Treasures of the East/Syria

SYRIA

Syria, a country of western Asia, is east of the Mediterranean, bounded south by Palestine, north by the Torus Mountains, northeast and southeast by the great Arabian Desert. Its famous mountains are the Lebanon and the AntiLebanon, ranging from 8,000 feet to 10,000 feet in height. Its chief cities are Damascus, Beirut (its seaport), and Aleppo.

Two routes connect Palestine with Syria. One is by railroad from Haifa to Damascus, and the other, a quicker route, by automobile to Beirut.

Tyre. The automobile splashes along the.seashore, past

• Akka, across a ridge of mountains, and into French territory,

with good roads. We approach the remnants of the ancient sea-wall of Tyre on a peninsula in the Mediterranean.

This 3,000 year old town, which was the center of Phoenician navigation and the source of the old world’s purple dyestuff, that oozed from the shells of its coast, is now only a humble fishing village.

Sidon. As we go along the Syrian seacoast, which is distinguished from the Palestine coast by its bold capes and headlands, for an hour beyond Tyre, we near the wonderful olive and orange groves and orchards of Sidon. Sidon’s miles of olive groves, prior to the extensive cultivation in California, were the largest in the world.

High-set over the beach and dazzling white are the old stone walls of the town of Sidon. Its harbor, where once was the pride of the Phoenicians’ fleets, now shelters only humble fishing craft. Its old fortifications date from the 13th century when Saracen Arabs and European Crusaders were cutting the throats of each other all along the Syrian coast. [Page 92]92 TREASURES OF THE EAST

Entering the city you will see Muslim women veiled and Christian women unveiled, mingling in the little Bazaar with native Syrians, Bedawis (Bedouins), and some missionaries, in all kinds and colors of garments. Continuing our journey on the Sidon-Beirut road, we recall the tradition which says that here was the spot where the great fish cast Jonah out

Beirut, Syria

on the dry land. We pass through miles of beautiful olive and pine groves of Beirut along the slopes at the foot of Mount Lebanon and into the bustling port of Syria, Beirut, with its magnificent harbor and Bay of St. George, its hilly streets, and its modern and ancient houses.

Beirut. This beautiful city is surrounded by many gardens. Here the summers are somewhat warm, but the winters are very mild, and it is the healthiest city on the coast. Its water is drawn from “Nahr-el-Kalb”, the Dog River, which gets its source from two springs—the Spring of Milk and the Spring of Honey. The streets are lighted with electricity and have electric carlines. [Page 93]TREASURES OF THE EAST 93

Beirut is the educational center of the near and far East. The famous University of Beirut (the American University) is picturesquely located near the lighthouse in Ras Beirut (the cape of the city).

Beirut — Entrance of the Bazaar

Beirut is my old native city. I can never forget it, not because it was my birthplace nor for its American University which I had attended, but because the body of the great [Page 94]

M. Mustapha Bagdadi The Merchant of Baghdad — My Father [Page 95]TREASURES OF THE EAST 95

martyr, the Bab, was kept in our home before it was delivered to “Abdu’l Baha in “Akka by a company including my father and myself.

It requires ten hours by train from Beirut to Damascus, and three and a half hours by automobile. As we drive through the Lebanon Mountains, we see the high peaks covered with perpetual snow, monasteries and churches on every ridge, and numerous villages along the green hillsides.

Damascus (the Pearl of the Orient). On my first visit to Damascus I stopped at Hotel Victoria. Here I was assigned to a room with a small balcony overlooking the Barada River- which runs through the heart of the city.

Damascus is supposed to be the oldest city in the world. It is beautifully located on a plain which is covered with gardens and orchards and watered by the Barada River.

Notwithstanding the fact that it has electric cars and electric light, Damascus is still as Oriental as it was during Biblical times. The streets are narrow and most of the houses are low. But enter them and you will marvel at their beauty and splendor. The floors are covered with marble stones; the gardens are decorated with the choicest fruit trees, shrubberies, flowers, and spouting fountains; the rooms are adorned with arabesques, and filled with splendid furniture.

Among the chief buildings are the great citadel and the famous Mosque of Omiad, where 30,000 assemble. This mosque contains the burial place of the head of John the Baptist.

