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military manœuvres with great steadiness and precision. The variety of costume, the various coloured turbans and dresses; the crowds of Christian women intermixed with a few Moslem ladies; the slow and stately walk of many of the orientals, each bearing in his hand a long pipe; and the dashing figures in gay dresses here and there trotting along on horseback, altogether presented a striking and most interesting

scene.

As this patch of green grass, divided by the river Barrada, is the only meadow land close to the walls of the town, and is near the western gate of the city, it must be the spot alluded to in the hundred and eleventh night of the Arabian entertainments.

"Shumsee ad Deen arrived at a pleasant mead a small distance from the gate of Damascus ; they halted and pitched their tents upon the banks of a river, which fertilizes the vicinity and runs through the town, one of the pleasantest in Syria, once the capital of the Kaliphs, and celebrated for its elegant buildings, the politeness of its inhabitants, and the abundance of its convenience."

CHAPTER V.

DAMASCUS.-STREET CALLED STRAIGHT.-KHAN OF HUSSEIN PASHA.-SCENE IN THE KHAN.-BAGDAD CARAVAN.-BEDOUIN WOMEN.-MILITARY DIVAN.-EGYPTIAN OFFICERS. - FUNERAL. - HIRED MOURNERS. ORIENTAL SCENES.

ENVIRONS OF DAMASCUS.-CALL TO PRAYER.-MUSSULMAN PRAYERS.

"And there was a certain disciple at Damascus called Ananias. ... And the Lord said unto him, Arise and go into the street which is called Straight, and inquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus."

ACTS, IX. 11.

OCT. 19th.-From our residence to the northern gate of Damascus is a delightful walk of about twenty minutes, through the gardens and under the green foliage of the walnut trees. After passing through the gateway we come into the street called Straight, a mile in length, so called because it leads direct from the gate to the castle or palace of the Pasha. The house of Judas, to which Ananias went in obedience to the command of God, is still pointed out by the credulous

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Christians, who invariably find out a locality for all the principal occurrences in the New Testament. The house of Ananias also is pointed out at a short distance from the convent, and the worthy fathers of that establishment have lately purchased it of the Turks. A venerable old friar accompanied us with the key, and introduced us into an old vault, into which we descended by several steps. There is an altar, a crucifix, and a couple of candles, before which the holy fathers occasionally say mass. The worthy monk told us that the identity of the spot was indisputable, and that it had always been held of great sanctity by the Turks before it came into the possession of

the convent!

We paid a visit to the mosque of the Dervishes, one of the principal edifices of the town, and possessing two of the loftiest and finest of the minarets. There is a central dome, surrounded by numerous smaller ones, extending round three sides of an open court. All these domes are very low and flat, scarcely rising to an arch. A number of Dervishes are located in this building, who on Fridays exhibit fanatic tricks, something like the dancing Dervishes of Constantinople, twisting and twirling themselves round, and going through a variety of ludicrous manoeuvres, propagating the

notion that they are inspired; the other six days of the week, however, they are happily better employed, in weaving silk in a silk manufactory attached to the establishment, and in one single hour of that period contribute more to the happiness and comfort of mankind than in years of their twirling and twisting. We visited several of the khans, establishments appropriated for the reception of merchandize, and for the barter and exchange of goods. These khans are peculiarly interesting, from the strange beings that frequent them, and the curious costumes that one meets with from every part of the east.

The Bagdad caravan has just arrived, with several thousand camels laden with merchandize, and the bazaars are consequently now filled with Bedouin Arabs.

In the course of the morning I spent half an hour in the khan of Hussein Pasha, the largest and handsomest in Damascus. In the centre is a fountain, surmounted by a large dome supported on pillars and arches, and around these runs a large arcade. On each side of the principal entrance a stone staircase leads up to a corridor, running round the whole building, and communicating with various small apartments, the countinghouses of different merchants. Two English mer

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chants are established in this khan, and their apartments are surrounded by the blue crockery ware, cutlery, spoons, brushes, sugar, and printed cottons of England, which are here disposed of to the Damascene merchants, or transported across the desert to Bagdad and the banks of the Euphrates.

The court of the khan is paved with large flat stones, and the pointed arches, circular roofs, the Saracenic decorations, and the walls and pillars, formed of alternate layers of black and white stone, have a most striking appearance. It answers to the London Exchange.

From the upper gallery I enjoyed one of those true oriental scenes in which Damascus so richly abounds. The court below was completely filled with Bedouin Arabs, who had a slovenly, dirty appearance among the trim, gaily dressed Damascenes; a sort of loose cloak with wide sleeves, striped white and black, called the abba, decorated their persons, and a large handkerchief was bound round their heads and fell down on their shoulders. A bargain was going on between the principal Sheikh of these Bedouins, the principal merchant of the Bagdad caravan, and two of the principal merchants of Damascus; the latter were sitting on a raised divan upon a rich carpet, smoking two