Bisbee daily review., 1908-04-09
HE TRADERS
 IF DAMASCUS
 VERY SHREWD
Over 300,0 ,000 People Comprise Population of the Oldest City In the World Their Prim- eval Customs.
e. c. Young.l

Beyond any doubt the experience of
 visiting the oldest city in the world lis worthy of letter,and should prove
 false to my friends in Douglas if l
 did not write letter just on the eve Iof my departure Tradition has 1t that Damascus was founded by Uz, !. the grandson of Shem, and 1t IS
 worthy of note to state that history in later years leans to this tradition. Most assuredly Damascus is the old est city in existence, for 1t has out lived by hundreds of years all the
 other cities founded in its age and
 has run the race of life ahead of cities
 which were founded in Asia many
 hundred years after it's beginning the third generation from Noah.
 It is said that Mahomet came to Dam
 ascus from Persia overland and stand ling on the hill or mountain north of the city viewed it's thousands of gard ! ems in their bloom and exclaimed, "I
 will not enter paradise on earth; that
 pleasure I will reserve for heaven, | and with that saying he retraced his steps across the desert to Persia. Any
 dragoman or person in Damascus will tell you that the Mohammedan proph-
 ct never lived here though some Of
 his wives did, and are buried in the cemetery with some of the old gov ernors.. All these graves are to be
 seen and there is very little doubt
 about the correctness.
 I viewed Damascus with its 300,000 people from the plains of Bashan and
 also from the mountain on which Mo hamet is said to have stood and I can i testify that it is a very excellent pan orama. The gardens are just now
 beginning to bloom and get green, and i there are about ten thousand of them. Thus you can, as reader, get some idea of the luxuriant wealth of this
 city which you cannot see from a hutel
 window or a street alive with traders. The wealth of green can be attributed to the two rivers, mentioned in second Kings, fifth chapter, which rise in the
 Ante-Lebanon and Hermon mountains. Even now I can See Mount Hermon,
 whose peak is covered with snow all
 the year. These two rapid streams,
 Abana and Pharpar, come together in the edge of the city and through wall ed banks flow in unison through the heart of Damascus. Even now from the notel I hear the daShing waters. Among my many visits I went to the street called Strait" referred to by the Apostle Paul It is the same street as of old and is one mile long, and is now the scene of Oriental stores. The name for it is quite fit ting, for it is the only street saw that was straight. The dress and trading Of the people on this street is like q busy day in town, for there is a jam of people all day long. The meat in the Shambles or stalls is hung up as they did it 2000 years ago. Three kinds of blue ink marks are seen on the legs of the skinned animals, the government inspectors mark, the ap- proving mark of the Jewish Rabbi, and that mark which tells the meat which has been offered in sacrifice. The shops are about ten feet square ana the dry goods merchant sits on an
 Oriental rug and bargains with his customer who is seated on the side
 walk in chair. But if ne sees an
 American tourist he flies in the air like a grass hopper, calling out in his French or broken English mixed with Turkish Jargon, come here please let me show you" Further on see a
 man hammering brass and purchased two plates with beautiful designs for
 two francs or forty cents. Next I see the public stenographer. He is
 seated on a chair before a small desk both of which are inlaid with mother. of-pearl, and writes with a pen from the right side to left, and rapidly too does he follow the dictations. When
 the latter is finished and needs a blot.
 ter before folding, he upturns on it a
 few grains of fine powder and bIows
 1t of with whif of his breath and the letter is done. Next place Is a
 rug dealer whose rugs are large
 enough to cover the palace of a king. and one had a rug for which he asked