ty-fifth, the ship passed
Tripoli, on the Syrian coast, and dropped down to Beyrout, where I
stopped at the "Hotel Mont Sion," with the waves of the Mediterranean
washing against the foundation walls. At seven o'clock the next morning
I boarded the train for Damascus, ninety-one miles distant, and we were
soon climbing the western slope of the Lebanon Mountains by a cog
railway. When we were part way up, the engine was taken back and hitched
to the rear end of the train. After we were hauled along that way
awhile, it was changed back to the front end again. In these mountains
are vineyards and groves of figs, olives, and mulberry trees, but most
of the ground was dry and brown, as I had seen it in Southern Italy,
Greece, and Asia Minor. Beyond the mountains is a beautiful plain, which
we entered about noon, and when it was crossed, we came to the
Anti-Lebanon Mountains, and reached the old city in the evening.
Damascus, with its mixed population of Moslems, Greeks, Syrians,
Armenians, Jews, and others, is the largest city in Syria, and it has
probably been continuously inhabited longer than any other city on
earth. Away back in the fourteenth chapter of Genesis we read of
Abraham's victory over the enemies who had taken Lot away, whom Abraham
pursued "unto Hobah, which is on the left of Damascus," and in the next
chapter we read of "Eliezer of Damascus," who Abraham thought would be
the possessor of his house. Rezon "reigned in Damascus, and he was an
adversary to Israel all the days of Solomon" (1 Kings 11:23-25). Elisha
went to Damascus when Ben-Hadad was sick (2 Kings 8:7-15); Jeroboam
recovered the city, which had belonged to Judah (2 Kings 14:28); and
Jeremiah prophesied of the city (Jeremiah 49:23-27). It was probably the
home of Naaman, the Syrian leper, and here Paul was baptized into
Christ.

For a long time the Arabs have considered Damascus as "an earthly
reflection of Paradise," but an American or European would consider a
place no better than it is as being far from the Paradise of Divine
making. But it is not entirely without reason that these people have
such a lofty conception of the old city. The Koran describes Paradise as
a place of trees and streams of water, and Damascus is briefly described
in those words. There are many public drinking fountains in the city,
and owing to the abundance of water, there are many trees. The river
Abana, one of the "rivers of Damascus" (2 Kings 5:12), flows through the