ON Monday morning we were up long before day, for we wished to see the sun rise above the mountains on the east of the sea of Galilee, and throw its light across the waters. As the twilight gave way to day, the dark mountain peaks became rosy and then seemed to be lighted with fire. In a moment more the dark shadows on the Lake were replaced by golden sprays which shot like arrows across its bosom, and every ripple sparkled like a crown of jewels. Whatever this sea may be at times, it is surpassingly beautiful in the moonlight, or at sunrise. But we could not tarry longer, for now Joseph blew his trumpet, and we sprang into our saddles for the journey to the north. Our horses, refreshed by their rest on Sunday, seemed in as fine spirits as their riders, and would gladly have gone off at a canter, if the road had been less stony.

      As we left the Sea of Galilee we seemed to leave the habitations of man, and to travel through a country as desolate as if it had never been explored. Occasionally, as we looked backwards, we could catch bright glimpses of the waters [173] which we were leaving behind, but with this exception the whole aspect was as dreary as a desert. The face of the land was overgrown with weeds, thorns and thistles, which conceal the occasional ruins that marks the site of some ancient town or city. The road, bad as it is, has been a highway for thousands of years, for it is an old caravan road between Damascus and Egypt. As I wish to hurry our company that we took to reach Damascus, I will glance much more briefly than I like at the objects of interest by the way.

      After riding several hours with the snowy head of Mount Hermon rising higher and higher to the north of us, we came to a road showing signs of much more travel than usual, which descended to the Jordan on our right. We followed it and soon reached a substantial stone bridge of three arches, on which most of the travel between Damascus and Galilee crosses. It bears the name Jisr Benat Yakob, "The Bridge of Jacob's Daughters," though it was certainly built at least fifteen hundred years too late for Jacob's daughters to have used it. Why it should have received this name no one can tell. There are several places in this neighborhood which are connected by tradition with these imaginary young ladies. [174]

THE BRIDGE OF JACOB'S DAUGHTER. [175]

      Instead of crossing the bridge we rode up the west side of the Jordan, and soon came to a lake surrounded by a marshy plain, covered in many places with reeds, that is now called Lake Huleh. When we looked in our guide-books, we learned that this lake is, like the Sea of Galilee, a part of the Jordan, but much higher; for while the latter is several hundred feet below the sea-level, Lake Huleh is about three hundred feet above it. It is four and a half miles long, three and a half broad, surrounded by a reedy plain, and well-filled with fish. As we were sitting in our tent in the evening, some miles farther north, the talk turned on the lake which we had left behind.

      "This plain and lake of Huleh are not mentioned by that name in Scriptures, are they?" asked David. I do not remember to have seen the word 'Huleh' in the Bible."

      "The lake is called the 'Waters of Merom' in the Bible," said Bayard, who had been studying up on the subject, and then he opened to Joshua 11:4-8 and read:

      "And they went out, they and all the host with them, much people, even as the sand that is upon the seashore in multitude, with horses and chariots very many. And when all these kings were met together, they came and pitched together at the waters of Merom, to fight against Israel. And the Lord said unto Joshua, Be not afraid because of them; for to-morrow about this time will I [176] deliver them all up slain before Israel: thou shalt hough their horses, and burn their chariots with fire. So Joshua came, and all the people with him, against them by the waters of Merom suddenly; and they fell upon them. And the Lord delivered them into the hand of Israel."

LAKE MEROM FROM THE SOUTH.

      "That word suddenly," said I, "explains how Joshua won two of his greatest battles. He dashed like a thunderbolt upon his enemies before they were expecting him. By an all-night march he came suddenly on the Canaanites of the south, scattered them in a moment, and gained the great battle of Gibeon, which conquered southern Palestine. At the waters of Merom he again came [177] upon the confederate hosts 'suddenly' and won the decisive victory that gave him northern Palestine."

      "I wish we had time to have stopped a day at Lake Huleh," said Will, "and I had my shot-gun with me. There is grand shooting there, I know. When I saw all those pelicans, storks, and wild ducks, I felt almost as if it were a sin to pass by."

      "You might have found bigger game than ducks if you had wandered off into that jungle," said Bayard. "Our dragoman, Yusef, told me that the wild boars were plenty there, and sometimes very fierce. He said it was a very ugly thing to meet an angry one in a tangle of reeds so thick that you could hardly get through. There are also leopards and panthers. Besides, all around the lake the morass is mirey and has no bottom."

      "Yes," said I, "the swamp is so bad that it is next to impossible to reach the water's edge. The traveler McGregor, as far as I know, is the only man who has ever launched a boat on Lake Huleh. He explored it in his famous boat, Rob Roy."

