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solemn cypress, which contrasts well with the whiteness of the monuments. The Christian cemeteries have not the tombs of many great men, but are privileged to show the resting-place of some eminent saints, chief of whom is that "George the Porter" who helped St. Paul to escape by the nocturnal basket stratagem. Every Catholic Christian's body is brought to this tomb to be prayed over before its burial. Just opposite is the identical window from which the Apostle descended.

In the Moslem cemeteries are many remarkable tombs. Three of the wives of Mohammed, and his granddaughter, lie buried in "the Cemetery of the Little Gate." Travellers from the Holy Land pass near their tombs as they enter the city. In the same graveyard are the monuments of Moäwyeh, the founder of the dynasty of the Omeiyades, and of the historian Ibn 'Asâker, from whom Mr. Porter constantly quotes. Hundreds of monuments, in this and the other cemeteries, have for the Arabs sacred associations which Christians cannot understand.

The wealth of Damascus is derived from the large traffic of which it is the centre. From all directions caravans come with heavy or costly merchandise. The regular customers are the neighboring tribes of Arabs, and the mountain-races of the Lebanon. In the spring, the silk-merchants expect to make something handsome out of Frank travellers, who pay readily for their wares twice or thrice the market value. The great business season is the month Ramazan, the Lenten season of Islam, when the companies of pilgrims from Turkey and Asia Minor, the Caucasus and Persia, meet in rendezvous at Damascus on their way to Mecca. The pain of abstinence from pipes and coffee during daylight hours is relieved by the briskness of bargain and barter. It is rather singular that the Arabs should make such a distinction between "Hadji" and "Howadji," "pilgrim" and "merchant," when, in Damascus at least, the two functions seem almost identical. The "Change" of Damascus is the court-yard of the principal mosques. The pilgrims from Constantinople send their valuables to the mosques for safe-keeping while they are absent, and so make their houses of prayer storehouses for goods; and when they reach Damascus, they go to the houses of prayer to learn the

market prices, to negotiate exchanges, and to settle the balance of trade. The mosques of Damascus are to its bazaars, in the sacred month, what the banking-houses in Wall Street are to the warehouses in all the streets adjoining.

We quote, as a specimen of Mr. Porter's best style, his short and graphic description of these bazaars, and the scenes in them.

on.

"To those accustomed to the capitals of Europe, with their broad streets, spacious squares, and splendid buildings, this city must appear filthy, irregular, and even half ruinous. The streets are narrow and tortuous; the houses on each side like piles of mud, stone, and timber, heaped together without order. A plain portal, or a gaudy fountain, or a mosque rich in the minute details of Saracenic architecture, is the only thing that gives any variety. On approaching the centre of the city, however, the stranger's eye is soon attracted by the gay bazaars, and by the picturesque groups that, in their gorgeous costumes, crowd them, or lounge in the open cafés. Every Eastern nation and tribe has there its representative; and the whole resembles a bal costumé more than a scene of every-day life. There is the Damascus merchant, with flowing robe and capacious embroidered turban, sitting with calm dignity in the midst of his goods. Beside him is a Turkish Effendi, decked in a caricature of Frank costume, badly made and worse put Here is a mountain prince sweeping along in crimson jacket covered with gold embroidery; the open sleeves hang gracefully behind, hussar fashion, while underneath are seen the delicate hues of the rich silk vest. A long train of secretaries, pipe-bearers, servants, and guards follow him. Yonder is a Bedawy, spare in form and of dark visage; his piercing eye glances stealthily on all who meet him, and his step and bearing are constrained; he is dressed in a simple woollen abeih, with broad stripes of white and brown; and a rope of camel's hair binds on his head the gay kefijeh. Away beyond him stands a Druse sheikh, arrayed in a gorgeous silk robe interwoven with threads of gold, and a carefully-folded turban of spotless white; his left hand grasps the silver hilt of his heavy scymitar, while fierce determination and undaunted courage are reflected from his proud features. Here too is a Kurdish shepherd, with shaggy sheepskin cap and stiff felt capote; and behind him marches a stately Persian, whose lofty conical head-dress, long tight robe, and flowing beard, almost make you believe that one of the monuments of Nineveh has started into life again. By the door of that café is a group of villanous-looking Albanians, with their voluminous kilts and fagots of weapons stuck in their belts. The VOL. LXXXIII. NO. 172.

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strange figures that are seen mingling with the throng, enveloped from head to foot in white sheets, are women.

"And the bazaars themselves are scarcely less attractive than the people that fill them. A long row of open stalls, only a few feet deep, extends along each side, and here, ranged on rude shelves, are temptingly displayed the merchant's stores. Silks, and embroidered scarfs, and golden-wrought tissues of the city itself; carpets and curiously inlaid ornaments and caskets from Persia; shawls from Hind and Cashmere; weapons of every form and character, richly ornamented with gold and gems, such is the varied picture on which the eye rests as one wanders amid the gay labyrinth of bazaars. To the Frank stranger everything seems new and odd; and yet he himself is the only object of wonder to the hundreds that surround him. The principal bazaars are always clean; and the sloping wooden roofs, though not very picturesque, serve to keep them cool in summer and dry in winter. The streets are cleaner and better kept than those of most Turkish cities."- Vol. I. PP. 30-32.

