The Coolidge examiner., 1931-06-12

I
rename their streets. One town now
has Il Brazil street named so by
returned and retired emigrants.
Sterilization of the governments
of the Syrian mandate will un-
dOubtedly bring a higher tide of
tourist travel because Syria, al
though eclipsed in European inter
est by the Holy Land TO the south,
| holds some treasures worth going
! miles to see. BaalbekS ruins ar9
second only to Athens Acropo-
! lis. Palestine holds no surviving
Crusader castle TO equal Kalat el
Hush into whose banquet halls,
keeps and battlemented towers the
Arabs have moved like hermit
crabs. Damascus. an Overgrown
oasis on the edge of the desert, still
lives and breathes the atmosphere
Of the Arabian Nights, while not
! far to the west n new summer col
ony develops on the cool heights
under the shade of the cedarS of
! Lebanon. American visitors are
always interested in Beyrouth be-
cause the college on the promon-
| tory overlooking the Mediterra-
mean that has educated many of
the modern Near East leaders Of
every creed is an American college.
Syria still has the lure of the
unknown: unknown religions, un-
discovered cities of the past, I'M
explored Crusader castles. uneXca-
waited fOrtresseS, secret societies,
and little-known races.
Damascus, where the expedition
stopped for several days en- route
to Bagdad, is located in southwest
ern Syria. 1t was old in the days
of Abraham. When Babylon and
Nineveh were hamlets, Damascus
was a queen city Of the East. 1t
is still city of Importance, but
the advent of the railway has
crippled the caravan trade. Steam
ships on the Red sea transport
Mecca pilgrims as far as Jidda,
whence they can easily reach
Mecca. For North African Mos
| lens this obviates the overland
voyage from which Damascus was
the starting point, and the city suf
fers a consequent loss in pilgrim
/ trade.
The baZaars of Damascus, more
celebrated even than those of Cairo
or Algiers, reflect the change
brought by modern transportation.
Prints from Manchester, machinery
from Birmingham and talking ma
chimes from the United States now
crowd the market In Damascus
each street is devoted to some spe-
cial trade and all the shops on that
thoroughfare sell one type of ar
ticle.
Bazaars of Damascus.
The silk bazaar has a wide scope
in its merchandise, as its products
run from lengths of silk and ha-
rem wells to kafliyehs, the flowing
headdress of the Bedouins. The
shoe bazaar has boots of goatSkin
dyed red and yellow with heels of
camelhide. Wooden sandals are
| inlaid with mother of pearl for
wealthy women customers. Gu
riOusly enough the famed Damas-
Gus blades are found in the Greek
| bazaarS. They are a rarity now,
! and it is fitting that they should
be found in a bazaar devoted to
antiques. However, the Damascene
is a willy merchant and gullible
tourists sometimes purchase "an-
tiques" imported from Germany.
and oriental art" from Birming-
| ham.
The old clothes bazaar is also
| known as the louise market and this
! appellation reveals it's consequent
neglect by tourists. 1t is always a
center of activity for the people
of Damascus and Arab and Jew
haggle over the comparative worth
of hand-me-down burnooses and
kaffiyehs and occidental business
suits.
Hours of bargaining precede pur-
chases by the DamaSceneS. The
owner of a bazaar squats on the
er seated cross-legged opposite
him. They smoke the narghile,
the long Turkish pipe, and eat
sweetmeats and drink tiny cups of
black coffee. Current politics and
the latest local scandal may COM
prise the first hours conversation.
Innuendoes on the part of each
lead up to the haggling which at
tends the actual purchase. When
a customer signifies assent he
| shakes his head from side to side.
If he does not agree on the price
he says mo-" by putting his head
backward and clicking his tongue
! like a caStanet.
A commercial center of Damas-
Gus is the b-el-Mustakim, the
Street Called Straight, made IA
nous by Saul of Tarsus. Here in
former days walked emirs of Ara
by. khans from Bokhara and
Tunisian beys. Along its sides are
Arabian cafes of which the city
possesses the most numerous and
largest in the East.
Despite modern improvements
and transportation methods, Da-
mascus is still an intrinsically orr
entail city.