conversion, near the east gate ; the house of Ananias ; and the spot where the apostle was let down from the
wall.
The Haj, or pilgrim caravan, is one of the great sights of Damascus. It starts for Mecca each year on the 15th of the month Shawall. The muhmil, a canopy of green silk containing the new covering sent by the sultan for the Kaabah, is carried on the back of a dromedary, and is followed by the pasha, and great dignitaries of the city, escorted by the military. The streets and house-tops along the line of the procession are crowded with people. The caravan returns after an absence of four months. It is rapidly declining in numbers and importance.
The history of Damascus reaches far back into the mists of antiquity. Josephus says the city was founded by Uz, the son of Aram ; and the name of its territory, as given in the Bible, namely, Aram Damesk (2 Sam. viii. 6), is almost identical with its modern Arab name, which means " Damascus of Syria." It was already a noted place in the days of Abraham, whose steward was " Eliezer of Damascus " (Gen. xv. 2). Some centuries later, it became, under the rule of the Hadads, the rival of Israel (1 Kings xv., xx., and xxii.). During that period it was the scene of the romantic story of the leper Naaman (2 Kings v.). A change of dynasty took place in the time of the prophet Klisha, when Hadad was murdered by Hazael (2 Kings viii.) ; but it was soon afterwards captured byTiglath-pileser, and its people carried away to Assyria (2 Kings xvi. 9 ; Tsa. xvii. 1-3). Colonies from Assyria were then placed in the city, and it continued for many centuries a dependency of that empire. It was taken by Alexander the Great, and after his death was attached to the kingdom of the Seleucidae. In 64 B.C. the Romans under Pompey captured it, and under their rule it remained till 37 A.D., when Aretas, king of Arabia, taking advantage of the death of the Emperor Tiberius, seized and held it during the time of Sb Paul s visit (2 Cor xi. 32 ; Acts ix.).
Christianity appears to have spread rapidly in and around Damascus, as its metropolitan, with seven of his suffragans, was present at the Council of Nice in 325 A.D. About seventy years later the great temple was converted into a Christian church. In 634 the city fell into the hands of the Mahometans; and a few years later it became for a short period the capital of the Mahometan empire. The caliphs who ruled it adorned the city with many splendid buildings, and changed the cathedral into a mosque. A stormy period of four centuries now passed over Damascus, and then an unsuccessful attempt was made to capture it by the crusaders under Baldwin. The reigns of Noureddin, and his more distinguished successor Salaclin, form bright epochs in the history of the city. Two centuries later came Tamerlane. Arab writers call him " the Wild Beast," and he deserves the name. After the city had surrendered to him, and every male had paid the redemption money which he himself had assessed, he urged his soldiers to an indis criminate massacre. Never had the city so fearfully experienced the horrors of conquest. Its wealth, its stores of antiquities, and rich fabrics were seized ; its palaces were pillaged and left in ashes ; its libraries, filled with the litera ture of the period of the caliphs, and with the writings of the fathers of the Eastern Church, were destroyed. Tradition says that of the large Christian population only a single family escaped.
A century later Damascus fell into the hands of the Turks under Sultan Selim, and has since acknowledged their supremacy. In 1832 it was taken by the Egyp tians under Ibrahim Pasha, the celebrated general and son of Mehemet Ali, and this conquest is chiefly remark able for the effect it produced on the inhabitants. The city was then opened for the first time to the representatives of foreign powers. The British consul entered it mounted, and in full costume, escorted by Egyptian soldiers ; and the first effectual check was given to Moslem fanaticism. In 1841 the Egyptians were driven out by the English, and Damascus with the rest of Syria reverted to the direct sway of the Sultan.
A Protestant mission was established in Damascus in 1843, and has succeeded, chiefly by its schools and the distribution of books, in greatly advancing the cause of education in and around the city.
The only incident worthy of record since that time is the massacre of 1860. The Moslem population, taking advantage of disturbances among the Druzes in Lebanon, rose against the Christians on the afternoon of Monday the 9th of July, and on that and the two following days burned the whole Christian quarter, and massacred in cold blood about 3000 adult males. But no estimate of the numbers actually murdered can give any adequate idea of the terrible results of the massacre. Thousands who escaped the sword died of wounds, or famine, or subsequent privation. The Christian quarter has been mostly rebuilt, but many of the most eminent and enterprizing Chris tian merchants removed to Beyrout and Egypt. Yet notwithstanding the fanaticism of its people, and the misgovernment of the Turks, Damascus is progressing. Schools have been established ; the streets have been cleared of rubbish, and widened ; sanitary regulations are enforced; and the fine new road recently made by a French company over Lebanon to Beyrout has given a great impetus to trade and manufacture.
DAMASK is a technical term applied to several distinct manufactures or manufacturing operations, from the fact that such products or operations were intimately connected with Damascus when that city was a great manufacturing centre. The principal application of the term is to varie gated textile manufactures ; and at the present day it generally indicates a twilled linen texturo richly figured in the weaving with flowers, fruits, or ornamental scrolls, or with large designs of any description. The texture to which the name, however, was originally applied was of silk, with patterns elaborately woven in colours and sometimes in gold thread.
"China, no doubt," says Dr Rock (Catalogue of Textile Fabrics, South Knnsingto/i Museum), "was the first country to ornament its silken webs with a pattern. India, Persia, and Syria, then Byzan tine Greece followed, but at long intervals between, in China s footsteps. Stuffs so figured brought with them to the West the name diaspron or diaper, bestowed upon them at Constantinople. But about the twelfth century the city of Damascus, even then long celebrated for its looms, so far outstripped all other places for beauty of design, that her silken textiles were in demand every where ; and thus, as often happens, traders fastened the name of Damascen or Damask upon every silken fabric richly wrought and curiously designed, no matter whether it came or not from Damascus."
Linen damasks, which are employed principally for table-cloths, napkins, and towels, are manufactured at Dunfermltne, Kirkcaldy, and some other places in Fife- shire, Scotland ; at Lisburn and Belfast, in Ireland ; and in Holland, Belgium, and Russia. The fabric is usually woven in from four to eight leaf twills, that is with the weft intersecting the warp from every fourth up to every eighth thread ; and the pattern is produced by varying the intersections on principles which will be explained under Weaving. Cotton damasks, in imitation of the linen manufactures, are now much woven and used for toilet covers and for similar purposes. Colours are fre quently introduced in cotton damasks, manufactured in Glasgow and Paisley for dress purposes, and sent to the Indian and West Indian market. Silk damasks are manu factured for curtains and for other upholstery uses in all the great silk-weaving centres.
