Syria and the Holy Land : their scenery and their people : incidents of travel, &cfrom the best and most recent authorities . his fellowmen; for he feels that in God all men are brothers, and that He who isinfinitely beyond the reach of the wisest minds, scorns not the imperfectworship of the simplest of His creatures. The entrance to some even of the finest houses is by a low mean-lookingdoor in a great blank wall, little according with the luxury and splendourwithin, and seeming more likely to lead to a cow-shed than to a luxuriousmansion. This unpromising entrance admits you through an oute
Syria and the Holy Land : their scenery and their people : incidents of travel, &cfrom the best and most recent authorities . his fellowmen; for he feels that in God all men are brothers, and that He who isinfinitely beyond the reach of the wisest minds, scorns not the imperfectworship of the simplest of His creatures. The entrance to some even of the finest houses is by a low mean-lookingdoor in a great blank wall, little according with the luxury and splendourwithin, and seeming more likely to lead to a cow-shed than to a luxuriousmansion. This unpromising entrance admits you through an outer court,occupied by the porter and some other domestics, into a spacious quadranglepaved with marble, in the middle of which a fountain throws up a continualshower, cooling the atmosphere, and refreshing the evergreens and floweringshrubs, which are placed around it. In one corner stands a tall slenderpole like a signal-staff, for the purpose of hoisting up an earthen jar full ofwater, which is cooled by the evaporation that takes place through theporous sides of the vessel.* An arcade, supported by low slender columns,. Court yard of a House in Damascus. runs round the quadrangle, giving admission to the lower apartments ;these are elaborately painted and gilded, and the cornices are ornamentedwith Arabic inscriptions. Rich carpets and deewans, and cushions ofdamask or velvet, embroidered with gold, cover the floors, and china plates,jars, basins, and bowls, are advantageously disposed in niches in the walls, oron shelves. In one of these apartments the stranger is generally receivedon his first introduction, but the places of common reception are thearcades, one of which is furnished with a dee wan, which is shifted asthe sun comes round. Here, as the Turk reclines upon softest cushions,the mild air that fans his cheek, the delightful mellowing of the light by * The fact may not be known to some of our readers, that a bottle of wine may be very effectu-ally cooled by hanging
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1840, bookpublisherlondonchapmanandha
