THE GREAT MOSQUE.

59

narrated it fully elsewhere, I shall but briefly allude here. A venerable Moollah, who boasted of his descent from the fatherin-law of the Prophet, and was regarded by the people with the utmost respect, having chanced to call whilst I was engaged in sketching the costume of a female domestic of Mr. Farren's, invited us to pay a visit to himself and his wife, in order that I might take a portrait of her also.

We repaired to his house as invited, when as it happened, we were not only introduced to his lady, but enjoyed a sight of the remainder of his harcem. As I greatly desired to obtain a drawing of the great Mosque, I begged that our venerable entertainer would endeavour to procure me the means of doing so. This he promised to accomplish, and according to his instructions, I repaired one morning to his house, in my oriental dress, among the folds of which I had concealed some paper and pencils.

We took our way to a narrow and secluded street, at one end of which was a small barber's shop, and immediately opposite, one of the gates looking into the court of the great Mosque. The Moollah then dived into the shop, and beckoned me to follow him, but as only a very imperfect view could be obtained from thence, I stepped out into the street, and after ascertaining that no one was in sight, produced my drawing materials, and advancing to the gateway, began rapidly to copy the leading outlines of the mosque. Scarcely had I done so before I observed the Moollah with his turban off, and his head and chin enveloped in lather, wildly motioning me to retreat from the imprudent post I had chosen. It was already high time; some people at a distance in the court had observed me, and were laying their heads together. Their gestures and glances betrayed anything but satisfaction. A tempest was evidently brewing, the issue of which might have been serious. I quietly thrust my paper into the capacious bosom of my gaberdine, and after looking around

*The Nile Boat.

60

STATISTICS OF DAMASCUS.

me with an air of innocence, walked over to the barber's shop, where I was received with a horrible frown by my conductor, who, as soon as the barber had finished his operations, retired precipitately from the spot.

I saw the worthy Moollah more than once during my stay in Damascus; and some time after my return to England, was favoured by the consul with a letter, which exposes the situation of Syria after Ibrahim Pasha had succeeded in crushing all his enemies, and introducing his system of monopoly.

"Two days ago," observes the writer, "I had the pleasure of seeing your Turkish friend, who is a lineal descendant of the first Caliph, Abou Bekir; and it strangely occurred that I have lately had as my guest for about three weeks, a descendant of Ali, the opposite branch of the blood of Mahommed, and one of the most sacred men in Persia, the Imaum of Meshid in Khorassan;-two lineal descendants of the great opposite lines of the royal and prophetic blood of Mahommed, meeting together at Damascus, the gate of Mecca, in the residence of a British officer! Tempora mutantur."

"The resistance of the people has been overcome; hope and promise are now prostrate, and Mehemet Ali is draining and debilitating the resources of the country. I fear that under his government, if it continues, after a few years longer, it will be sadly reduced. I trust, however, that all these events are but the great means of Providence for breaking up the system which has so long bound and degraded the energies and morals of these countries, and for re-establishing the national, intellectual, and social character of the people on truer principles."

I shall say but little as to the statistics of this great city. It is supposed to' contain a population varying from 120,000 to 150,000 souls, sometimes increased to 200,000 by the influx of Bedouins and Druses.* This is independently of the numbers congregated in its walls and suburbs during the passage to and Chesney's Euphrates.

*

BIBLICAL ASSOCIATIONS.

61

fro of the great caravan from Constantinople to Mecca. The number of Armenian and Greek Christians is about 11,000, and of the Jews about 5,000. It will, no doubt, be in the recollection of many, that a persecution of the latter people, on the old and absurd charge of sacrificing a Christian boy at their festivals, took place a few years back, when Sir Moses Montefiore went over from England in order to obtain immunity for his brethren from similar outrages in future.

The most interesting biblical associations connected with this city are, that it is mentioned as already in existence when Abraham migrated from Ur of the Chaldees into Palestine, his steward being one Eliezer of Damascus; that here was the residence of Naaman the Syrian; that the Abana and Pharphar which he so patriotically deemed better than all the waters of Jordan, and whose names ring so euphoniously in the stately verse of our great poet,* here unite in the modern Barrada; and that, as every one knows, it was the scene of St. Paul's conversion at a period when Syria had fallen under the Roman sway. Tradition has preserved the memory, and has pretended to identify the localities connected with this critical period in the life of the Apostle. The alleged spot where he fell from his horse is pointed out, about two miles from the city on the direct road leading towards Palestine, and by which road he must almost necessarily have approached. One of the streets still retains the name of "Straight," a main avenue, but rebuilt very probably over and over again since the Apostle's days. There is here some degree of probability; but this ceases altogether when the houses of Ananias and Naaman are pointed out, and the place where Paul was let down in a basket from a house overhanging the city wall. The "Arabia" into which he retired on this occasion was probably Haouran, the district eastward and southward of the plain.

I returned to Beyrout by a more direct road, through Barouk

*Paradise Lost. Book I.

and Deir el Kamar. The journey to Damascus had proved extremely interesting, but the state of the country was still so unsettled, that it was deemed exceedingly imprudent, especially with limited time and resources, to attempt penetrating the disturbed district. To give up Jerusalem when within a few days' journey, was most distressing, but none of my companions, nor any other traveller, had succeeded in getting there; and I was therefore reluctantly compelled to renounce the long-cherished hope of visiting it, with not the slightest expectation moreover of being able to redeem such a disappointment at any future period.

CHAPTER II.

FROM BEYROUT TO SELEUCIA, ANTIOCH, TARSUS, ETC.-COASTING VOYAGE TO

RHODES.

HAVING decided, with many a pang, to turn my back upon the Holy City, and to proceed into the north of Syria, it was some indemnification, at least, for the bitterness of my disappointment, that the region I was about to visit was less hackneyed by travellers than the ordinary routes through Palestine. Antioch, the queen of the East, had been comparatively little explored. The city "where the disciples were first called Christians,"― the seat of one of the earliest churches, proverbial for the luxury of its inhabitants and the magnificence of its edifices, of which latter considerable remains were said to exist,-presented itself to my imagination in the most attractive colours.

Having hired one of the very smallest barks that ply along the coast, I took leave one evening of my kind friends at the British consulate, and, favoured by the land breeze, ran so rapidly along the coast, that long before noon on the following day we reached the little island of Ruad, many miles to the north of Beyrout, where, the wind entirely failing, we were compelled to wait until the evening. This island, under the name of Aradus, formed a part of the commercial confederacy of the Tyrians, and after the revolutions of so many ages, seems at the present day a humble maritime republic, in which all the inhabitants are seamen or shipwrights. Some small vessels were on the stocks, and a considerable number of fishing-boats at anchor; and we