Identifier: sixoneabroad00thom (find matches)
Title: Six and one abroad
Year: 1914 (1910s)
Authors: Thomas, Sidney J., 1868-
Subjects:
Publisher: (Austin, Tex.) Printed by E.L. Steck
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress

View Book Page: Book Viewer
About This Book: Catalog Entry
View All Images: All Images From Book
Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book.

Text Appearing Before Image:
reaches the city it plungesinto the very heart of it and dies—dies in motherhood, the birthof an oasis, the remnant dribbling away in streamlets and van-ishing in the sand of the desert. The Pharpa, another noblestream, heads at the base of Mount Hermon, and running alongthe southern limits of the oasis, shares with the Barada thecredit for its sustenance. Damascus has a population of 250,000 and there has scarcelybeen a time in its existence when it did not contain a popula-tion as large or larger. Founded by Uz, the grandson of Shem,it is mentioned a number of times in Genesis as an importantcity in the days immediately following the flood. Its commer-cial prestige has always been due principally, of course, to itssituation in a fertile oasis in the midst of a desert, but alsoto its location midway between the great territories of Persiaand Arabia to the east and the ports of the Mediterranean tothe west. All the caravan roads of Northern Syria convergehere. 78 Six and One Abroad
Text Appearing After Image:
Two Rainij Dnys in Da))iascus 79 Daniaseiis from time immemorial has been noted for thesuperior excellency of certain wares it produced. No linen isas good as the damadv of Dama.scus. Its rng.s are even superiorto those of Persia and Smyrna, and its looms are noted for thesplendid quality and tone of the silks they weave. Its silver-and gold-smiths create exquisite things in filigree that are theenvy of the jewelers of the world. Its hammered brass adornsthe homes cf people of every land and clime. Its steel has beenfamous for forty centuries. The artisans and shopkeepers of Damascus are shrewder andmore industrious than the business men anywhere else in theOrient. As in Constantinople and other places of Turkey andTurkeys dependencies, most of the shops and business estab-lishments of Damascus are grouped together under the motherlywing of one vast roof, but nowhere el*e are these bazars sointeresting as here; nowhere else is there such a quaint andcurious conglomeration of races. I

Note About Images