70 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



AN INEXPENSIVE L,OAD 



Cucumbers by the donkey loads are for sale on the streets of Damascus. For a good part of 

 the year 6 pounds weight may be bought for 2 or 3 cents 



of each other, may be seen the vender of 

 cucumbers with his wares fresh from 

 the garden, exposed on a donkey's back 

 (when sold the load will realize between 

 20 and 30 cents) ; the bread-seller with 

 his warm cakes of bread on a tray rest- 

 ing on a stand ready to supply the hun- 

 gry with a good-sized loaf for a cent, 

 and the vender of milk, who for another 

 cent will give you a large basin of sweet- 

 ened milk in which to soak your loaf. 

 At different seasons you may fare well 

 at little cost off melons, grapes, apricots, 

 plums, peaches, apples, oranges, figs, etc., 

 all the products of the gardens and or- 

 chards around the city. 



But some will ask whence comes all 

 this abundance, for in no other part of 

 Syria or Palestine is there such a pro- 

 fusion of fruit and vegetables at such 

 low prices. The cause is the abundant 

 water supply provided by the ever-flow- 

 ing and life-producing river Barada, the 

 Abana of the Bible. 



Rising some miles northwest of the 

 city, the river is conducted to all parts of 

 Damascus through thousands of chan- 

 nels. It is also tapped to irrigate the 

 gardens, orchards, and fields outside the 

 city that are constantly under cultivation 

 to supply the needs of the inhabitants. 



There are many pleasant spots by the 



