DAMASCUS city is about 2 miles in length, is surrounded by a fortified enclosure, dating back to the time of Selim I., and which was built on the sito of the old walls raised by the Arabs in 650. Damascus was tho usual residence of the khalifs of the Ommiah dynasty. During the con vulsions which at last overthrew the khalifs, it had many changes of rulers, and was destroyed by Timur, A.D. 1400. It has eighteen gates, one of them being called Bab-l-Paulous, or the Gate of St. Paul. Damascus contains many places of wor ship ; the largest and finest being that dedicated to St. John the Baptist. It was thoroughly repaired by the khalif Walid in the year 86 of the ; its doors aro of bronze, and beautifully wrought. A 3fahomeclan tnulition says that at the end of the world St. John the Baptist will descend into this building, while Jesus Christ will come to tho temple of Omar at Jerusalem, and Mahomed, the prophet of God, to tho temple at Mecca. In the great bazar to receive the caravan", from 1200 to 1500 camels may assemble. Damas cus was the general rendezvous of from 40,000 to 50,000 pilgrims, who assembled there from all points of Ottoman Europe and Asia, and even from I'ersia and Turkestan, in order to go with the caravan to Mecca ; but most of the pilgrims now go by the Suez canal. Damascus was formerly
celebrated for its manufacture of sword-blades, brass work, and peculiar heavy silks of shot colours. The population of Damascus amounts to 180,000 — 130,000 Mahomedans, 30,000 Christians, Greeks or Latins, and 20,000 Jews. The schismatic Greeks have a church of their own, but the Catholic Greeks have not, and perform their religious duties in the three Latin monasteries, viz. the Iloly Monastery, that of the Lazzarists, the successors of the Jesuit mis sionaries, aud that of tho Capuchins. The Armenians and the Syrians have each a par ticular sanctuary, and the Jews have three syna gogues. Damascus is the residence of a first class mullah, and of the Greek Patriarch of Antioch, who has forty-two archbishops and bishops under him. The Pasha of Damascus bears the title of Prince of the Pilgrimage, because lie was formerly charged to aecoinpany the caravan to Mecca. The plain of Damascus is covered with magnificent gardens, planted with orange and lemon trees, cedars, fig and apricot trees, and shrubs of all kinds. The Baradi, the ancient Chrysorrlicea, a pure and limpid river, divides itself into seven branches, and waters tho town and its fine gardens. The nearest seaports are Beyrout and Saida.