HAMATH THE GREAT
beautiful Arab stallions, we asked Dr. Taufik how much wealth was necessary for one to live in such luxury, and what was the business of his Moslem friend. "Oh, he does not work at all," was the answer. "He does not need to, for he has property which brings him an income of forty thousand piasters a year"—which equals a little over fourteen hundred dollars!
Hama has an acropolis somewhat larger than that of Homs, but it is less symmetrical in shape and is not so well preserved. From the summit is seen the same far-reaching historic plain; but the attention is soon drawn back to the city which lies just below. If the visitor has resided in Syria, it is not the twenty-four minarets which hold his gaze, not even the Great Mosque, which is one of many shrines that claim to guard the bones of John the Baptist; but beautiful and interesting above all is the river which winds its slender cord of blue through the heart of the city. Rising on the eastern slopes of Lebanon, then passing northward through Hollow Syria and the Entering In of Hamath, dammed up by the old Hittites to form the Holy Lake by Homs, growing slowly as it flows through the "Land of Hama" until at Antioch it is almost deep enough for modern shipping—the Orontes fathered three of the great cities of the ancient world.
There are few real rivers in this land. Although they make Damascus so fertile, Abana and Pharpar
[ 215 ]