1 used to enjoy sitting in my brother’s store on “Souk elHamidieh” (the steel-vaulted bazaar), and watch the great throng passing—sharp-eyed Bedawi (Bedouin) Arabs with high boots, Muslims with white or green turbans, black veiled women, and some in European garments but with the red Fez, [Page 96]96 TREASURES OF THE EAST

(tarboosh), and the picturesque caravans. It is also very interesting to see the native craftsmen at work, for example, the weavers in the world’s oldest city. Since the invention

In My Arabian Garments

of the hand loom, Damascus has been the home of the weavers in silk, wool, and cotton. No modern machine can ever excel the hand woven material by the Syrian primitive methods.

“The Ghouta” is a collection of gardens—some 30 by 20 [Page 97]TREASURES OF THE EAST 97

miles of orchard land and truck gardens, extending in a lunette around Damascus. How you would love the pretty

Zeenat and Daughter Parvene Bagdadi in Oriental Costume

fruits in a Damascus bazaar! There are more than 20 kinds of grapes — huge, lucious grapes.

A railroad connects Damascus with Aleppo, and the first stop between the two cities is at the village of Balbeck. Balbeck is a village that tells the same story of ancient [Page 98]Spuatly puv SAA1Y/ IY cw YU — snospupvqg

[Page 99]TREASURES OF THE EAST 99

rulers who have gone and the Bedawi (Bedouin) Arabs who have remained.

Located in a fertile, green valley of low slopes, Balbeck (the city of the Light God), with the ruins of its temples and shrines of Jupiter, Venus, and Bacchus, reflects some of the glorious civilization of the Greeks and the Romans.

Grand Masque & Grande Measguée et g de Darras.

Damascus

In the outer wall of the temple of Jupiter, in the center of the village, are three huge stones that surely must be the largest in the world and the highest ever quarried by man. One stone of this type called, ““Hadjar el'Hubla” (the Stone of the pregnant woman), 70 feet long, 14 feet high, 13 feet wide, weighing 1,500 tons, lies at the outskirts of the village. The mammoth stone block is finished on five surfaces, and on the sixth is still uncut from the quarry bed. The natives [Page 100]100 TREASURES OF THE EAST

believed that its duplicates in the temple wall had been lifted there by the “jinn” (demons or devils) of that mighty magician, King Solomon. But a native peasant tried to assure me that the ancient rulers employed “devil birds” that could easily fly with a 1,500 ton stone. Of course that was before he saw the flying machines of today.

Damascus — Hotel Victoria

Leaving Balbeck behind and passing the cities of Homs and Hamah, we reach the city of Aleppo.

Aleppo. The name of this city in Arabic is “Haleb”, and its title is “El-Shahba”’, that is, the dappled cow has been milked, referring to the fact that Abraham operated a free milk station here in Biblical times.

Even 2,000 years before the Christian era, Aleppo was [Page 101]TREASURES OF THE EAST 101

an important city, located in the midst of the brown, dry plains.

In the center of Aleppo rises a high citadel, crowned by the most splendid example of Arabian fortress and castle. It was built by the son of Salah-ed-Din (Saladin).

To those who approach Aleppo from the east—the Bedawi (Bedouin) Arab who whirls in on a galloping steed,

Damascus — Hamidiah Street

the traders with the camel caravan, the plodding with ox and wooden wheels—it is not a puzzle: to them it is neither hot nor barren.

Through the hot days, Aleppo, except for the shady side of the streets in the business district, might be called a city of sleep. On vacant lots between the stores, straight-backed armchairs and little tables stand empty in the boiling sun. [Page 102]102 TREASURES OF THE EAST

You walk many blocks without seeing a human face, and you see only white stone houses. When late afternoon comes and the buildings form a

Bdlbeck — Ruins of the Temple of the Sun

screen against the sun, the scene changes suddenly. The streets which were deserted are filled with life. Women in black and children in bright clothes stroll toward the river, and men are headed for the bazaars. Every chair in the [Page 103]TREASURES OF THE EAST 103

open-air coffee-shops is occupied. Neither radio, movies, athletics, nor motor cars can ever rob the Oriental coffeeshop of its charm. I have repeatedly stated that to the people of the near and far East the coffee-shop is the recognized club for all classes of mankind. It is the board of trade and stock exchange in all those countries.

At night the summer gardens are open until 2:00 a.m. To the Occidental ear, Oriental music sounds queer, but after becoming accustomed to it, he will surely like it. The Syrian woman soloist enlivens her part with artistic dancing, while the orchestra and chorus, seated in a semi-circle around her, furnish the occasional responses to a recital.

Four hundred and fifty miles the old caravan route stretches across the desert from Aleppo in Syria to Baghdad in “Iraq. Today we can go leisurely down the road in a Ford automobile.