"We timed our excursion so that we should be at the Salahiyeh hills, which overlook Damascus from the east, a little before sunset. It is a ride of about an hour through a village and up a gentle road to a point from which Damascus can be seen spread at the spectator's feet.
"There lay the city embowered in its gardens, and tinted by the rays of the setting sun that changed every moment. It was more like a vision of Paradise than anything we had seen in the country, and we realized the force of the remark attributed to Mohammed, as he gazed upon Damascus from these hills:
"'Man can enter Paradise but once; if I pass into Damascus I shall be excluded from the other Paradise reserved for the faithful.'
"According to the legend, he then turned away and never entered the city he had come so far to see.
"The Arabs regard Damascus with reverence, and often speak of it as enthusiastically as did Mohammed on the occasion I have mentioned. It is, indeed, a beautiful and an interesting city, and ranks next to Cairo, which it greatly resembles in many things. Something must be allowed for Oriental exaggeration or we shall make too much of Damascus; and Doctor Bronson says the city, from its position, is the cause of a great deal of the admiration bestowed upon it. We asked him how it was, and he explained it in this way:
"Bear in mind that Damascus is in a fertile plain watered by the Pharpar and Abana, flowing from the mountains and never failing in any season of the year. These rivers are carried through Damascus, and consequently the city has an abundance of water at all times.
"Now, bear again in mind that, though in a fertile plain, the city is on the edge of a desert, and the traveller who comes here from the east has traversed a region of barrenness. For days and days he has seen no trees or other green things, water has been scanty and poor, and he must take great precautions to save himself from perishing by thirst. Is it any wonder that when he comes to Damascus, in the midst of its luxuriant gardens, and sees the fountains flowing at every street-corner and sparkling in every dwelling, he must think he has entered Paradise, or will doubt whether he is awake or dreaming?
"As the sun went down behind the range of Anti-Lebanon we descended the hills and re-entered the city. There was nothing to be seen in the evening. Damascus goes early to bed, and so went we.
"Next morning we were out in good season, and off for our round of sight-seeing. We visited the historic places of Damascus, including the house of Ananias the high-priest, and other buildings connected with St. Paul's stay in the city; and we went outside of the eastern gate a short distance to the leper hospital, which is supposed to stand on the site of the house of Naaman the leper. Some of the patients were in front of the building, and were sad objects to look upon. Some were blind, others were much swollen about the face, hands, feet, or limbs, and there was one whose face was covered with scales. The guide said that the edges of these scales when lifted revealed raw and inflamed flesh, and many of the patients were masses of sores. We did not wish to go inside, although we were assured that there was no danger of contracting the disease.