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Article HOW I SPENT MY FIVE WEEKS' LEAVE. Page 1 of 2 Article HOW I SPENT MY FIVE WEEKS' LEAVE. Page 1 of 2 →
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How I Spent My Five Weeks' Leave.
HOW I SPENT MY FIVE WEEKS' LEAVE .
Bang a Journal kept during an Excursion to Syria and Palestine in the ¦ month of May , 1868 . { Concluded from page 66 ) . DAMASCUS—BEXEOUT—EHODES—MALTA . We next pass into the Carpenters' Bazaar , where
men are making wooden clogs , inlaid with mothero ' -pearl . They squat up working , using their toes as a vice to hold the piece of wood they are cutting . Next day we all to go visit the great Mosque ,
which was doubtless ori ginally a Christian church . It is a large building with a transept , thus forming a cross . Some part of the ceiling is fine , and the columns are old . At one end of the transept there is some fresco or inlaid work , representing a temple , palm trees , etc . This is very old and curious ; the greater part , however , is gone . The
marble floor is covered with carpets . Children play about , and men sleep comfortably where they wish . We all have to take off and carry our boots . Crossing the large , open court , we ascend one of the minarets , from which we have a fine
view of the city and environs . After lunch , a brother Freemason , Mr . Meshakah , calls to take us to see his father , who is a retired doctor , and has a very handsome house , gorgeously , though not very tastefully ornamented . He is a Christian ,
and under British protection . He is a capital old fellow ; regales us with coffee , narghilies ; presents me with his carte de visite , done by our amateur friend , for which I promise to exchange mine . Dr . Meshakah had a narrow escape at the massacre of the Christians in 1860 , when six thousand Christians were massacred in cold blood
by the Maliommedans . He only escaped by carrying with him a quantity of gold and silver coins , and scattering tliem as he ran , to delay his pursuers ! Severely wounded , at last he was rescued by Abd-el-Kadir , who also saved a large
number of Christians , Avomen and children included . I Avent to see the hero , who received me kindly , and gave me coffee . He asked through the interpreter numbers of questions about France , Prussia , Russia , and England ; seems Avell up in
European politics , and has the papers read to him . He is a Freemason , and gave me a most fraternal embrace . However , he is obliged to keep that dark , as the Mahommedans think Masonry is a separate religion , and would persecute any known Mason . At the house of Dr . Meshakah , we saw
How I Spent My Five Weeks' Leave.
in the court yard an immense myrtle tree , supported by a sort of framework built round it . This is the largest myrtle in Damascus , and ' perhaps in the world , being some thirty feet , high !
We return to camp , smoke narghilies , and sip * coffee , when we are driven wild by a Turkishband , ( which plays one bar of a monotonous tune ,, without variation , for hours , ) to distraction . Wecommence next day our three days' ride , back to
Beyrout , following nearly all the way the beautiful French road . We have a charming ride for somehours along the banks of the Abana , which are prettily wooded , and from either side of the valley sparkling rills come leaping down to join it , often ..
forming graceful cascades , amid grottoes of fern . We stop for lunch at an Arab village , when to our surprise we find a very clean whitewashed interior to a mud hut . Rugs are spread on the floor , and large cushions provided by the good
woman ; so we sleep away the hottest hours of the day . Towards evening we pass through the fine rockypass of Wady-el-Kurn , formerly noted for its ' robberies and murders . There are numerous caves
along its rocky sides , on emerging from which we encamp , and being at so great an elevationnear the snowy heights—we have a bitterly cold ' night , which , after the hot day's ride , is very trying . I unpack my carpet bag and put all my clothes over me , in the vain endeavour to get warm .
We resume our journey in the morning over the heights of Anti-Lebanon , and descending to the plain of Bukaa ( up which we rode to Baalbek ) , we come on the site of the ancient Chalcis , of which nothing is now left but slight traces of the
foundations of part of the ancient walls . Yet this was once a royal city , and no one would then , have believed it could ever thus utterly disappear . Wavy corn covers the whole site . So it is with Tyre and Sidon , Jericho , and other cities , Avhich
have vanished like snow in spring time , and left antiquaries to quarrel over their very sites . One cannot help Avondering whether in course of time a similar fate is in store for the cities of England-Is the day to come when London shall cease to
be , and learned treatises shall be composed to prove that the ruin sketched by the New Zealander and supposed to be St . Paul ' s , was not such , but a comparatively modern temple , erected on the . site of Westminster Abbey , by the King of"
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
How I Spent My Five Weeks' Leave.