"Almost every branch of industry has its own circumscribed place in the bazaars or khans, and we have thus the spice-bazaar, the tobaccobazaar, the shoe-bazaar, the silversmiths' bazaar, and a host of others. It is interesting to wander through the different markets, and observe the various departments of trade and manufacture in full operation. Here are long rows of bearded merchants sitting in the midst of piles of silk and cotton goods, stately and motionless as the statues of the ancient deities in their temple shrines. A few steps farther and the scene is changed: hundreds of busy hands are engaged in stitching and ornamenting the neat, soft yellow slipper, or the curious gondola-shaped red overshoes. Let us now pass through this diminutive old gate-way, and we enter a vast covered area, whose shattered roof, dimly seen through clouds of smoke, is supported here by massive pier and there by stately column. The din of hammer and anvil is almost deafening, and swarthy figures are seen through the gloom sitting on dirty hobs and round miniature furnaces. Heaps of the precious metals, and ornaments of various forms and chaste designs, are by their side, while diamonds, emeralds, and rubies glitter in their hands. Passing through this busy scene, we enter another bazaar, no less noisy. Here are scores of carpenters engaged in the manufacture of the ornamental clogs worn universally by the Damascus ladies. Observe how they work, all squatting. One is planing a board, holding it with his toe. Others are carving pieces of wood, or inlaying them with silver and mother-ofpearl; and while the hands ply the mallet and chisel, the toes do duty as a vice!"-- Vol. I. pp. 57, 58.

Mr. Porter gives a summary of the history of Damascus, dividing it into five periods. The first comprehends its history prior to the Assyrian conquests, and is learned almost entirely from the notices in the Hebrew Scriptures and in the works of Josephus. In this period the city was always important, and for a considerable time was the capital of an independent kingdom. The second period extends to the conquest of Asia by Alexander, when, after having been subject for several centuries to the Assyrian, Babylonian, Median, and Persian empires, Damascus passed into the hands of another race. In this period, though important and flourishing, the city was overshadowed by the greater capitals, Nineveh, Babylon, Ecbatana, and Susa. The third period includes the time between the Grecian and the Roman conquest,-between Alexander and Pompey. In this period, Damascus was the theatre of incessant and innumerable wars, feuds, and intrigues, changed masters continually, and was for nearly three centuries the most tempting prize for cupidity and ambition. The fourth period ends with the conquest by the armies of Islam, and embraces the entire sway of the Roman and Byzantine emperors in Syria, the extinction of Paganism, and the establishment of Christianity. Of this period, Mr. Porter has given us less information than its importance and its length seven hundred years would seem to require. In the history of the Ebionites, of the Gnostics, and of the Oriental Episcopate, Damascus fills a conspicuous place. We should have been glad of larger extracts from that Arabic manuscript of Macarius, Patriarch of Antioch, which Mr. Porter has in his possession. The fifth period includes the history of the city for the last twelve centuries, beginning with the splendid empire of the Caliphs. The shifting fortunes of the city under the various dynasties, the successive rule of the Saracens, the Turks, and the Ottomans, the alternating growth and decline, down to the present time, with short sketches of the great leaders, are given by our author as well as could be expected in the compass of five-and-twenty pages.

We hope that Mr. Porter's very just observation about the importance of the history of Damascus, and his facilities for

writing such a history, will induce him to prepare another volume, in which the topic may be fully treated. A translation or abridgment of the great work of Ibn 'Asâker, of which he makes such frequent mention, would be a valuable fruit of his residence and studies in the romantic city. At present, we are compelled to take on trust the literary glories of the reigns of the Caliphs. Comparatively little of their science, scholarship, and song is known to us. It is not enough that we have in theology the confused reasonings of John the Hermit, and in romance the uncertain legends of the story-telling sisters, to illustrate the name of Damascus.

ART. III.

Genealogies of the Families and Descendants of the Early Settlers of Watertown, Massachusetts, including Waltham and Weston; to which is appended the Early History of the Town. With Illustrations, Maps, and Notes. By HENRY BOND, M. D. Boston: Little, Brown, & Co. 1855. 8vo. pp. 1094.

THIS formidable volume would challenge a peculiar attention, were it only on the score of its size and the fulness and thoroughness of its contents. If we apply the maxim, “In all labor there is profit," to the years of toil and of painstaking research which must have been employed to gather the materials for this work, we should have to take for granted, or be able to show, some obvious uses of practical good as served by the volume. For ourselves, we are personally no lovers of such tasks as Dr. Bond has here brought to an amazing result; yet we think we can put a fair appreciation upon the motives engaged in them, and, besides recognizing their interest for individuals, whose names and descent are recorded on the page, can discern some public advantages in them. We therefore love to have such works prepared. It is, we believe, a well-understood fact, that the "endless genealogies," against the study of which a wise counsellor warned a young disciple, were genealogies of æons and false divinities, and

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