DAMASCUS. 
259 
tain was troubled about getting in all his coal by 2 p. m., at 
which hour the steamer was to sail; the Southerner slept 
soundly in a cane-brake ; and it fell to my lot to dream that 
the grand Caliph of Damascus had ordered me to be bastina¬ 
doed for misrepresenting him in the report of a speech which 
he had just delivered in the United States Senate, on the sub¬ 
ject of free-soii. At all events, whatever our troubles were 
(and I assure you, our night-caps had nothing to do with 
them), we all woke up next morning in a very serious frame 
of mind; and, upon ascertaining that we had bad colds, and 
our beards were dripping wet, and our heads ached, we ar¬ 
rived at the following conclusions : That, however charming 
a fountain may be in a bedroom in summer, it is apt to be 
damp in the month of December; that cold marble floors are 
more pleasant in August than in mid-winter; and the total 
absence of chimneys, stoves, and all means of warming a 
room, except a miserable pot of charcoal, is not productive 
of comfort, however pretty and Oriental the whole thing may 
be. All the glitter of colors on the walls looked very tawdry 
this morning; the fountain sent a cold shudder through us; 
the Arab domestics looked as lazy and filthy as ever, and in 
spite of the repeated assurances of our landlord, that “ indeed 
Mi-lord Bath had slept in this very chamber,” we changed 
our quarters for another room less showy but much more com¬ 
fortable. 
We took for our guide through the city a methodical old 
gentleman called Ibrahim. In his book of recommendations 
he is represented to be a “regular old Jew,” “ as honest a 
man as any body could expect,” “ not the brightest guide in 
the world, but the best in Damascus, and one who knows the 
way through the city;” and, in justice to him, I must say 
that he deserved these testimonials, and that his knowledge 
of the languages is equal to his knowledge of the antiquities 
of Damascus. 
The old gentleman (for he claimed to be a Reis) was very 
slow and dignified in his movements, and wore a long beard 
and large turban, that gave him a most imposing aspect; we 
called him Ibrahim the Solemn. He showed us the bazaars, 