HOW I SPENT MY FIVE WEEKS' LEAVE .
Bang a Journal kept during an Excursion to Syria and Palestine in the ¦ month of May , 1868 . { Concluded from page 66 ) . DAMASCUS—BEXEOUT—EHODES—MALTA . We next pass into the Carpenters' Bazaar , where
men are making wooden clogs , inlaid with mothero ' -pearl . They squat up working , using their toes as a vice to hold the piece of wood they are cutting . Next day we all to go visit the great Mosque ,
which was doubtless ori ginally a Christian church . It is a large building with a transept , thus forming a cross . Some part of the ceiling is fine , and the columns are old . At one end of the transept there is some fresco or inlaid work , representing a temple , palm trees , etc . This is very old and curious ; the greater part , however , is gone . The
marble floor is covered with carpets . Children play about , and men sleep comfortably where they wish . We all have to take off and carry our boots . Crossing the large , open court , we ascend one of the minarets , from which we have a fine
view of the city and environs . After lunch , a brother Freemason , Mr . Meshakah , calls to take us to see his father , who is a retired doctor , and has a very handsome house , gorgeously , though not very tastefully ornamented . He is a Christian ,
and under British protection . He is a capital old fellow ; regales us with coffee , narghilies ; presents me with his carte de visite , done by our amateur friend , for which I promise to exchange mine . Dr . Meshakah had a narrow escape at the massacre of the Christians in 1860 , when six thousand Christians were massacred in cold blood
by the Maliommedans . He only escaped by carrying with him a quantity of gold and silver coins , and scattering tliem as he ran , to delay his pursuers ! Severely wounded , at last he was rescued by Abd-el-Kadir , who also saved a large
number of Christians , Avomen and children included . I Avent to see the hero , who received me kindly , and gave me coffee . He asked through the interpreter numbers of questions about France , Prussia , Russia , and England ; seems Avell up in
European politics , and has the papers read to him . He is a Freemason , and gave me a most fraternal embrace . However , he is obliged to keep that dark , as the Mahommedans think Masonry is a separate religion , and would persecute any known Mason . At the house of Dr . Meshakah , we saw
How I Spent My Five Weeks' Leave.
in the court yard an immense myrtle tree , supported by a sort of framework built round it . This is the largest myrtle in Damascus , and ' perhaps in the world , being some thirty feet , high !
We return to camp , smoke narghilies , and sip * coffee , when we are driven wild by a Turkishband , ( which plays one bar of a monotonous tune ,, without variation , for hours , ) to distraction . Wecommence next day our three days' ride , back to
Beyrout , following nearly all the way the beautiful French road . We have a charming ride for somehours along the banks of the Abana , which are prettily wooded , and from either side of the valley sparkling rills come leaping down to join it , often ..
forming graceful cascades , amid grottoes of fern . We stop for lunch at an Arab village , when to our surprise we find a very clean whitewashed interior to a mud hut . Rugs are spread on the floor , and large cushions provided by the good
woman ; so we sleep away the hottest hours of the day . Towards evening we pass through the fine rockypass of Wady-el-Kurn , formerly noted for its ' robberies and murders . There are numerous caves
along its rocky sides , on emerging from which we encamp , and being at so great an elevationnear the snowy heights—we have a bitterly cold ' night , which , after the hot day's ride , is very trying . I unpack my carpet bag and put all my clothes over me , in the vain endeavour to get warm .
We resume our journey in the morning over the heights of Anti-Lebanon , and descending to the plain of Bukaa ( up which we rode to Baalbek ) , we come on the site of the ancient Chalcis , of which nothing is now left but slight traces of the
foundations of part of the ancient walls . Yet this was once a royal city , and no one would then , have believed it could ever thus utterly disappear . Wavy corn covers the whole site . So it is with Tyre and Sidon , Jericho , and other cities , Avhich
have vanished like snow in spring time , and left antiquaries to quarrel over their very sites . One cannot help Avondering whether in course of time a similar fate is in store for the cities of England-Is the day to come when London shall cease to
be , and learned treatises shall be composed to prove that the ruin sketched by the New Zealander and supposed to be St . Paul ' s , was not such , but a comparatively modern temple , erected on the . site of Westminster Abbey , by the King of"