Damascus is the representative of all that is gay, brilliant, and
picturesque, in Oriental life; but for stately magnificence, Cairo, and, I
suspect, Baghdad, is its superior.

We visited the other day the houses of some of the richest Jews and
Christians. Old Abou-Ibrahim, the Jewish servant of the hotel, accompanied
and introduced us. It is customary for travellers to make these visits,
and the families, far from being annoyed, are flattered by it. The
exteriors of the houses are mean; but after threading a narrow passage, we
emerged into a court, rivalling in profusion of ornament and rich contrast
of colors one's early idea of the Palace of Aladdin. The floors and
fountains are all of marble mosaic; the arches of the _liwan_ glitter with
gold, and the walls bewilder the eye with the intricacy of their
adornments. In the first house, we were received by the family in a room
of precious marbles, with niches in the walls, resembling grottoes of
silver stalactites. The cushions of the divan were of the richest silk,
and a chandelier of Bohemian crystal hung from the ceiling. Silver
narghilehs were brought to us, and coffee was served in heavy silver
_zerfs_. The lady of the house was a rather corpulent lady of about
thirty-five, and wore a semi-European robe of embroidered silk and lace,
with full trowsers gathered at the ankles, and yellow slippers. Her black
hair was braided, and fastened at the end with golden ornaments, and the
light scarf twisted around her head blazed with diamonds. The lids of her
large eyes were stained with _kohl_, and her eyebrows were plucked out and
shaved away so as to leave only a thin, arched line, as if drawn with a
pencil, above each eye. Her daughter, a girl of fifteen, who bore the
genuine Hebrew name of Rachel, had even bigger and blacker eyes than her
mother; but her forehead was low, her mouth large, and the expression of
her face exceedingly stupid. The father of the family was a middle-aged
man, with a well-bred air, and talked with an Oriental politeness which