i8 Travels into the \.^N^^T. Part Ifc^ 
On the North-fide there is alfo a Brazen gate, by which they enter into 
the Court, and then have the fide of the Mofque oppofite unto them : In the 
Wall of this fide there are feveral Windows after the fafhion of the Windows 
of our Churches ; but they begin three or four foot from the ground, and 
they are glazed and letticed with wire on the outfide. There is in that Court 
alfo a refervatory of water under a Cupula^ fupported by lèverai Pillars, and 
befides that, a Lanthorn fupported onely by two. This is all that I could 
obferve of this Mofque. 
Bab-jhoma. One day I went out of the Town by the gate called Bah-Thoma, and clofe 
by it I faw the Church dedicated to St. Thomas. The door of it was (hut, be- 
caufe it is all ruinous in the infide, and looks more like a Garden than a 
Church, being uncovered and full of Herbs. Neverthelefs there ftill remains 
a kind of a portail, which is a Ceinture fupported by two Pillars ; but befides 
that thefe Pillars fhew not above a Foot beneath the Capital, they arc funk 
into the Wall : Underneath there are three other Ceintures fupported by three 
Pillars on each fide, and the lintel of the door is alfo fupported by a 
Pillar on each fide ; all thefe Pillars are of Marble and Chamfered. Over- 
againfi: that Gate there is a little round Tower made like a Chefs-board, for 
it is built of fmall Stones about half a foot fquare, but placed in fuch a man- 
ner, that next to each ftone there is a fquare hole of the fame bignefs, and fo 
alternately all over. That Tower is called the Tower of heads, becaufe 
a few years ago feveral Drufes Robbers on the High-way, who were briskly 
purfued, being taken, were put to death and their heads placed in thefe 
The Temple holes, fo that they were all filled with them. 
of Seraps, a From thence we turned to the left, and keeping a long the Walls, wecame 
TJ^'T*^' 1 h- ^ Mofque, which, ( they fay, ) was a Temple ofSerapis, Neverthelefs it is 
of St Tlmm pretended that the Body of St. Simeon Stilites refts there, having been brought 
Stilitcs. thither frorn Anttoch. However it be, t\\QTurks fay that the Aduefem cannot 
call to prayers there as at other Mofques, and that when he offers to cry, 
his Voice fails him; they have a great Veneration fot it, and I was told that 
one day a Venetian having corrupted the Servants of the Scheik who has the 
charge of that place with money, would have taken away the Body of Sr. 
Simeon J to carry it to Venice ; but that the Scheik having had fbme fUfpicion 
of it, made that Venetian pay a^reat muldof feveral thoufand Crowns; and 
fince that time, they have caufed a Grate to be made over the Sepulchre of 
that Body, befides, there are always Scherifs there reading the Alcoran.. 
From that Temple we went to a place, where three Rivers that run 
Spittle for through Damafcus meet at the end of the Town, and turn Water-mills. We 
Lepers. y/ent next to the Spittle of Lepers which is betwixt the Gates Bah-Thoma and 
Bab-Charki, but nearer and almoll: clofe by this laft ; it is but a few paces di- 
ftant from the City-Walls. The People of the Countrey fay that it is the 
fame Hofpital, which Naaman Lieutenant of the King of Damafcus built for 
Naamans Gehaz^i the Servant of the Prophet Elipa, whofè Hiftory is recorded in the 
Hofpirai. f^ffh Chapter of the fécond Book of Kings. This Hofpital hath great Re- 
venues. 
Being come back again into the Town, in the Taylers ftreet, I faw through 
an Iron-grate, a Room where there are two Bodies, which the Mahometans 
idiY are the Bodies of two Saints of their Law. A little farther there is another 
where there is alfo a Body to which they render the fame honours, I could not 
learn the Names of thefè falfè Saints. 
There are a great many lovely Fountains in Damafcus, and among others 
that v/hich is oppofite to the gate of the great Mofque that looks to theEaft, 
and covered with a Dome almoft flat. It is a round Balbn, of about two fa- 
thom in Diamètre ; in the middle whereof there is a Pipe, that throws up a 
great deal of Water at a time, and with fb much force that it fpouts up almoft 
as high as the Dome ; and if they pleafed they might eafily make it play high- 
er, becaufe theXource lies far above it in level. 
CHAP. 
