DAMASCUS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 47, 13 July 1912, Page 1 (Supplement)

DAMASCUS

AN AXCIEXT CITY. News was recently received that most disastrous lire had taken place In Damascus, resulting in damage estimated at two million pounds Turkish. To one who knows Damascus this information is poor indeed (says a writer in the Sydney Morning Herald). A city of at least four thousand years—where camels and electric trams travel side by side, carrying similar burdens, and where electric lights shed their brilliancy o» the old Damascus lamps of beautiful workmanship hanging for sale in the quaint open bazaars. And now we learn that these bazaars are destroyed. Damascus may surely stand side by side with Cairo as an Eastern city most fascinating to us of the modern world. Seen from the surrounding hills, it has the appearance of a spoon, the oval bowl lengthening out to the shape of a lon« handle across the flat valley at the foot of the Anti-Lebanon Mountains. The centre of this bowl contains the area known as the bazaar, similar to the Mousky of Cairo. This is the region of "shops," but not here, as in modern Cairo (for Cairo is distinctly divided info aucient and modern), does one see shops as we know them, with their plateglass protecting latest Paris models. The Damascus bazaar is a series of streets, the width of two carriages (or arabeahs) and one man—if he be slight I and active. Overhead is a circular! arched roof, certainly protecting the shop I from the weather, but at the same time * restraining all, the varied and marvellous odors inseparable from such a collection of wares. The main thoroughfare forms one end of "the street that is called Straight"—the longest and certainly the most tortuous street in the whole city; except one or' two lately finished or in course of construction. Of all Damascus this bazaar forms by far the most interesting part. It is, in fact, Damascus, for, round and about it centre most of the historical and Biblical events. One of the oldest known cities of the world, counting its history, in thousands of years, it is as yet but little spoilt by the tourist and his accompaniments. Certainly; opposite the Damas Palace Hotel is.a cigarette fabrique, over which I was' most graeiously shown. "There J saw tiny little Syrian children, mere babies of five and six, earning two bichiliks (lOd) a day, wrapping up packets of tobacco as' though their very lives depended on it, faces smiling happily and shyly at the "Inglesi Sit," as she walked through the room. In_ another room I was shown three machines, each turning out two thousand cigarettes an hour. Frqm this up-to-date "fabrique" three minutes' walk brings one right in medias res—the entrance to the bazaars, literally swarming with natives too happily making a noise to take much notice of. the few "Inglesi" who passed. Having] once seen this bazaar it can easily be imagined where the estimated two mil-) lion pounds Turkish was contained; tainly not in buildings, for the shops are the most primitive open stalls, but round I which are hung all manner of beautiful I things, silken goods and carpets and rugs | being the principal. Damascus rugs, as ' everyone knows, are things of beautiy, exquisite examples of color blending aiicl of hand workmanship, and commanding generally tremendous prices. And perhaps next to a shop of this description is a stall where nothing is to be seen but what looks like small bundles of colored wools. These are for mending rugs. The next door may be a stall filled with products of Birmingham and Germany—glass beads, cheap tinsel ornaments, just a cheap shop. Through all this conglomeration, however, there is to be found evidence of some method, attempts being made to separate the shops into | different classes. Thus one street is de- J voted to footwear, and here are dozens of little stalls, in each of which one or two men are making shoes or boots, j Parisian or American, as one may desire, i The stall next door is hung with only bright red footwear, mostly children's, and next to that a man is making wooden clogs, from rough hunks of wood, worked in the most elaborate designs, with mother-of-pearl inlay and silver,' a pair of which may be purchased, if one does not look too much a tourist, for about four bichiliks —about Is Bd. In the same street a man may be seen apparently combing out a white rug; but on closer examination one discovers he is scraping the hair off a goatskin hung on', the wall, from which, perhaps, to-morrow he will start to make a pair of fine kid, boots. The brother of that goat, by the way, is probably strolling just outside this stall, waiting for his turn. One turns from this street towards a most appalling din, which comes from the street, where all manner of copper and tin pans and dishes are made or mended. Enough of this, we scream to one another, and turn gladly to more inviting-looking places, where vegetables and meat are being exhibited. These to the housekeeper are quite beautiful, especially when she comes from a country which suffers from chronic drought, and exports all but "starving stock." From this stall I purchased one radish, 12 inches long, and the thickness of my wrist, a most delicious and succulent radish. The meat looked most inviting, fat, fine and fresh. It was very apparent that not a scrap of the sheep is wasted, all the "innards"' being considered dainties. The tail of a Syrian sheep weighs quite 161b when skinned, this great lump of fat being very useful to a cook. In the neighboring street, again, one hears a din, but this time a more musical sound. Here are being fashioned all the exquisite brass-ware for which Damascus is famous; bowls of all kinds are being ■beaten out with most exquisite design, apparently without pattern or guide. Trays, jugs, dishes, coffee-pots, fingerbowls, and, best of all, lamps of a most dainty pattern; no need to seek further for designs of beauty. Here one lives again in the Arabian Nights, and Aladdin's Wonderful Lamp is everywhere. And in this same bazaar what is it that enables one to see these beautiful things? Only the modern electric light! In the midst' of all these old lamps of wondrous designs hangs the very latest evolution of them—the electric bulb. Light, ancient and modern, truly! This beautiful, quaint 'bazaar, now no more! The. pity of it! And right iji the heart of it the'mosque! When admiring the beautiful mosques of Cairo I was told, "But madamc should go to Damascus to see the most beautiful mosque," and truly said. The Damascus mosque has already been destroyed by fire, and but very little remains of the original beautiful and wonderful mosaic work. It is to be hoped that this was not affected by the recent fire, though standing, as it' does, right in the heart of the city, it would appear to have but a poor chance of surviving.