Syria from the saddle . city where they live — to bake thedough kneaded at their own hovels in the public ovens. Near Jerusalem a leper hospital has been , by the payment of a ridiculously small sum,lepers are maintained and their lives made as easyas possible. Few, however, take advantage of they can hope for no final cure, and hatingthe system of cleanliness and diet enforced in suchan institution, they prefer to live by begging. The Naaman House of Lepers at Damascus is nota public institution, but is merely a place where Mos-lem lepers are allowed to lodge, being f
Syria from the saddle . city where they live — to bake thedough kneaded at their own hovels in the public ovens. Near Jerusalem a leper hospital has been , by the payment of a ridiculously small sum,lepers are maintained and their lives made as easyas possible. Few, however, take advantage of they can hope for no final cure, and hatingthe system of cleanliness and diet enforced in suchan institution, they prefer to live by begging. The Naaman House of Lepers at Damascus is nota public institution, but is merely a place where Mos-lem lepers are allowed to lodge, being forced to liveby individual charities. 54 SYRIA FROM THE SADDLE. These facts I had learned before I visited the Naa-man House, and I did not look forward to my after-noon jaunt with much pleasure. We started directlyafter lunch, passed through the Street that is calledStraight; out of the eastern gate; along an ill-keptroad with an orchard wall on one side and on theother a ditch where lay the skeleton of a camel, and. The Street that is called Straight. where two or three yellow stray dogs prowled aboutin search of some fresher carrion; on to a collectionof stone and plaster huts, surrounded by a yellowmud wall. The entrance to this clump of huts is adilapidated gateway from which the gates have longsince fallen. Leaving the carriage, Ayoub led me through ashort courtyard to a passageway between two huts, SYRIA FROM THE SADDLE. 55 whence we came out into a small enclosure. Herewas the Naaman House of Lepers. It is not a singlehouse, but a collection of squalid huts, one storyhigh; most of them windowless; each with a singlewooden door. These are unfurnished, save for raggedmats that serve as beds. The floors are covered withdirt and bits of rotten vegetables, meat, and breadleft from the inmates meals. The odor inside of thehuts is foul beyond description. They face an unevenpaved court about thirty-five feet square. At one endof this court, opposite the entrance passageway,
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