D A M 



568 



D A M 



B.»T» scuc. f er tile j and produce wheat, barley, dowra, sesamum, and 

 ^~ cotton. The countries around Damascus and the Up- 

 per Bekaa, are of a reddish gravelly soil, better adapted 

 for fruits and tobacco, than for the production of grain. 

 The mountainous districts are appropriated to olives, 

 mulberry, and fruit-trees, and in some places to vines, 

 from which the Greeks make wine, and the Mahometans 

 dried raisins. The office of the pasha of Damascus since 

 the decline of the Turkish empire, is in a great measure 

 hereditary ; and the person, who holds that office, is in- 

 vested with absolute power, from which there is no ap- 

 peal. His public revenue is calculated by Mr Browne 

 to amount to ten thousand purses, or half a million 

 sterling; and arises chiefly from a duty upon lands, and 

 the capitation tax paid by Christians. He possesses, in- 

 deed, other sources of emolument, particularly fines and 

 arbitrary exactions; profits upon money lent to mer- 

 chants and farmers, frequently at fifteen or twenty per 

 cent. ; and his privilege of heir to all the pilgrims who 

 die on their journey to Mecca. His military establish- 

 ment consists of six or seven hundred Janissaries, the 

 same number of Barbary Arabs, who are little better 

 than naked banditti, and eight or nine hundred Delli- 

 bashas or horsemen. These troops are employed, in the 

 first instance, in collecting the miri, or land-tax ; and 

 every year, three months before the departure of the 

 caravan to Mecca, he makes what is called his circuit, 

 travelling through his territories, raising contributions 

 from the towns and villages. These exactions, which 

 are not always confined to the legal assessment, are sel- 

 dom made without resistance on the part of the subjects ; 

 and particularly in the district of Nablous or La Maria, 

 where the inhabitants are wealthy and powerful, the 

 oppressions of the government are frequently withstood. 

 But the most honourable office of the pasha of Damas- 

 cus, and the regular occupation of his soldiery, is to 

 protect the «acred caravan of Mecca from the plunder- 

 ing Arabs of the desert. He enjoys the distinguished 

 title of Emir-el- Hadje, or chief of the caravan, by office ; 

 and so important is this charge reckoned by every Ma- 

 hometan, that when a pasha has acquitted himself well 

 as conductor of the pilgrims, his person becomes invio- 

 lable even by the Sultan, and it is not permitted, on 

 any account, to shed his blood. It is said, however, 

 that, without departing from the letter of the law, the 

 Divan sometimes extends its vengeance to ,those who 

 are protected by this privilege, by ordering them to be 

 smothered in a sack, or pounded in a mortar. The pasha 

 of Damascus is not only charged with the duty of con- 

 ducting the caravan, but also with the burden of its ex- 

 pences, which are calculated at five or six thousand 

 purses, besides one thousand required for its own use 

 on the journey. The advances for the caravan con- 

 sist in the hire of camels for the pilgrims, the purchase 

 of provisions in barley, corn, rice, &c. and the payment 

 of certain sums to the Arab tribes, who dwell near the 

 route, in order to secure a safe passage ; though some of 

 the more enterprising pashas have been known to con- 

 duct the caravan, sabre in hand, without paying a pi- 

 astre to these plunderers. When the caravan sets out, 

 the pasha receives from the governor of the castle the 

 Sonjiak Sherifi, or ensign of the prophet, for which he 

 gives a receipt in writing before witnesses, and which 

 he solemnly pledges himself to bring back in safety. 

 As soon as he arrives near the city, on his return, a mes- 

 senger is dispatched to Constantinople, who is obliged 

 to perform the journey in twenty-five days, and who 

 carries with him water from the well Zem-zem near 

 Mecca, and some date6 from Medina to be presented to 



the Emperor on his visit to the Mosque. The following Damasc u », 

 account from Mr Browne, of the pasha's entrance into Dam ask. 

 Damascus, after the return of the caravan, will furnish *"" "Y"*"' 

 the best idea of the power and attendance of this pro- 

 vincial despot. " First appeared three hundred dellis 

 or cavalry, mounted on Arabian horses, variously armed 

 and clothed, but on the whole, forming no mean dis- 

 play. These were succeeded by fifteen men on drome- 

 daries, with musquetoons or large carbines, placed be- 

 fore them, and turning on a swivel in every direction. 

 Some of the great officers of the city followed, well 

 mounted and decently attired. Then came part of the 

 pasha of Tripolis' Janissaries, well clothed and armed ; 

 that pasha himself with his officers and the remainder of 

 his guard. Next was the tattarawan belonging to the 

 pasha of Damascus, another body of four hundred dellis, 

 a company of thirty musquetooners, a hundred and fifty 

 Albanians in uniform, and marching two and two, like 

 our troops. Before the latter was borne the standard of 

 the prophet Sonjiak Sherifi, of green silk, with sentences 

 of the Koran embroidered in gold, and the magnificent 

 canopy brought from Mecca, guarded by a strong body 

 of Muggrebins, or western Arabs, on foot. Then pas- 

 sed the pasha's three tails (generally of white horses ) 

 borne by three men on horseback ; twelve horses richly 

 caparisoned, and each bearing a silver target and a sabre ; 

 six led dromedaries, in beautiful housings ; numbers of 

 the chief persons of the city followed, among whom was 

 the aga of the Janissaries, the governor of the castle, and 

 the mohassel. Last came the pasha himself in a habit 

 of green cloth, adorned with fur of the black fox, pre- 

 ceded by his two sons, all mounted on the most spirited 

 steeds of Arabia, and followed by his household troops to 

 the number of four hundred well armed and mounted. 

 More than a hundred camels had preceded the rest, bear- 

 ing the tents and baggage of the pasha." See Volney's 

 Travels in Syria and Egypt ; Browne's Travels in Africa, 

 Egypt, and Syria; and La Brocquiere's Travels in Pa- 

 lestine. ( q) 



DAMASK, in the manufacture of cloth, is a varie- 

 gated texture, richly ornamented with figures of flowers, 

 fruits, landscapes, animals, &c. woven in the loom, 

 and is by far the most rich, elegant, and expensive, 

 6pecies of ornamental weaving, tapestry alone except- 

 ed. The name is said to be derived from Damascus, 

 which is thence inferred to be the original seat of thie- 

 manufacture ; but it is highly probable that this ety- 

 mology rests more upon conjecture derived from affinity 

 of sound, than upon any precise or respectable autho- 

 rity. 



Damask belongs to that species of texture which is 

 distinguished by practical men by the name of tweel- 

 ing, or tweeled cloth, (French louaille,) of which it is 

 the richest species. The tweel of damask is usually 

 half that of full sattin, and consequently consists of 

 eight leaves moved either in regular succession or by 

 regular intervals, eight leaves being the smallest num- 

 ber which will admit of alternate tweeling at equal in- 

 tervals. 



In the article Cloth Manufacture, a representa- 

 tion has been given of the damask draw-loom, and 

 some explanation of its principle and mode of operation. 

 To these shall be added, in the present article, such 

 further remarks on this curious manufacture as seem 

 most important ; and a few practical observations on the) 

 nature, operation, and use of the draw loom, the most 

 extensive, complicated, and ingenious apparatus used 

 in the fabrication of cloth. 



The principle upon which the fabrication of ornamenji 

 4> 



