Coffee Garden, Damascus
Coffee Garden, Damascus This is a scene taken by our artist in another of the numerous coffee gardens of Damascus. The women whom we see are Christ ians . This is manifest from the fact that their faces are uncovered. It is not thought out of place at all in Damascus for the women to smoke. Even Christ ian women do that. There is now in the city of Damascus a population, according to recent good authority, of one hundred and eighty thousand. Twenty thousand of these are Christ ians , eight thousand Jews and the rest Mohammedans. This large majority is not as fanatical as it was thirty years ago. The influence of the French and of foreigners who visit the city every year is gradually tending to give the natives a better opinion of the Christ ians . The influence of trade is also felt. More and more is Damascus coming to be a center of trade. We have here a specimen of the nargileh, of which we speak so often. Through its amber mouthpiece the smoke passes into the mouth from...