

DAMASCUS. 



567 



D.imascu? 



Popula- 

 tion. 



Trade. 



also the church of John the Baptist, now converted into 

 a mosque ; the house of Ananias, which is a small cellar 

 or grotto ; the house of Judas, with whom Paul lodged ; 

 the gate, where the apostle was let down in a basket ; 

 and, about half a mile beyond the east gate, the scene 

 of his vision, which is marked only by a heap of gravel. 

 The city is divided into 23 districts, each under a se- 

 parate magistrate. The number of inhabitants is esti- 

 mated by Volney at 80,000, by Browne at 200,000, and 

 by others at 180,000. Of these, about 15,000 are 

 Christians, and the greater part of the remainder Arabs 

 and Turks. The people are generally described by the 

 inhabitants of the surrounding countries as peculiarly 

 miscluevous and wicked. They are particularly into- 

 lerant towards Christians ; and it is scarcely possible to 

 appear in the streets in an European dress. But Dr 

 Browne observes, that their pride in this respect is con- 

 siderably abated, and that he found little difference be- 

 tween them and other Oriental citizens. 



Damascus is the centre of the commerce of Syria ; 

 and its trade is rendered still more considerable, by its 

 forming the rendezvous to all the pilgrims from the 

 north of Asia to Mecca. Their number amounts every 

 year to thirty or forty thousand ; and many of them ar- 

 rive in Damascus several months before the departure 

 of the caravan. The city then presents the appeai'anee 

 of an immense fair, and every place is full of camels, 

 horses, mules, and merchandize. Even in the year 

 1432, Brocquiere describes this assemblage of traders 

 and devotees as remarkably numerous. " On the mor- 

 row of my arrival, I saw the caravan return from Mec- 

 ca. It was said to be composed of three thousand 

 camels ; and in fact it was two clays and as many nights 

 before they had all entered the town." Caravans pro- 

 ceed from Damascus also to Bagdad and Grand Cairo ; 

 and the principal imports by these various channels are 

 broad cloths and the different metals, which come from 

 the coasts of the Mediterranean, and shawls, muslins, 

 and other Indian stuffs, which are brought by the way 

 of Bagdad. Its own manufactures consist chiefly of silk 

 and cotton fabrics ; and of an excellent soap made of 

 olive oil, kale, and chalk. Great quantities also of dried 

 fruits and sweet meats, of their own produce, are 

 exported to Constantinople, to the annual value of 

 ^40,000. Damascus was formerly celebrated for the 

 manufacture of sabres, of such superior excellence, that 

 they would bend to the hilt without breaking, while the 

 edge was so keen as to divide the firmest coat of mail, 

 and which are supposed to have been constructed, by 

 a process now lost, of alternate layers of iron and steel. 

 Tamerlane, when he took the city in 1400, is said to 

 have carried into Persia their best artists in steel ; but 

 Brocquiere speaks of the inhabitants of Damascus in 

 1432 as still excelling in these manufactures. " The 

 Damascus blades are the handsomest and best of all 

 Syria. ; and it is curious to observe their manner of 

 burnishing them. They have for this purpose a small 

 piece of wood, in which is fixed an iron, which they 

 rub up and down the blade, and thus clean off all in- 

 equalities, as a plane does to wood ; they then temper 

 and polish it. This polish is so highly finished, that, 

 when any one wants to arrange his turban, he uses his 

 sword for a looking-glass." " There are made at Da- 

 mascus," he adds, " and in the adjoining country, mir- 

 rors of steel that magnify objects like burning glasses. 

 I have seen some, that, when exposed to the sun, have 

 reflected the heat so strongly, as to set fire to a plank 

 fifteen or sixteen feet distant." 



Damascus is surrounded by a fruitful and delightful 



country, forming a plain nearly 80 miles in circum- Damascus 

 ference ; and the lands, most adjacent to the city, are '"*"* "^#~~ 

 formed into gardens of great extent, which are stored 

 with fruit trees of every description. Besides the 

 mosques and minarets, which are the usual ornaments 

 of Turkish cities, the gardens are filled with pleasure- 

 houses, turrets, and similar structures; a circumstance 

 which altogether gives to the place the appearance of a 

 noble city in the midst of an extensive forest, and fully 

 justifies the appellation commonly given to it by Orien- 

 tals, of goutali Demesk, orchard of Damascus. The 

 pleasantness and fertility of these grounds are chiefly to 

 be ascribed to the waters of the Barrady, which are dis- 

 tributed by numberless streams and rivulets in such a 

 manner, that every garden has a fine run of water pass- 

 ing through it, at once fertilizing the soil, and supplying 

 a variety of artificial fountains and ornamental water- 

 works. So numerous are the fruit trees in the vicinity 

 of the city, that those which are decayed supply the 

 inhabitants with fire-woo^ ; and, together with the wal- 

 nut and Lombardy poplar, furnish also the principal ma- 

 terials for building. In these orchards the ah is most 

 salubrious, the soil remarkably productive, and the 

 fruits, especially the apricots and grapes, as much dis- 

 tinguished by their superior flavour as by their extraor- 

 dinary abundance. " No place in the world," says Mr 

 Maundrel, " can promise to the beholder at a distance 

 a greater voluptuousness ;" and he mentions a tradition 

 of the Turks, that their prophet, when approaching 

 Damascus, took his station upon a certain precipice, in 

 order to view the city ; and, after considering its ra- 

 vishing beauty and delightful aspect, was unwilling to 

 tempt his frailty by going farther, but instantly took his 

 departure with this remark, that there was but one pa- 

 radise designed for man, and that for his part, he was 

 resolved not to take his in this world. The air or wa- Climate. 

 ter of Damascus, or both, are supposed to have a power- 

 ful effect in curing the leprosy, or at least in arresting 

 its progress, while the patient remains in the place. 

 But, with all those advantages, the climate is represent- 

 ed by Volney as deficient in point of salubrity. The 

 white waters of the Barrady are found to be cold and 

 hard; the natives are subject to frequent obstructions ; 

 their fair complexions are considered as rather a sickly 

 paleness, than the natural colour of health ; and the ex- 

 cessive use of fruit, is productive, during the summer 

 and autumn seasons, of intermittent fevers and dysen- 

 teries. Damascus is 23 leagues east of Sidon, 45 north 

 of Jerusalem, and 65 south of Antioch. See Volney's 

 Travels in Syria and Egypt, vol. ii.; Brown's Travels 

 in Africa; Niebuhr's Travels in Arabia; La Brocquicre's 

 Travels in Palestine; and Maundrel's Journey from 

 Aleppo to Jerusalem. (ij) 



DAMASCUS, Pashalic of, is the first in Asia, and 

 is one of the five into which Syria is divided. It com- 

 prehends the whole eastern part of that country, being 

 bounded on the north and west by Tarabolos, on the 

 south-west by Palestine^ and on the east by the desert 

 of Arabia. It extends from Marra on the road to Alep- 

 po, as far as Hebron, in tire south-east corner of Pales- 

 tine ; is bounded on the west by the mountains of the 

 Ansares, Libanus, and the upper part of Judea ; crosses 

 the Jordan, including Jerusalem, Nablous, and Hebron ; 

 enters the Arabian desert towards the East, as far as the 

 country is capable of cultivation ; and, in the district of 

 Tadmor or Palmyra, stretches fully five days journey in 

 that direction. In this vast extent of country, the soil 

 and its productions are extremely various. The plains of 

 the Hauzan and the banks of the Orontes are the most 



