PROCESSION TO THE BATH. 387 the amusement of the company. There were drummers and musicians, fancifully attired, beating cymbals and making a great noise, followed by a row of married female relations and friends, then a string of young virgins closely veiled, and behind them" the precious pearl," "the gazelleeyed daughter," a bundle of shawls and silks without form, shape, or proportion, and bearing no resemblance whatever to the human form: The front of the canopy in which she was shrouded was pinned up, and the moving mass of cotton and silk was seen slowly advancing, supported on either side by a female relation; smoking censers perfumed the air, passengers stopped to gaze, and many a man doubtless envied the coming happiness of the bridegroom. After being taken to the bath, well washed and scrubbed, and after receiving presents and the good wishes of all her friends and relations, the bride is conducted home with the same pomp and ceremony, and the following day taken in solemn procession to the house of the expectant bridegroom. On these occasions the wife's dowry and effects are borne along at the head of the party. The procession takes place in the early part of the night, and it is considered an ill omen to pass with the bride be fore a public bath; all those streets, therefore, in which baths are situated are most scrupulously avoided. One of these processions which I witnessed was remarkable for a vast quantity of bedding, coverlids, &c., &c., pots, pans, kettles, and gridirons, various domestic utensils, and old cushions, the property of the wife, which were being borne along in solemn procession, loaded on mules and dromedaries at the head of the party,-the household furniture, which I was told composed the principal part of her dowry. Some men with baskets were throwing sweetmeats to the crowd. On arriving at the bridegroom's house, I am told, a large supper is always prepared in separate rooms, one for the men, another for the women. After the repast, the female friends who have accompanied the bride depart and leave her alone with her relations. The husband, too, the night of the wedding goes in public procession with his friends, preceded by musicians, to the bath, and then returns to the nuptial chamber, where for the first time he sees the face of his wife, being allowed then to tear away her veil and unclasp the virgin zone encircling her waist. The procession of the bridegroom to the bath is MOSQUES.-DAMASCENE FEVER. 389 by torchlight, as mentioned in the Arabian Nights. "He then put a torch in his hands, and said, 'Go and mix with the crowd at the door of the bath.' . . . The doorkeepers, to prevent disorder, kept back all the slaves that carried torches." &c., &c., &c. ... Many of the mosques of Damascus were built by the caliphs as mausoleums; they possess courts, porticos, and fountains, and some are overshadowed by a few green trees, among which sacred doves may be heard cooing. The rides in the middle of the day, now that the weather is cool, are delightful; the autumnal tint is very beautiful, and the leaves are fast falling; but there are so many evergreens in these gardens, the pomegranate, the orange, the lemon, the cypress, &c., that even in the winter, they possess a lively and refreshing green. The great bane of these delicious environs, is the insalubrity of the climate. In the summer and autumn, the intermittent Damascene fever is a terrible disease; when it has once made its attack it pays annual visits, reducing the patient to a skeleton. The greatest benefit has lately been derived from the introduction of quinine. Mrs. Farren has been making the most praiseworthy exertions to establish an European physician, and introduce that medicine generally among the inhabitants, for which purpose she has formed a dispensary, and has obtained several contributions for its support. This fever, and the ophthalmia, are entirely owing to the extensive irrigation and consequent exhalation from the ground; wherever there is water, it is unhealthy in Syria, and where there is no water, generally there are no inhabitants. The population of Damascus is very difficult to be estimated, as no census is ever taken; from a rough calculation, it has been estimated from 150 to 200,000 inhabitants. Judging from its extent, and the number of houses I should say, at the very lowest computation there must be more than 200,000 inhabitants, but it is perfectly impossible to arrive at any correct estimate in the absence of all registers of births, deaths, and marriages. A day's journey from Damascus, in a northeasterly direction, are a number of curious grottoes excavated in the rocks, at a place called Malool, said to be inhabited by a few Syrian Christians, who live as hermits; some of them are of very large size, and are said to be of very GROTTOES IN THE MOUNTAINS. 391 great antiquity; the country around is solitary and desert. Strabo speaks of immense caves excavated in the mountains in the vicinity of Damascus*. ων • Ἐν οἷς καὶ σπήλαια ἣν βαθύσομενα, ὧν ἐν καὶ τετραχιλίους ανα θρώπους δέξασθαι, δυνάμεθον, &c., &c.-Lib. xvi. p. 1097. |