454 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



Photograph by Maynard Owen Williams 



AU, ROADS L^AD TO ANTIOCH 



Much of the trade of northern Syria comes to a focus at the four-arched bridge across 

 the Orontes at Antioch. The best of the roads leads to the right and is the metalled highway 

 to Alexandretta. The road to the left leads to Seleucia, the ancient port of Antioch on the 

 Mediterranean, now practically in ruins. This view is taken from Mount Silpius, at the foot 

 of which the city is crowded. 



The tired faces of the women as they 

 crush the spluttering wax in their fevered 

 hands, the triumphant look of the solemn 

 pilgrims almost make one cry out in 

 anger at the awful hoax. To these pil- 

 grims, however, it is the El Dorado of 

 countless dreams and years of toil and 

 saving. To them it is real ; they live it ; 

 they believe. 



But climbing down from the platform, 

 and showing incongruous silk hose and 

 dainty slippers as she slowly descends, 

 js our typical tourist. Her hat is awry. 

 A triumphant smile is in her eyes. She 

 is the picture of amused curiosity. In 

 one hand she holds a bent and twisted 

 candle. The painted flowers which once 

 decorated it are now gone and its end is 

 blackened with the holy fire. This is the 

 irreverent side of the spectacle. 



The honest-faced pilgrim clutches his 

 candles to his breast and a look of "peace 

 that passeth all understanding" covers his 

 wrinkled face. Beside him is the amused 



sightseer, who draws aside her narrow 

 skirts in passing. This is Jerusalem at 

 Easter time. 



The railway which formerly carried 

 Christian tourists from Jaffa to Jerusalem 

 had other significance than as a pilgrim 

 line, but the unique railway of the Near 

 East is the Hejaz Railway, which was 

 built expressly for religious purposes and 

 was stubbornly opposed by the desert 

 Arabs because they feared it would rob 

 them of a chance of robbing. 



bkirut, the home: of an American 

 coivi^GK 



Beirut is of great interest to Americans 

 for it is in this city that the Syrian 

 Protestant College is situated. This 

 great institution ranks with Robert Col- 

 lege, on the Bosporus, and these two 

 American schools have had a tremendous 

 leavening power throughout the Near 

 East. 



The complexity of the Near Eastern 