      "This place where our camp is pitched is called Tell el Kady," said Will. "Has it any historical interest?"

      "I should think it has," exclaimed David. [178] "Tell el Kady means 'Hill of the Judge.' The word 'Dan' in Hebrew means 'judge,' and this is the place called in the Old Testament, 'Dan' (Gen. 14:14). It was first called Laish, but was captured by some Danites, and its name was changed from Laish to Dan. In the eighteenth chapter of Judges will be found an account of its capture."

      "You got all that learning out of Baedeker," retorted Will.

      "This place," said I, "was the northern limit of Palestine. Beersheba, down south of Hebron, was the most southern town. Hence the expression, 'From Dan to Beersheba' came to mean 'from extreme to extreme.' It is a lonely spot now, but was for many centuries an important city."

      "What a magnificent spring breaks out at the foot of the mount," said Bayard. "It gathers in a pool a hundred and fifty feet across and then sweeps off like a river. Will and I went down to take a swim in the pool, but found the waters icy cold."

      "This spring," I observed, "is the main source of the Jordan. We crossed the western tributary, called the Hasbany, three or four miles west. Here, at this spring, fed by mountain snows, is its largest fountain. We will see in the morning, about four miles east, the third fountain, a fine spring at Banias, which breaks out of the rock below a cave. These three tributaries unite about six miles south of our camp and form the Jordan. [179] We are camped at the very head of the most famous river in the world."

      In the morning we moved off at an early hour. Our course was eastward on the road that leads from Sidon to Damascus. Soon we reached the town of Banias, situated on a rock, with the double peaks of Mount Hermon, rising above it like two great hoary-headed sentinels. We took a look at the great spring that breaks out at the foot of the ledge, of which I have already spoken, as the third fountain of the Jordan. Then, as we traveled eastward over the southern slopes of Mount Hermon, we talked of the visit of our Savior to this region. At the request of the boys I described it about as follows:

      "About six months before our Lord was crucified he came into 'the coasts of Cæsarea Philippi,' as the town of Banias was then called. It was in this vicinity that he asked the question that you will find in the sixteenth chapter of Matthew, to which Peter replied, 'Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.' This is the true Apostles' Creed, the statement of the faith upon which the Church is founded. Then, 'eight days after' the great confession, he went 'into a high mountain apart,' and was transfigured. The Christian world are now agreed that Mount Hermon, the king of Palestine mountains, was the scene of the transfiguration. You will find the account in the seventeenth chapter of Matthew. When Christ came [180] down from the mountain he worked one of his miracles of healing. You ought all to read, while we are here, the two chapters of which I have spoken. The events that occurred here are among the most important in the Savior's history."

      I will not take space to describe the incidents of the rest of our journey to Damascus. On the fourth day, while we were still at some distance, suddenly the plain and city came in view in the distance below us. It looked like a green forest, with a number of domes and tapering minarets rising above the trees. All around, stretching as far as the eye could reach, was the brown, dreary waste of the Syrian desert, with the great island of fresh, luxuriant verdure set in its midst. As we drew nearer the scene constantly grew in beauty. It is said that Mohammed, whose life had been passed in the Arabian deserts, once came near Damascus, beheld a scene of beauty such as his eyes had never before looked upon, and turned, refusing to enter. "God only gives man one paradise," said he. "I do not wish to enter paradise on earth. I wish mine in heaven."

      As we rode nearer we talked of the famous city we were about to enter. David suggested that Damascus must be a very old city, for Abraham;s steward was "Eliezer of Damascus" (Gen. 15:2).

      "Yes," said I. "It is thought to be the oldest [181] existing city in the world, and is often mentioned in Bible history. Abraham pursued Chedorlaomer to the vicinity of Damascus (Gen. 14:15). That was nearly 4,000 years ago. In the time of David Damascus was conquered, but, after his death, soon rose to be the head of the kingdom of Syria, and was often engaged in war with Israel. Here is where Naaman lived, who was healed of leprosy by bathing seven times in the Jordan at the command of the prophet. There has no doubt been a city here from the first settlement of man in this part of Asia. The great mountain streams, 'the Abana and the Pharpar,' now called the Barada and the Awaj, which flow eastward from the Anti-Libanus, have always redeemed this part of the great Syrian desert from sterility, rendering about two hundred and fifty square miles exceedingly fertile. As men came over the desert from the East they would settle in this goodly plain, so richly endowed by nature."

      "Where was it that Paul was converted?" asked Bayard.

