256 
A CRUSADE IN THE EAST. 
other in all directions ; dust covering them to the depth of 
six inches ; and the air was so filled with it that we were 
well nigh stifled before we entered upon the principal paved 
road leading into the city. At the gate called by the Franks 
the Porta di Baalbek, we were stopped by some Turkish 
guards, who entered into a social conversation with our drago¬ 
man concerning our business in Damascus, past history, and 
future prospects, all of which seemed to afford them the highest 
satisfaction, as they resumed their chiboucks, upon being paid 
the sum of two half-piasters, or four cents and a quarter, with 
an evident determination to remain satisfied with the informa¬ 
tion they had received (and the half-piasters) all the rest of 
their lives, and never to stop smoking again on any account. 
If our disappointment was great upon entering the groves 
in the neighborhood of Damascus, it w r as greater still upon 
entering the city. The streets are not more than eight or 
ten feet in width, badly paved in parts and not paved at all 
generally ; dirty beyond description, and abounding in foul 
odors and disgusting sights of lepers and beggars. Overhead 
throughout most of the city were hung ragged mats for the 
purpose, I believe, of keeping out the air in summer, and 
making the streets wet and gloomy in winter. It was as 
much as our lives were worth to ride through these streets over 
the slippery stones; spraining our horses’ legs, and getting 
jammed on each side of the street every dozen steps, some¬ 
times carrying away the shutters of a shop or a basket of 
fruit, and now and then compelled to jerk up the off leg and 
hug the wall to avoid being crushed by a drove of camels. 
The loads of these animals seemed expressly designed to rake 
both sides of the streets ; and where there was not room for 
them, mules and donkeys supplied their place. We had 
often heard of the hostility of the inhabitants of Damascus to 
Christians; their hatred of all sects except their own, their 
intolerance toward foreigners, and their bigoted attachment 
to Islamism ; but we had been told that of late years they had 
greatly improved in consequence of increased intercourse with 
the Frank nations of Europe. Ibrahim Pasha taught them a 
good many lessons, without doing their religion or morals 
