[PREFACE]
[CHAPTER I]
[CHAPTER II]
[CHAPTER III]
[CHAPTER IV]
[CHAPTER V]
[CHAPTER VI]
[CHAPTER VII]
[CHAPTER VIII]
[CHAPTER IX]
[CHAPTER X]
[CHAPTER XI]
[CHAPTER XII]
[CHAPTER XIII]
[CHAPTER XIV]
[INDEX]
ILLUSTRATIONS
[Bedouin of the Syrian Desert ]
[The Mosque of 'Umar, Jerusalem]
[The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem]
[A Street in Jerusalem]
[St. Stephen's Gate, Jerusalem]
[A Mahommedan Procession passing the Garden of Olives]
[Russian Pilgrims]
[Pilgrims receiving Baptism in Jordan]
[Monastery of Kuruntul above Jericho]
[Crossing the Ghōr]
[The Bridge over Jordan]
[The Monastery of Mar Saba, Wilderness of Judæ]
[The Wall of Lamentation, Jerusalem]
[Jews of Bokhara ]
[Abyssinian Priests]
[An Arab of the 'Adwān Guarding Crops]
[An Encampment near the Dead Sea]
[The Theatre, 'Ammān]
[A Gateway, 'Ammān]
[The Temple, Khureibet es Sūḳ]
[Mausoleum, Khureibet es Sūḳ]
[Arabs of the Belḳa]
[A Ruined Church, Mādeba]
[The Ḳal'ah at Zīza]
[A Christian Encampment]
[Flocks of the Ṣukhūr]
[A Roman Milestone]
[Mshitta]
[Mshitta, the Façade]
[Mshitta, the Inner Halls]
[Arabs of the Belḳa]
[Fellāḥ ul 'Isa ad Da'ja]
[A Capital at Muwaġġar]
[A Capital at Muwaġġar]
[A Capital at Muwaġġar]
[Milking Sheep]
[G̣ablān ibn Ḥamūd ad Da'ja]
[On the Ḥājj Road]
[Arabs Riding Mardūf]
[A Travelling Encampment of the 'Ag̣ēl]
[A Desert Well]
[A Desert Water-course]
[Camels of the Ḥaseneh]
[Umm ej Jemāl]
[Watering Camels]
[Striking Camp]
[Muḥammad el Aṭrash]
[Desert Flora and Fauna]
[The Castle, Ṣalkhad]
[Nasīb el Aṭrash]
[A Group of Druzes]
[From Ṣalkhad Castle, looking South-East]
[Ḳreyeh]
[A Druze Ploughboy]
[Boṣrā Eski Shām]
[The Village Gateway, Ḥabrān]
[A Druze Maḳ'ad, Ḥabrān]
[Lintel, el Khurbeh]
[The Walls of Ḳanawāt]
[Ḳanawāt, The Basilica]
[Ḳanawāt, Doorway of the Basilica]
[Ḳanawāt A Temple]
[The Temple, Mashennef]
[Ḳal'at el Beiḍa]
[Ḳal'at el Beiḍa]
[Ḳal'at el Beiḍa, Door of Keep]
[Mouldings from Ḳal'at el Beiḍa and from Palmyra]
[A Gateway, Shakka]
[The Sheikh's House, Ḥayāt]
[In the Palmyrene Desert]
[The Great Mosque and the Roofs of the Bazaar from the Fort]
[A Corn Market ]
[The Ḳubbet el Khazneh]
[The Tekyah of Nakshibendi ]
[Gate of the Tekyah]
[Mushḳin Kalam]
[Sweetmeat Sellers]
[Court of the Great Mosque]
[Threshing-floor of Karyatein]
[The Tekyali of Nakshibendi]
[Outside Damascus Gates]
[A Water seller]
[Suḳ Wādi Barada]
[Ba'albek]
[The Great Court, Ba'albek]
[Columns of the Temple of the Sun, Ba'albek]
[Temple of Jupiter, Ba'albek]
[Capitals in the Temple of Jupiter, Ba'albek]
[Fountain in the Great Court, Ba'albek]
[Fragment of Entablature, Ba'albek]
[Basilica of Constantine, Ba'albek]
[A Stone in the Quarry, Ba'albek]
[Rās ul 'Ain, Ba'albek]
[Cedars of Lebanon ]
[The Ḳāmu'a Hurmul]
[An Eastern Holiday]
[A Street in Ḥomṣ ]
[Coffee by the Road-side]
[Ḳal'at el Ḥuṣn]
[Ḳal'at el Ḥuṣn, Interior of the Castle]
[Windows of the Banquet Hall]
[Ḳal'at el Ḥuṣn, Walls of the Inner Enceinte]
[Fellaḥīn Arabs]
[The Temple at Ḥuṣn es Suleimān]
[North Gate, Ḥuṣn es Suleimān]
[City Gate, Masyād]
[Capital at Masyād]
[Capital at Masyād]
[A Na'oura, Ḥamāh]
