loo o 100 ^00 300 miles 



1 



MAP SHOWING PRINCIPAIv TOWNS MENTIONED IN THE ARTICLE 



entirely unsuccessful and were now plan- 

 ning to settle down to the simple life 

 they had forsaken. 



TRIPOLI IN SYRIA 



While we were still quite a way out 

 from the port of Tripoli a fleet of sail- 

 ing boats glided swiftly out to meet us. 

 The anchor dropped just as the sun set, 

 and the cannon from the Crusader castle 

 announced that the Mohammedan fast 

 of the month of Ramadan had set in.* 



* The month of Ramadan is kept as a fast 

 by all devout Mohammedans. During the en- 

 tire day they abstain from food, drink, and 

 even smoking, until sunset, when they may eat. 



Tripoli (to be distinguished from the 

 x-Vfrican Tripoli), called in Arabic Tara- 

 bulus, is a twin city. The larger town is 

 a little inland, nestled on the fertile plain 

 amid a great area of orange and lemon 

 groves, forming a sea of green, and on 

 this account called by the natives "Little 

 Damascus." * This town has grown so 

 that its eastern edge has crept up the 

 side of a low range of hills crowned by 



Another meal is taken just before dawn. In 

 the towns a cannon is fired twice — once to 

 announce that the fast is over for the day and 

 again as the fast rebegins. 



* Damascus is noted for the verdant gardens 

 which surround it. 



72 



