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three in the offices, and others in the interior of the 
house. 
The river Barrada washes the southern walls of the 
house which I occupied, and forms at this spot a sheet 
of water fifty-seven feet wide, in consequence of a large 
mill which is established there, but it is not more than 
a foot deep. 
Damascus contains more than 500 large magnificent 
houses, which may be called palaces; but as their mag- 
nificence is confined to the interior, their fronts being 
in no wise distinguished from other houses, they do not 
in the least contribute to embellish the city. 
The different Christian communities have each their 
temple. There is a Greek, a Maronite, a Syrian, and an 
Armenian church; three convents of Franciscan monks* 
one composed of Spanish observantines, and the other 
two of Italian capuchins; all these monks bear the title 
of missionary. The united or Catholic Greeks have no 
temples of their own; they celebrate their worship in the 
churches of the three convents. 
The Greek Catholic priests live in a singular man- 
ner; they go among the inhabitants, who provide them 
supper and lodging. In the morning they say mass in 
the house where they have passed the night; breakfast 
is then served to them, and they retire after receiving a 
piece of money worth two piastres and a half. It is in 
going thus from house to house that they are maintain- 
ed, and paid by devout people. The Spanish monks 
sojourn at Damascus during twelve years, three or four 
of which they pass in learning Arabic; because they 
confess and pray in that language. They were tolerably 
well treated at the time I was there, although they had 
suffered much in former times. 
The Greek patriarch of Antioch has his see at Da- 
