The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-11-05

quated lounges or settees, before each one of which was placed a table for drinking or holding the narghelia, the ubiquitous
 Turkish pipe. The gallery was divided into loges of decidedly rustic and primi- tive pattern which were entered by doors I of clumsy fashioning, void of paint and resembling those of our western out houses The stage was without a cur I tain and what shall I say of the perform mers?
 Acting there was not, the programme l consisting Of strumming for an hour upon several ordinary musical instruments, such as the violin. guitar and mandolin and accompanied with most monotonous- droning singing rendered by male and 1 female voices. and bit of Oriental danc- | ing.
 ! Finding nothing of interest in the pro- gramme l devoted myself to the audi ence. There were a few women in the loges who had removed their wells and quite .sprinkling of Persans The lat ter were ali men and fine specimens of humanity they were with magnificent physques and quite interesting counte- nances, All of them wore little netted caps or finely spun linen resembling our do1lies or lamp mats. One visit to a Damascene temple will suffice
 The next feature of the city that struck me was the dogs of the city which
 
 | streets and die on the streets The Mo hammedan religion forbids the killing of dog and as most of the people are too poor to feed them they literally famish on the thoroughfaresA Uutil few years ago Constantnople was similarly afflict- ed but one day all the dogs were taken up to an adjacent island, where they were left to eat each other up alive, and for months the Bosphorls was filled with their | floating carcases. These dogs patrol their own district, permitting no canine to en- ter their bailiwick and 1t Is certain death for q strange dog to make the at tempt Meat they have never tasted and 1 spent much time and money in purch- | asing bread with which fed the starv- ing creatures.
 l visited many homes of the Christians in Damascus. The ladies are accused of becoming converts to Christianity that they may enjoy greater freedom of man. ners and customs, a freedom of which the Mohammedan woman knows nothing Their houses were the most magnificent residence so far as the interiors were concerned, thai I ever saw Tine walls are wainscoted with ivory in carved de- signs, pearl and lapus lazui from floor to ceiling and in the center of the drawing room perpetually plays q silver fountain The floor of half the drawing room is | raised foot or so above the other half.
 
 men are permitted to occupy this raised | dais. No woman ever treads the sacred precinct. The converted women have dis carded the yashmak veil and all are smokers of the narghelia The ladies are | always delighted to welcome foreigners, and immediately after our Introduction, refreshments. consisting of ices made from
 the snow of Mount Hermon cakes and fruits, were served by an attendant maid l Conversation was conducted by means of an interpreter. who in this instance was my dragoman. and all expressed a de- sire to know America.
 The city Is we'll lighted with electricity and possesses one electric tramway line
 with separate compartments in-the cars l for women. a sort of Jemima Crow car | it may be called but the magnificent | Arabian horses to be seen upon tho l'streets were a treat Here, as in other | oriental cities, each European govern
 ment maintains it's own postoffice, the l countries being afraid to trust native of | ficials, so that one has to be careful how l he deposits his mail, as letter address ed to Australia, for instance, and placed l in the French post box will never reach 1 it's destination.
 l All of the guests chambers in the ho- l tels open upon a Moorish court cool
 fountains perpetually play and tropical l flowers bloom forever
 l d magnificent structure and vies with those l of Omar at Jerusalem and Ste Sophia at | Constantinople. Like other buildings of l it's character, it has it's rogues' pillars | two rnonolitl1s' erected so close together 1 that only an honest man, and a mighty | thin one at that, can squeeze between | them It also has it's recalcitrant column,
 that is a column that was compelled to I fly through the air by Mahomet from 1 Medina or some other sacred city. The | column. was reluctant to leave it's initial l resting place and was only induced to do | so after the holy prophet had struck it sex eral times with his sword, cfter which
 it flew threw the air to it's present site. l If you doubt the story they show you
 the marks left by the blows from Mo-
 hammeds scimetar.
 Then there is the tongue hole, depres-
 sion on a pillar in which 1t is said that ! formerly lemon or some other acid | fruit was placed, to be licked by some
 faithful one suffering with disease
 which performance invariably cured tho | humble believer.
 The mosque is infested with innumera-
 ble pigeons and criss-crossed with large 1 troughs ill which the worshippers place l their shoes upon entering the mosque. for Tall must come in barefooted after having bathed in the fountain, which Is always to | be found before each building. As these | shoes are Inaue OL WOOD ana all are or | the same pattern was puzzled to know how the owner after service found his | own footgear. Full of superstition, the | Mchammedan dreads the evil eye and sus-
 pended from many of the magnificent
 chandeliers of every mosque may be seen a hornets nest or some peculiarly fash l iored piece of wood to ward off the infu- | ence of the dreadful evil eye.
 1 The designated site of the house of Ma man, the leper, is a mass Of ruins and | debris: the homes of Ananas and Judas
 have gone to decay and the gate from which Paul was lowered ill a basket Is | fast crumbling away.
 l The evening previous to my departure | from Damascus I visited the hill from 1 which Afollamned had viewed the city, ] city whose domain once covered all of
 northern Africa end extended into Spain,