DAMA 
merous ftreame, and the clearnefs of its rills and fountains, 
This is the only part of oe in which are detached pleafure- 
houfes in the open country. 
The foil, though oor gravelly, of a reddifh colour, and 
dherciore ill adapted to corn, is more fuitable to fruits, poe 
are here excellently oni a o,city contains fo man 
canals and fountains; each has one; and all tele 
waters are furnifhed by ave tly cake or branches of the 
fame river, called Barrady or Barradé, whieh, after ferti- 
eapues, flow into a 
ies they form a 
obitructions ; 
palenefs of ficknefs than the hue of health; and 
derate of fruit, particularly of apricots, however excel. 
lent in their kind, occafions, every fummer and autumn, in- 
termitnt fevers and dyfenteries. It is faid, however, that the 
air or water of Damatfcus, or both, operates salah a againft 
the eee a Damafcus is much longer than it is broad. 
Its walls, which are neither ancient nor lofty, are ftrong. 
They have nine gates. r, who has given a plan 
of the city, eftimates it at 3250 toifes, or fomewhat lefs than 
14 league in circumference. Comparing thefe dimenfions 
with thole of Aleppo, ae fuppofes that Damafcus may 
contain 80,000 inhabitan in s in 
en e appear 
arket-places are well conftru€ted, and orna- 
colonade of variegated diarble, The 
di: tri@s, each under its diftin& ma- 
e: that allotted to the og is mean, and much 
inferior to the other parts of the town. The greater part 
of the inhabitants confifts of Arabs and Turks; the number 
of Chrittians is eftimated at above 15,000, two-thirds of 
whom, fays Volney, are reliiesnes: The Turks never {peak 
of the people of Damafcus, without obfer bes an they are 
the mot mifchievous in the whole empire ; and the Arabs have 
this proverb, «Shami, fhoumt,”’ theman of Dama fen wicked. 
Such is the prejudice arifing ie diferente of ie on, that 
rally hated by the fanatic and info- 
repre 8 a as more vile and knavith 
than they are any where elfe, Accordingly they have been 
sae eee re deteft the Franks, fo that it 1s not poffible to 
appea 
maintained and increafed by their communication with 
Their city, thcy fay, is a holy place, fince it is one of 
from 
heel.”? See Cae avan, 
call cottoni or alléja. former requires 125 drams of 
filk ; and the latter is lighter, and compofed of half the 
quantity. Much foap is alfo fabricated at Damafens, and 
carried from hence to other parts of Syria and to Egypt. 
In the manufaéture of foap, they ufe of olives, putting 
to an hundred weight 25 pounds of kali, and 5 pounds of 
pulverized chalk. The latter artlciey re boiled till the 
scUS. 
water be fufficiently impregnated ; : a he is —— scueieae in; 
and the whole boils for three days ompofed of 
fone of olives. Sac of the eee porate as are ufed 
by the orientals are drawn from Seidé, Beirtir, and Tripoli, 
to and from all which places, there are regvlar c caravans, 
ri lead, tin, cochineal, broad-cloth. From Perfia and the 
» the caravans of Bagdad convey, thawls, muflins, and 
the ich fabrics of Surat, a part of which is confumed i in the 
were formerly very adverfe ; and it is only within thefe few 
years thac they could be prevailed on to fend goods by A 
to Conftantinople. The population and commerce of 
mafcus are on the haha in oe of - juftice and 
equity of the prefent pacha or aw, ah. ‘The 
rent of houfes, though low, is fenfibly i increa aine ah a 
of the in of lad Sale and the fuburbs are {fpreading by 
new buildings. Fora 
fieel, fee that article. 
ftriking contraft is obferved to exift between the inha- 
bitants of Damafcus and thofe of Aleppo. ‘The latter are 
vain and feditious; the former, on the contrary, fober, in- - 
duftrious, and unoftentatious. fe males and children 
n account of ie ancient ene s 
wiz. white muflin ae except the proftitutes, who, as 
xpofe their faces. The ch sitable a 
n ich ma 
oe reception 
n fince diverted 
quadrangle, lined with a colonade. 
imall domes, covered with lead. The mofque is grand 
the entrance fupported by four large columns of red gra 
nite: it is covered with a cupola, a has two minarets. 
Adjacent to it is a large garden. partments are nu- 
merous and the whole ablifomnent grand and mag- 
nificent. 
The large fquare courts the city are beautified with 
fragrant es a ble fountains, and compaffed round 
fleep, {mcke, receive vifits, fay 
their prayers, Ke. are adorned on the fides with a variety of 
marble mixed in Mofaic knots and mazes, fpread with cars 
mous mofque ; the houfe 
only a {mall grotto, or cellar 3 ; and the houfeé of araee 
i old tomb, oppo 
nf 
the tks and linen, known b 
probably, the invention of its inhabitants. ra- 
vels in Egypt and Syria, | vol. it, De a iad 8 Travels, vol. ii. 
ai aa 8 ave in Africa, p. 396, 
mascus, Pachalic of, is one of the four pachalics of 
Gas comprehending nearly the whole eaftern part of that 
papel It aki to fied -_ from Marra on the roa 
o Aleppo, as far or Hebron, in the fouth-eaft 
ste of Palettine. 
It i is bounded to the we by the moun- 
tains 