      "We cannot tell exactly. It must have been somewhere on this road over which we have been riding to-day. He traveled from the southwest, as we have done, and 'was near Damascus,' probably in sight of the city" (Acts 9:3).

      Then we talked of Saul's persecuting mission, of his nearing the city full of hatred for Christ's people, and about the wonderful incidents that [182] convinced him that he was fighting against God, of the change in his life and his sufferings for Christ. By this time we were entering the gardens of the city, covering many square miles, irrigated by canals from the Barada which carry the waters everywhere. We rode between walls of verdure, oranges, apricots, olives, pomegranates, figs, walnuts, plums, pears, flowers and vines, all mingled in profusion, and growing with the luxuriance of the tropics. Our tents were pitched by the city walls near the river, and we slept that night to the music of the running waters of a hundred streams. We were in a city which, to all appearance, belonged to the ancient world. For a thousand years its population has come and gone, but it has remained almost unchanged. Its inhabitants have heard nothing of the rush and revolutions of the nineteenth century, and most of them have never even heard of steamships, railroads, street-cars, or gaslights. The Damascus of to-day is still the Damascus of the successors of Mohammed. Still, it may soon be aroused from its slumbers, for a railroad has been projected from the Bay of Acre on the Mediterranean Sea, across Palestine and thence northeast to Damascus. It will probably be built in a few years.

      More than five-sixths of the population of Damascus are Mohammedans of the most fanatical type. [183] In 1850 they burned the Christian quarter and murdered about six thousand Christians. There are many Christians still living here who remember that awful time of distress and slaughter. There are many Jews descended, I suppose, from those who lived in the city when it was visited by Saul of Tarsus; there are also many thousands of Christians, for this was for many centuries a Christian city. The great mosque was once a Christian church.

      In the morning when we were guided through the city we found it very curious, but not nearly so pleasant as it seemed when we saw it from a distance. The streets are narrow and dark, and the houses often have walls of dried mud next the street without any windows, presenting a very uninviting appearance. Some, however, are of stone, and if one is permitted to enter he finds them very pleasant within. The rooms are arranged around an interior court or garden with fountains, running waters, palm trees, shrubbery and flowers, and are so richly furnished that one is reminded of the stories of the Arabian Nights. One would find this class of houses very luxurious homes for a tropical climate. It is very pleasant to be shut off from the noises, dirt and dust of the street, and to have a large, well-furnished room, opening into a garden with paved walks, sparkling fountains, shade trees, flowering shrubs, and bright beds of flowers. We had some experience of that kind of [184] life while we were in the East, not in Damascus, however, where we lived in tents, but in Cairo, where we afterwards spent some time.

      It is a curious crowd one sees on the streets of Damascus. There are caravans from Baghdad, Persia, and from Arabia, fierce-looking Bedouin from the Hauran, Druses from the Lebanon, savage-looking Turks and richly dressed merchants, all mingled together. We found the bazaars the most interesting that we had yet seen. Every trade has its own bazaar or street which is devoted exclusively to the one kind of business. This is the Saddler's Bazaar, in which the workmen are busy in their shops, and all kinds of saddles, bridles and harnesses are displayed; some of the saddles were very gay and very uncomfortable. Next is the Silk Bazaar, and here we had to purchase some of the gay head-dresses which we thought would please the ladies at home. The silk show is very fine. Next is the Fez Bazaar, which displays only the various kinds of caps, some of them very curious, worn by eastern men. And so we passed through the Tobacco, the Booksellers', Coopersmiths', and the Boot and Shoe Bazaars, bazaars of every trade, where it is said that the traveler can purchase everything from a shoe-latchet to a camel.

      There were two objects that we wished especially to see, the first of which was the "Street called Straight." In the old times, when the "house of [185] Judas" stood on it, and Saul was led there (Acts 9:11), it was a wide avenue a hundred feet wide, with three rows of columns, making it a street of colonnades, with different passages for footmen and carriages. That was long before the Mohammedans conquered the city, for they, according to their custom, robbed the great avenue of its glory, and it was narrowed into a pent up lane, so confined that when a camel passes along with his load you have to crowd up against the walls to get out of the way. It is not entirely straight, but runs almost due east and west across the city for about a mile. The Jews still have a quarter on this street, as they did when Paul was here. The people are still ready to show you "the house of Judas," but while they talk to you, you all the time feel that they know no more about it than you do. Probably in a city that has been so many times besieged, stormed, pillaged, and destroyed, there are very few house walls standing that stood eighteen hundred and fifty years ago.

