DAM 
of the ieee Ae of es and the 
t river in the 
; and He.- 
vances more or lefs, as the country is capable of cultivation ; 
but in general it does not extend to any confiderable diftance 
from the latter mountains, except where it approaches T'ad- 
mor or Palmyra, towards which it ftretches full five days? 
journey, In this va extent of country, the foil and its 
produdtions are very various ; but the plains of the Hauran, 
and thofe on the banks of the Orontes, are the moft fertile ; 
they produce yee arle 
cotton. e of ar 
Upper Bekaa, is 8 gravelly and on cae plea to an 
aa tobacco than to thing elfe. On the mountains 
are cultivated, olive, milbeee. and fruit trees, ‘and in fome 
laces vines, from which the Greeks make wine, and the 
Mabemeans dried raifins, The pacha enjoys privileges more 
confiderable than thofe of any other pachalic ; for befides the 
farm o all the cuftoms and impofts, and an abloluve autho- 
atisfy his vengeance, eee 
ing ae privilege, by ordering thofe who incur his difplea- 
{ure dina mortar, or [mothered in a fack, 0 
o near d, urea 
ge. acha reimburfes himfelf by the ie or 
duty upon Sune ake by colle&ting it himfelf, or farming 
it out. is alfo heir of all the pilgrims aioe die 
on the journey ; ; ane befides, he has the profits from lending 
money upon intereft to merchants and farmers, and taking 
from them whatever he thinks proper in the way of dal/e or 
extortion. His military eftablithment confilts of 6 or 700 
janizaries, as many Barbary Arab o are naked and 
plunderers, and 8 or goo deliibathes, or horfemen. 
Thefe 
erve as an efcort for the caravan, and for reftraining the 
Arabs, and likewife to enable him to colle miri from 
his own fubjeéts. The pachalic of Damafcus, though mo 
expofed than any other to the aa s of Bedouin 
Arabs, is a leait ravaged of any in Syria: and the reafon 
is, that t Bia achalic is ufually held for life. Volney’s 
Travels, 
Rye ‘feel, a very fine kind of fteel, made in fome 
parts of the Levant, and particularly at Damafcus, remark- 
able for its excellent temper 5 and ufed chiefly in the making 
of {word blades 
ome authors affure us it comes from the kingdom of 
Golconda in the Eaft Indies; where the method of tem- 
pering with alum, which the Europeans have never been 
able to imitate, was firft invente 
About the beginning of the 14th century, Timir Leng, 
on his conqueft of Syria, bee all the celebrated manu- 
fatures of ftecl from Damafcu 
P 
by a ‘method oe loft, of dena yee about two .or 
DAM 
three lines Ae: of iron and fteel: they never broke, 
though bent in the moft violent manner, and yet retained 
the utmoft ae of edge, pas common irons or even 
fteel, would divide, under thei 
MA: ENSA, in “cera a ‘tow n of Africa, in the 
country of Jagra, fitu are river of the fame name, 
which runs into the river y Gam 
DAMASI Moxres, or Dos AonteEs. in Ancient 
Geography, mountains of India, on according to Ptolemy, 
extended along the 32d or 33d degree of latitude. It is 
thought that they were the mountains which bounded the 
eftates of the Great Mogul and thofe of the king of Ava 
to the nort 
ASK, French Damas, in the ecg nated of Cloth, 
weeled fabric, with flowers, or er ornaments, raifed 
pon it, anata of very extenfive pat 
It has been jeCtured, from the fimilarity of the name, 
that this beads the art of weaving originated at Damaf- 
cus. Whether this etymology be correét or not, damafk has 
been long woven in filk, both in France and Italy. We find 
in many ” of our own popular ballads and legends, that a da- 
mafk gown or bed is frequently noticed as an article of mag- 
nificence. 
The damafk manufa€ture of the continent was chiefly of 
a great Nigel of colours, and 
exadily saree 
brought over in queen Elizabeth’s reign, by the Dutch and 
Flemifh weavers, who fled from the perfecutions of the 
duke of Alva, and his mafter Philip II. of Spain. The filk 
8 kind were only worn upon occafions of ceremony, 
ae at all other alr carefully preferved, ~ oy 
tranfmitted for feveral fucceffive generations in the fam 
family. The mor eh oe articles of 
modern practice of pu 
nd changin 
tirely exploded the ale oF filk damafk, at leaft in Britain. 
This branch of ornamental manufaCture is now almott en- 
tirely confined to the fabrication of table-linen, which is 
e 
re is chiefly linen ; but many have 
been recently woven of cotton, fince the introdu@ticn of that 
loth has become fo preva 
The cotton damafks are confiderably cheaper than 
thofe of linen ; but are not confidered either fo elegant or 
durable. The cotton, alfo, unlefs frequently bleached, does 
not preferve the purity of the white colour nearly fo well as 
the linen. 
The tweeling of the more common kinds of damafk is 
general sila eee with five leaves of front peers exe 
clufive e harnefs of the draw loom. ft and 
moft exten ornamented damafks are woven a fie eight 
leaves. € patterns of the damask, which are frequently 
very extenfive, are called defigns, and are oo n upon paper 
lined into fmall {quares to dire eaver in mounting 
his loom, fo as to produce the defign reqused. : 
or 
