Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1897-09-14

| Christian quarter. where the lanes are
| narrow and poor and many Of the
| houses are In ruinous condition,
| partly owing to the events OF 1860. The
| other parts OF the town are Muslin,
including the Mcidan,whlch Is occupied
| by peasants alone. The present form
| OF Damascus ls not unlike that Of
| spoon, the handle being the long Me-
| dian street just mentioned The an
cicnt wallis have been removed except
| on the Gust and southeast sides, where
| they stun stand In "A more or less per-
| feet state Of preservation According
to the government statistics Damascus
| had 10000 inhabitants in 1858. OF
| these lON,Oii We're Musllms, 4,2il or
| thpdoN Greeks: 3.97S Greeks, 1873 Ar
| mcniuns; lS7 United Unitarlans $40
United Syrinns; 3O6 Maronites; ~ Ro-
/ nun Catholics 81 Protestants. and .326
Jews. 1t b. computed that the Mus
Inns have IN al 2iS mosques and COLI
leEes In Damascus. which was once
Il great center FOR learning: but Is now
far surpassed by Cairo, Egypt, Most
Of the Jews Of Damascus are descend
ants Of those who were settled here in
ancient times, and are not recent emil
grants Ike those OF Palestine They
have fourteen synagogues. Within the
lass few years the Christians have
made great efforts to raise the stand
ard Of education; but they have so FAR
rot been very successful. The D1-
masceans are very fond of their city,
Many Of the members OF the several
creeds are VIGOROUSLY fanatics. and
since the middle ages their character
mas been generally reputed to be in
soient and mnncVoleut. The Damas-
Gene Muslin Is proud and ignorant, at
the same time He feels the superlorl-
~ OF the West, and vented his wrath
at being disturbed in his rigid couser-
Natism against the native Chris
tlans. European industry, chiefly in
troduced by Christians. has almost
entirely eNtinguished the native man
ufactures. The Arabs had long con-
sidered themselves superior to all other
nations. ana the circumstance that
they have come into contact with
culture undeuably superior to their
own renders them Jealous and tuntical,
instead Of stimulating them to greater
cNcrtion."
From very early period Damascus
has been regarded by the Arabs as
an earthly reflection of Paradise, where
fnretaste of all the Joys of heaven
is obtairnble In accordance with the
description given I'm the Koran, the
Arabs picture TO themselves Paradise
following the original meanlnU of the
word) as an orchard, traversed by
streams Of flowing water, where the
most delicious fruits are over ready to
drop into the mouth. This ideal so
rarely approached In the Arabian pen
Insult uppeHreu 70 the nallN.s OF tnat
HtrI''r rst'ph 70 pc reaIizeu W l,hii,as-
Gus ana me city hhu ~ Hurroululhs
-"IurhS, Ntlt ~ C""tu tIhu'n, ar ~
poets From modern Europe and
an Nulerlvah point OF view these
prIises seem uhlustlneu, me 'fnuth,
u district OF country eNtedlhg t2Watu
N eost anu south ot Damascus Tor
ulStlHce OF hn9ut nine hllts' does not
IN the eyes OF the traveller appear equai
20 tnnhy paris OF Amerlea' England
or Lrtnoe, mere are indeed several
uslll'Is IN the NaHtys OF utah that
seem petter ana more pehuutul than
ths hNlrons OF l'anlascus'
AZ the CITY lies -'-bO teet above the
se1 teNel, spring upes NOT begin mere
w Maroh. an" u NJ not tllI May thnt
inc W4inut tree rs IN run leaf ana IN"
vine Climbs eNuherantly from tree to