XVI 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



June, 1 913 



FHE owner of this beautiful 

 * residence at Elkhart, Indiana, 

 enjoys his Bath Room as much 

 as any room in the house. It, 

 together with the Kitchen, Pan- 

 try and Laundry, is equipped 

 with the most modern fixtures 

 from the Wolff factories which 

 harmonize perfectly with the 

 Architecture of the home. 



Get our booklet on Bath 

 Room Suggestions. 



L. Wolff Manufacturing Co. 



Plumbing Goods Exclusively 



Main Office, 601-627 West Lake Street 



Showrooms, 1 1 1 N. Dearborn Street 



CHICAGO 



EHill 7h mock - Architect 



BRANCHES 



POTTERY : Trenton, N. J 



Denver, Omaha, Minneapolis, 

 Dallas, Rochester 



Have a Cool 

 House on 

 Hot Days! 



Our handsomely illustrated Vudor booklet 

 shows how, at moderate expense, your 

 porch and the adjoining rooms may be kept 

 delightfully coo! on hot, sultry days ; tells 

 how to turn your porch into ideal sleeping 

 quarters. 



Write for Booklet 



HOUGH SHADE CORPORATION 



240 Mill Street Janesville, Wis. 



THE HOTEL OF AMERICAN IDEALS 



HOTEL POWHATAN 



WASHINGTON, D. C. 



BesI Located Hotel in Washington 



New and Absolutely Fireproof. 



Refined. Elegant. 



EUROPEAN PLAN. 



Rooms, detached bath, $1.50, $2.00 up 



Rooms, private bath, $2.50, $3.00 iup 



Write for Souvenir Booklet " B" with Map. 



CLIFFORD M. LEWIS, Manager 



Hi 



When 



HOTEL VICTORIA 



Cor. Dartmouth and Newbury Sts. 



•I One half block from Copley Square. Two 

 minutes walk to Public Library, Trinity 

 Church and Back Bay Stations. In center 

 of the Back Bay district, and particularly 

 accessible for automobilists. 



European Plan 



THOMAS O. PAIGE, Manager 



AN ANCIENT CITY AND ITS 



REMARKABLE IRRIGATION 



SYSTEM 



HAM A, the Hamath of the Bible, one 

 of the oldest cities of Syria, is situ 

 ated in the valley of the Orontes, 110 Eng- 

 lish miles north (by east) of Damascus. 

 It finds a place among the northern boun- 

 daries of the Holy Land (Num., xxxiv, 8), 

 and is frequently mentioned in Old Testa- 

 ment history. The city lies in a narrow 

 valley, the pass south of it being probably 

 the "entering in of Hamath" (1 Kings, 

 vii, 65): The Orontes flows winding 

 through it, and is spanned by four bridges. 

 On the southeast the houses rise 150 feet 

 above the river, and there are four other 

 hills, that of the Kalah or castle to the 

 north being 100 feet high. Twenty-four 

 minarets rise from the various mosques. 

 The houses are principally of mud, and 

 the town stands amid poplar gardens with 

 a fertile plain to the west. The castle is 

 ruined, the streets are narrow and dirty, 

 but the bazars are good, and the trade with 

 the Bedawim considerable. The popula- 

 tion is stated in official returns to consist 

 of about 39,000 Moslems and 4,000 non- 

 Moslems. The curious Hamath inscrip- 

 tions first mentioned by Burckhardt have 

 lately attracted much attention. Four 

 stones exist covered with ideographic de- 

 signs in a character as yet quite unknown. 

 The latest researches of Mr. George 

 Smith, however, indicate that the inscrip- 

 tions are probably of Hittite origin, and 

 other relics of that once powerful nation 

 resembling the Hamath stones have been 

 discovered farther east. 



The Orontes River flows through the 

 city in the form of an S, and upon its 

 banks are four huge water wheels, each 

 bearing a name of its own. They are used 

 for pumping up the water of the Orontes 

 for irrigation purposes, and also for sup- 

 plying the town. 



The wheels are driven by the flow of 

 the river on what is known as the under- 

 shot principle ; that is to say, the wheel 

 is moved by water passing beneath it. The 

 largest wheel has a diameter of about sev- 

 enty feet, and the Syrians declare it is the 

 largest in existence. Like the others, it 

 is built of wood, a dark mahogany. The 

 axle is of iron. The creaking of the 

 wheels is incessant day and night. They 

 never stop. In Winter and during early 

 Spring the flow of the stream is partially 

 blocked to reduce the rapidity of the revo- 

 lutions, but on no account are the wheels 

 actually stopped. 



Placed upon the banks of the stream 

 amid the trees and gardens for which 

 Hama is justly proud, the wheels present 

 a decidedly picturesque effect. They are 

 the favorite rendezvous of the boys of the 

 town. For a few cents some of the more 

 daring will climb up the spokes of the 

 moving wheel to the summit and then jump 

 into the stream below him. 



THE ORIGIN OF THE PHILISTINES 



THERE is considerable uncertainty, says 

 La Nature, regarding the origin of 

 the Philistines, the people from whom 

 Palestine takes its name. There are two 

 favorite hypotheses ; according to one the 

 place of origin of this nation is Egypt; the 

 other makes the isle of Crete their original 

 home. The second of these suppositions 

 has received much support by ethnological 

 explorations carried out by an English ex- 

 pedition, which has discovered the ruins 

 of Beth Chemech, a city founded about 

 1500 B. C. and mentioned in the Bible. 



