"While we were looking at these weapons Doctor Bronson told us of the original Damascus blades, about which so much has been written. He said they were made in the early centuries of the Christian era, and the art was lost when Tamerlane carried the artisans away after his capture of the city. It was said they could be bent into many shapes, would cut through wood and iron without being marred or indented, and the old warriors frequently divided their victims in two from head to foot with a single stroke of one of these famous weapons. A good deal must be allowed for Oriental exaggeration, but there is no doubt that the Damascus blade was the finest ever constructed. It all depended upon the steel and the process of making it.
"We asked the Doctor if anybody in modern times had been able to produce anything like the swords of Damascus.
"'A great many attempts have been made,' said he, 'but none have completely succeeded. The nearest approach to success was by General Anosoff, a Russian officer in charge of the steel and iron works at Zlatoust, in Siberia. After many years of experiments he managed to produce weapons with nearly all the qualities of the original Damascus blades; he succeeded in making Damascus steel by four different processes, the most practical being that of melting iron in crucibles, with one-twelfth its weight of graphite, and some other things you can learn about in any good book on steel manufacture. The blades of General Anosoff were superior to any other modern ones in toughness, elasticity, and keenness of edge, and they had those peculiar marks known as "watering," exactly like the ancient blades.'
DAMASK GOODS.
"From the arms bazaar we went to the great mosque, and then to the Citadel, passing on the way a shop devoted to the sale of those peculiar fabrics known as damask, which detained us a few minutes. Damascus for centuries had the monopoly of the manufacture of this article, but it is now all over Europe, and the city retains little more than the name. We asked to be shown the factory where it was made, but they said the workmen were out for a holiday, and the place was closed, but if we called around next week they could oblige us. Of course they knew we would be off in a day or two, as nobody remains long here, and so we could only smile and thank them for their politeness. But we didn't buy.
"The mosque occupies an area of five hundred feet by three hundred, and is an imposing building, on the whole, though inferior to some of the Moslem edifices we saw at Cairo. The central dome is a hundred and twenty feet high, and rests on four massive pillars; the shrine on the eastern side is elaborately carved, and there is a cave beneath it in which the head of John the Baptist is said to be preserved in a golden casket.
