KESWEH. 61 



and the melting of the snows on Hermon, that they 

 touched the keystones of the arches, and looked as if they 

 would soon carry away the whole fabric. Stalls for the 

 sale of provisions and saddlery showed that we had 

 entered a district where there was some security for pro- 

 perty and attempt at trade; a paved piece of road bore 

 witness to the fact of our being- on an old highway of com- 

 merce ; while the recently-erected telegraph-wire between 

 Damascus and El-Mezarib, the capital of the Hauran, 

 proved that the Turks are not altogether blind to the 

 advantages to be reaped from the adoption of the dis- 

 coveries of Western science. Kesweh is a neat but unre- 

 markable Syrian village; our tents were pitched on a 

 grassy brow before the place, near some turban-capped 

 tombstones. Tucker and Williams went in pursuit of 

 birds down the banks of the Pharpar, but came back 

 empty-handed. One of Khasim's pistols was stolen in the 

 night, but he got it back next morning by paying a small 

 * backsheesh ' to the thief, or (as he preferred to call him- 

 self) finder, of the missing weapon. 



March 28th. — A broad beaten track runs over the hills 

 which separate the basins of the Pharpar and Abana. 

 Winding through a gap in the range, we came in sight of 

 Dareiya, a town some miles west of Damascus, surrounded 

 by orchards. After turning to the right we crossed a low 

 spur of Jebel-el-Aswad, and caught our first view of the 

 city, spread out across the plain, backed by a mass of 

 verdure, and the tawny slopes of Anti-Lebanon. The 

 scene, though very striking, did not impress us so much 

 as similar views of Cairo. Damascus is singularly poor 

 in the minarets which lend such a charm to its Egj^^tian 

 rival. While ca,ntering carelessly over the flat expanse 

 between us and the gates, the sudden failure of a stirrup- 

 leather gave me a tumble upon the hard ground. Luckily 