      Next we were led to the great mosque. This stands in a great square enclosed by walls, which contain about thirty acres. Christians who enter it have to obtain permission through their consul, and to pay a franc (20 cents) each for the privilege. No one can wear his shoes inside, so we carried along our slippers and left our shoes at the door in charge of the doorkeeper. Indeed, no one is every allowed to enter a mosque with his shoes on [186] his feet, for all are regarded holy places. It is an immense building, four hundred and fifty feet long by one hundred and twenty-five wide, with two rows of columns supporting the arches on which the roof is supported. It was richly carpeted, and many devout worshipers were kneeling at their prayers. It has three high minarets which may be ascended, and from which there is an excellent view of the city. But its greatest interest to us was in its history. There was once a heathen temple here, probably the "House of Rimmon," of which Naaman spoke to Elisha. Then it became a Christian church, after paganism fell, and a splendid building was erected called "The Church of St. John." About twelve hundred years ago the Mohammedans took the city, and this church was converted into a mosque, which they still call the "Mosque of St. John." That tomb you see there, inside of the Mosque, they claim contains the head of John the Baptist, a claim as doubtful as many others which you hear in the East.

      Although it has been a mosque for twelve hundred years, a very strange inscription for such a building can be read high up in the wall over the central gateway. There is a Greek inscription there which is not a text from the Koran, like most of the inscriptions that we find here. It is taken, slightly altered, from the 145th Psalm, and reads when translated: "Thy kingdom, O Christ, is an [187] everlasting kingdom, and they domain endureth throughout all generations." It was placed there when this building was a Christian church and has ever since remained. It is not that a strange inscription to be found over the entrance of a Mohammedan mosque, in a most fanatical Mohammedan city?

      We visited many other objects of interest, among them the tomb of the great Saracen warrior, Saladin, who used to fight with Richard the Lion Hearted, the king of England, and a Crusader. Wonderful stories have come down to us of the battles and single combats of Saladin and Richard. They were the two greatest warriors of their times, and Saladin was the most noble hearted Mohammedan ruler of whom I have read in history. His tomb is in a large suburb of the city which lies on the north bank of the river Barada, opposite to Damascus.

      We also went along the wall at the southeast corner, where Paul is said to have been let down by a basket on the outside, when the gates were closed and his enemies were hunting for him inside to kill him (2 Cor. 11:32, 33). You remember that three days after he saw Christ he was baptized by Ananias, probably in the Barada river, and then passed a time in Arabia, I suppose in study. After this he began to preach in Damascus, and the Jews became very angry and sought to kill him. The governor of the city was willing [188]

THE CITY OF DAMASCUS. [189]

to aid them, and shut the gates to keep him from escaping. But his friends, in the night, let him down from the top of the wall by a basket attached to a rope, and he escaped and returned to Jerusalem.

      As we returned we met two boys with a large tray of bread for sale. They kept crying out, "Ya Karim! Ya Karim!" I asked Joseph if that is the Arabic for bread. "No," he replied. "It means 'the bountiful,' or 'the generous,' and is one of the attributes of God. Their cry means that they are offering one of God's best gifts."

      In the evening when we had gathered in our great dining-tent we asked Mr. Crunden to tell us something of the history of Damascus. I will five a very brief outline of what he said. Damascus is perhaps the oldest city in the world, now existing. Josephus said it was founded by Uz, the great grandson of Noah. It certainly existed in the days of Abraham, for it is mentioned several times in his history. When David built up his great kingdom he made Damascus tributary. After his death it became independent, and the capital of the kingdom of Syria. Centuries after it was taken by the Assyrians, and then passed successively, as they rose to power, into the hands of the Babylonians, the Persians, the Macedonians, the Romans, and the Saracens. Under the Romans for a long period it was a Christian city, but was taken, about twelve hundred years ago, by the [190] Saracens. In 1516 it was taken by the Turks, and they have held it ever since, except for eight years, from 1832 to 1840. At that time Mehemet Ali, Khedive of Egypt, took it and held it, until Russia and England, forced him to give it back to the

A MOSQUE.

Turks. "I estimate," said Mr. Crunden, "the population to be a 150,000, composed as follows: 130,000 Mohammedans, 15,000 Christians, and 5,000 Jews. A part of those called Mohammedans are Druses, [191] who differ very much from the orthodox Mohammedans, but are equally fanatical. The city is probably less flourishing and less populous now than in former times. Once all the trade of central Asia with the Mediterranean countries came West by caravans through Damascus. It was on the great highway from the East to the West. That has been changed by ocean navigation, by steamships, and especially by the Suez Canal." [192]

[YFBL 173-192]