The slopes of the Lebanon adjoining Beyrout are inhabited by the Druses and the Maronites, who, since the year 1860, have obtained semi-independence, and are ruled by a Christian Governor appointed by the Sultan.
The Lebanon Ranges are very beautiful; they abound in aromatic flowers, and bees yield an enormous production of excellent honey. They are also the home of the cedar.
As already stated, a railway, starting from Beyrout, crosses the Lebanon and connects it with Damascus, one of the most ancient cities of the world. Damascus is also one of the most beautiful, the plain on which it stands being a continuous garden, over fifty miles in circuit, rich in oranges, lemons, pomegranates, mulberries, figs, plums, apricots, walnuts, pears, quinces, etc. The town, through which flows a river, contains several magnificent structures, including a splendid mosque, which was once a Christian church, but the streets of the city are squalid and dirty. One of the most interesting is that called Straight, which St. Paul traversed.
Damascus has a large manufacturing industry, and among other articles produces beautiful silks. It formerly produced those remarkable Damascus swords, inimitable for hardness, elasticity, sharpness, and tenacity, as well as for the beauty of their ornamentation. It gives its name to the plums which we call "damsons."
Damascus is a great centre for the conveyance of merchandise to Bagdad and Persia by means of camel caravans—those fleets of the desert. They are accompanied by armed escorts, as their journey lies through a long stretch of desert, inhabited by numerous Bedouins or Arab tribes, ever ready to blackmail the caravan.
These tribes inhabit the Hauran during the spring, and move to the desert in autumn. They own camels, asses, and sheep, and rear magnificent horses, which are justly considered the most beautiful in the world.
The Bedouins live in tents made of black goat's-hair, and their camp looks from a distance like a number of grazing cattle. The tent of their sheik, or chief, is distinguished by its greater size, and round it are those of the members of the family. Before the tent-doors the horses are tethered.
Family life among them is patriarchal, the sheik being priest, judge, and ruler. With some tribes women occupy a high social position, and menial work is done mostly by the men.
The Arabs subsist chiefly on dates, which they gather and store in October, but when in the desert they live to some extent on the produce of the chase, which comprises an abundance of gazelles, hares, and quails.
These they hunt with greyhounds or with trained hawks. The latter, when they see their quarry, swoop upon it, and pick at its eyes until the hunter arrives.