrow. is covered by wooden
lattice You can look out through it, but
you cannot see into the room across the
way. It is considered very improper to
raise this lattice. You might see a Moham-
medap woman, or she might see you, which