ARABIAN NIGHTS. BOOK BAZAAR.- - COUNTRY VILLA. —

SALAHIEH.-CEMETERY.-DAMASCENE WOMEN.-FUNERAL.

-SAUL OF TARSUS. --ORIENTAL SCENES.

σε "Εδει γὰρ οἶμαι τὴν Διὸς πολίν ἀληθῶς, καὶ τὴς Εῶας ἁπάσης ὀφθαλμον, τὴν ἱερὰν καὶ μέγιστὴν Δαμασκον λέγω, τοῖς τὲ ἄλλοῖς σύμπασιν, όιον ίερων κάλλει, καὶ νέων μέγεθει, καὶ ὥρων εὐκαιρία καὶ πηγων ἀγλαία καὶ ποταμων πλῆθει, καὶ γῆς εὐφορία νικῶσαν.”

"It deserved in truth, as I conceive, to be called the city of Jove, and the eye of all the East; I mean the great and sacred Damascus, surpassing in every respect both in the beauty of its temples, the magnitude of its shrines, the timeliness of its seasons, the limpidness of its fountains, the volume of its waters, and the richness of its soil."

JULIAN, EPIST. XXIV. p. 392.

OCT. 12th, eleven, A.M.-A jolly friar with a bunch of keys in his hands shewed us into a long room, with no other furniture in it but two or three old bedsteads, some very suspicious looking mattresses, and an old chair.

We made a general clearance, had the room

swept, our carpets spread on the floor, and our beds upon them, the musquitto nets suspended, and in half an hour the aspect of the old room was wonderfully changed for the better.

The next and important object was to throw off our dirty clothes and go to the bath. Here the proper and delicious custom, so often mentioned in the Arabian Nights, universally prevails, of going to the bath before putting on clean clothes. Every individual makes up his little bundle of clean things, and sends them down to the bath by a slave before he presumes at any time to change his habiliments. After roughing it in the country, sleeping in your clothes, and in huts well stocked with fleas and vermin, it may be imagined the keen delight with which we packed up our linen and an entire change of dress, and forwarded it by our servant to the bathing establishment.

Preceded by our little bundles, we were conducted to the principal bath of the city, called the Bath of Musk, to which we approached through a court ornamented with a fountain, which threw a stream of water twenty feet into the air, producing a sweet murmuring, and a pleasant coolness. We entered through a small door into a vast circular apartment, surmounted by a large

dome, and paved with marble. In the centre a large fountain, bubbling over and rolling into a circular marble basin below, produced a refreshing coolness.

The scene on entering to a novice is very astonishing. Around the large circular hall were raised platforms or terraces covered with carpets and small beds, on and around which might be seen the most extraordinary grim figures imaginable, some rolled up in towels and napkins, lay extended at full length smoking, others sat up sipping coffee. Some were divesting themselves of their garments, assisted by a black slave, and others were in a complete state of nudity, in the act of having a towel wound round their waists, just before going into the bath. They presented the most extraordinary and comic aspect imaginable, with their shaven heads and long beard; (the heads of all Mussulmen are shaved quite bare, with the exception of a tuft on the very top, which is left for the angel of the tomb on the day of judgment, say they, to grasp and carry them up to heaven by;) besides these, other objects are seen wrapped up in towels, with black grisled beards tickling their breasts, and tottering along on a high pair of pattens or rather stilts, at the imminent danger, as it appears, of breaking their

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necks. They push onwards to the bathing rooms, while crowds of pale, waxy-faced attendants, all stark naked with the exception of a towel wound round their waists, and with shining shaven crowns, are walking about with bundles of towels, cups of coffee, pipes, and nargillas. The whole scene, although a busy one, is silent, ceremonious, and quite bewildering.

We were allotted a raised recess covered with carpets, upon which six little couches were quickly prepared, with cushions and linen sheets spread over them; our little bundles of clothes were deposited by the side, and we commenced undressing. A naked attendant stood close at hand with towels, and as we were successively reduced to our last garment, he wound a towel round our waists. Being then completely stripped, a long towel was thrown over our shoulders, and another wound in the shape of a turban round our heads.

As we successively descended the platform, a pair of pattens, called kabkabs, about a foot or a foot and a half high, were placed for us to get into, to protect our feet from the wet, cold, marble pavement. I had not taken three steps in these unlucky machines before I tottered and tumbled, and should have broken my head if I had not been caught and steadied by two of the attendants.

I immediately shook off the detestable kabkabs and walked on to the door of the bathing-rooms, where we were confounded by a pack of naked, tallow-faced, shaven-crowned wretches, with pale bloodless skins, shiny, greasy-looking, and covered with perspiration, who rushed upon us, shouted at us, grinned and chattered, and poked us with their thin, lanky, white fingers. Not comprehending the nature of the attack, we were putting ourselves in boxing attitudes, and should certainly have shortly astonished them as much as they did us, had not our dragoman, who was behind, told us that they were only contesting with each other which was to have the honour of serving us in the bath, and that we must each choose our man, whose services were indispensable inside.

We accordingly made our choice, and entered the first room, which was moderately warm, vaulted, and paved with marble, and then passed on through a suite of rooms, each succeeding one becoming hotter and more clouded with steam, through the dense atmosphere of which might be seen strange unearthly objects. Some lay extended on their backs upon the floor, where wildlooking naked men with bald heads were pounding and kneading them; some stood up to their knees in a large circular basin of hot water;