'The Expedition for the survey of the rivers Euphrates and Tigris, carried on by order of the British government, in the years 1835, 1836, and 1837; preceded by geographical and historical notices of the regions situated between the rivers Nile and Indus. In four volumes. With fourteen maps and charts, and embellished with ninety-seven plates, besides numerous wood-cuts. Volume the first.' [‎529] (620/905)

CHAP. XX.]
DAMASCUS.
529
their backs have the next place ; the ordinary portions of the
crowd being made up of Christians of various denominations.
Damascus is celebrated for its numerous coffee-houses and
shops of confectioners and bakers, besides its abundant sup
plies of meat, rice, vegetables, and fruits for the ordinary
wants of the inhabitants. There are about 400 public cook-
shops, in which ready-made dishes are prepared for sale.
The city is still remarkable for its silk manufactories, and for Manufactures
its jewellers, silversmiths, white and copper smiths ; also for of Damascus -
its carpenters, trunk, and tent makers; but perhaps the
various articles of leather are the most prominent manufac
tures. These are boots, shoes, slippers, saddles covered with
velvet, and bridles highly ornamented with cowrie shells,
besides the trappings of camels and the commoner equip
ments of a caravan, such as tents, strong net bags, water-
skins, &c.; indeed, no where else in the East can caravan
preparations be made with the same advantage and speed,
There are, in the city, eight synagogues, one Latin and three
Franciscan convents, in addition to four churches, and some churches and
others now converted into mosques. Of the latter, there are mosques "
about 200, the finest of which was once a cathedral dedicated
to St, John of Damascus; it occupies the site of a Corinthian
temple, some of whose columns (of granite) still remain.
Besides the body of the Christian structure, 1 with its fine
dome, there are two courts; the smaller having on three sides
a portico of granite columns, and the largest, which is paved
with marble, has a cistern in the centre, with a double row
of columns supporting light arches, about it. Another mosque
at the north-eastern corner of the city is supposed to contain
some remains of a temple to Serapis ; but with these exceptions
the rest of the structures are Turkish; and many of them
were intended as mausolea for different khaliphs.
In addition to the principal divisions occupied by Chris
tians, Jews, and Turks, the city, like Cairo, has many sub-
1 The metropolitan church dedicated to St, John the Baptist was built by
the Christians and became a mosque in the time of the khaliphs.—Ibn Haukal,
Sir W. Ouseley's Translation, p. 576-
VOL. I. ^ Y