FROM JERUSALKM TO ALEPPO 



111 



that these sounds came from tlic water- 

 wheels. 



A large crowd of men and boys fol- 

 lowed us around during our inspection 

 of the water-wheels and the town, but 

 were very courteous and went out of 

 their w^ay to show us little kindnesses. 

 Small boys bathing in the river would, 

 for fun, get in between the spokes of the 

 wheels and allow themselves to be carried 

 around many times, or they would hang 

 on the outside of the wheel and drop 

 back into the water when half way up, 

 which made the faces of the old men 

 who were looking on beam, undoubtedly 

 reminding them of like achievements in 

 their boyhood days. Our cameras were 

 a source of much curioc'ty, and a peep at 

 the ground glass was considered a treat. 



AN EVfXESS EDIiN 



A couple of long streets arched over 

 with masonry were the chief bazaars 

 and were in their aspect Oriental in the 

 e.xtreme. Here Bedouin men armed with 

 sword and pistols jostled townsmen in a 

 variety of native dress. Not a Euro- 

 pean suit was to be seen except our own. 



A few swarthy daughters of the desert, 

 with their tatooed faces and flowing gar- 

 ments of indigo, were the only females 

 we saw. In fact during our entire stay 

 at llama we did not see a towns-woman. 

 Christian or Aloslem, veiled or unveiled, 

 upon the streets. We understood that 

 the Moslem men are very particular about 

 their harems, and the Christians likewise 

 as to their ladies. 



The men are very fond of outdoor life, 

 and spend their summer evenings on the 

 banks of the river sipping coffee and lis- 

 tening to the curious music of the naiiras. 



At Hama one can witness a most crude 

 method of printing cotton goods. The 

 operator sits cross-legged on the ground 

 before a low table, on wdiich is laid the 

 hand-woven cloth. He dips short blocks 

 of wood, W'ith patterns carved upon 

 them, into a dye mixed with gum arabic 

 and presses them upon the goods. It re- 

 quired six to eight impressions to cover 

 the width of the cloth and a great num- 

 ber of them to complete the length of a 

 small bolt, and this tedious operation had 

 to be repeated with every color used. 



The finished article resembles a \cry 

 coarse Persian shawl and is sold to the 

 peasants to cover mattresses with. 



A VISIT TO THE MARKET GAKDEXS 



As we were going out from our 

 friend's house to visit the souks, or mar- 

 kets, our aged hostess, a Christian wo- 

 man, followed us out into a garden, 

 through which our path lay, and accosted 

 two wrinkled, gray-haired men, one of 

 whom was handling the plow and the 

 other dropping seeds into the furrow. 

 "Alay Allah give you strength !" sounded 

 the voice of the old lady. "And may 

 Allah strengthen you," replied the two 

 men. "May your crop be blessed," re- 

 turned our hostess. "By your pres- 

 ence," both murmured. After exchang- 

 ing more elaborate salutations, which are 

 common among the Arabs, she learned 

 that they were planting corn for roasting 

 ears, but on only half the tract. "We are 

 keeping half to plant with bits of soot." 

 said one. with a roguish twinkle in his 

 eye. "Soot! What do you mean?" "To 

 raise negroes" (slaves), came the reply. 



We had now advanced too far to 

 hear the end of the conversation, but on 

 our return we found the old men resting 

 under the trees, sitting on their heels. 

 Their long-legged cows were unyoked 

 and chewing their cud, while the wife of 

 one of the men was cutting up water- 

 melon to feed to a couple of half-starved 

 sheep. We asked how their negro crop 

 was coming on, and did not have to wait 

 for the answer. "Khawaga (gentlemen), 

 we are poor and own nothing. The land 

 all belongs to the Eft'endis. and they ex- 

 act the rent from us whether we get a 

 crop or not. Now it is Ramadan, and 

 during the fast they use much water in 

 their homes, so very little of the water 

 the wheels turn up, which we need for 

 our vegetables, gets to us. But we dare 

 not com])lain. Life is getting so hard 

 here. W^e realize but one mcttalic ( i '4 

 cents) for a rattle (six pounds) of egg- 

 plant, and tomatoes are only half that 

 price. So I thought if I could only plant 

 some negro slaves they might bring me 

 better returns." 



We parted, all laughing, and we walked 

 away reflecting that even here, pinched 



