DAMASCUS. 
261 
IBRAHIM. 
he never manifested his excitement in any other way) as any 
allusion to the history of Damascus. In a happy moment of 
inspiration, I got an exact fac-simile of his features, which will 
enable the reader to see precisely how he looked upon being 
asked by one of the party, if he remembered at what date St. 
Paul preached from the house-top. On the subject of Roman 
antiquities he was especially reserved. It was evident that 
he had an antipathy to the Romans, and would in no degree 
contribute to the perpetuation of their fame. That he will 
come out one of these days in a book against that people for 
building useless walls and arches in Damascus, and thereby 
setting idle tourists all agog, about ruins that don’t exist as 
well as those that do exist, I have no doubt whatever. I 
observed it in the expression of his countenance on several 
occasions when I solicited his opinion about Herod the Great. 
Actuated by the purest motives—chiefly by the desire to dis¬ 
sipate the mists of fancy, as you know has been my object all 
along—I took the liberty of asking Ibrahim if the ladies of 
Damascus were pretty; to which he replied by throwing up 
both hands in horror, and saying, “ God forbid that I should 
know. People say they are, but I don’t know; never saw 