[The Ḳubbeh in the Mosque at Ḥamāh]
[The Tekyah Killāniyyeh, Ḥamāh]
[Capital in the Mosque, Ḥamāh]
[A Capital, Ḥamāh]
[Ḳal'at es Seijar]
[Ḳal'at es Seijar, The Cutting through the Ridge]
[A Capital, Ḥamāh]
[A House at el Bārah]
[Moulding at el Bārah and Lintel at Khirbet Hāss]
[Tomb, Serjilla]
[Sheikh Yūnis]
[House at Serjilla]
[Tomb of Bizzos]
[Church and Tomb, Ruweiḥā]
[Ḳaṣr el Ḃanāt]
[Tomb Dāna]
[A Beehive Village]
[The Castle, Aleppo]
[A Water-carrier]
[Ḳal'at Sim'ān]
[Ḳal'at Sim'ān]
[Ḳal'at Sim'ān West Door]
[Ḳal'at Sim'ān Circular Court]
[Ḳal'at Sim'ān Circular Court]
[Ḳal'at Sim'ān The Apse]
[Ḳal'at Sim'ān West Door]
[A Funeral Monument, Ḳāṭurā]
[Khirāb esh Shems]
[Khirāb esh Shems Carving in a Tomb]
[Capital, Upper Church at Kalōteh]
[Barād, Canopy Tomb]
[Barād, Tower to the West of the Town]
[Mūsa and his Family ]
[Bāsufān, a Kurdish Girl ]
[Tomb at Dānā]
[The Bāb el Hawa]
[The Temple Gate, Bāḳirḥa]
[Ḳalb Lōzeh]
[The Apse, Ḳalb Lōzeh]
[Ḥārim]
[Salḳīn]
[Travellers]
[Antioch]
[Antioch]
[On the Bank of the Orontes, Antioch]
[The Corn Market, Antioch]
[Roman Lamp in Rifa't Agha's Collection]
[Head of a Sphinx, Antioch]
[Daphne]
[The Garīz]
[The Statue in the Mulberry-Garden]
[Lower Course of the Garīz]
[Sarcophagus in the Seraya, Antioch]
THE MOSQUE OF 'UMAR, JERUSALEM
[CHAPTER I]
To those bred under an elaborate social order few such moments of exhilaration can come as that which stands at the threshold of wild travel. The gates of the enclosed garden are thrown open, the chain at the entrance of the sanctuary is lowered, with a wary glance to right and left you step forth, and, behold! the immeasurable world. The world of adventure and of enterprise, dark with hurrying storms, glittering in raw sunlight, an unanswered question and an unanswerable doubt hidden in the fold of every hill. Into it you must go alone, separated from the troops of friends that walk the rose alleys, stripped of the purple and fine linen that impede the fighting arm, roofless, defenceless, without possessions. The voice of the wind shall be heard instead of the persuasive voices of counsellors, the touch of the rain and the prick of the frost shall be spurs sharper than praise or blame, and necessity shall speak with an authority unknown to that borrowed wisdom which men obey or discard at will. So you leave the sheltered close, and, like the man in the fairy story, you feel the bands break that were riveted about your heart as you enter the path that stretches across the rounded shoulder of the earth.
It was a stormy morning, the 5th of February. The west wind swept up from the Mediterranean, hurried across the plain where the Canaanites waged war with the stubborn hill dwellers of Judæa, and leapt the barrier of mountains to which the kings of Assyria and of Egypt had laid vain siege. It shouted the news of rain to Jerusalem and raced onwards down the barren eastern slopes, cleared the deep bed of Jordan with a bound, and vanished across the hills of Moab into the desert. And all the hounds of the storm followed behind, a yelping pack, coursing eastward and rejoicing as they went.