time between her pipe and her needle-work.  She merely made a slight inclination of her head as we entered, and went on with her occupation.  Presently her two daughters and an Abyssinian slave appeared, and took their places on the cushions at her feet, the whole forming a charming group, which I regretted some of my artist friends at home could not see.  The mistress was so exceedingly dignified, that she bestowed but few words on us.  She seemed to resent our admiration of the slave, who was a most graceful creature; yet her jealousy, it afterwards appeared, had reference to her own husband, for we had scarcely left, when a servant followed to inform the English lady that if she was willing to buy the Abyssinian, the mistress would sell her at once for two thousand piastres.

The last visit we paid was to the dwelling of a Maronite, the richest Christian in Damascus.  The house resembled those we had already seen, except that, having been recently built, it was in better condition, and exhibited better taste in the ornaments.  No one but the lady was allowed to enter the female apartments, the rest of us being entertained by the proprietor, a man of fifty, and without exception the handsomest and most dignified person of that age I have ever seen.  He was a king without a throne, and fascinated me completely by the noble elegance of his manner.  In any country but the Orient, I should have pronounced him incapable of an unworthy thought:  here, he may be exactly the reverse.

Although Damascus is considered the oldest city in the world, the date of its foundation going beyond tradition, there are very few relics of antiquity in or near it.  In the bazaar are three large pillars, supporting half the pediment, which are said to have belonged to the Christian Church of St. John, but, if so, that church must have been originally a Roman temple.  Part of the Roman walls and one of the city gates remain; and we saw the spot where, according to tradition, Saul was let down from the wall in a basket.  There are two localities pointed out as the scene of his conversion, which, from his own account, occurred near the city.  I visited a subterranean chapel claimed by the Latin monks to be the cellar of the house of Ananias, in which the Apostle was concealed.  The cellar is, undoubtedly, of great antiquity; but as the whole quarter was for many centuries inhabited wholly by Turks, it would be curious to know how the monks ascertained which was the house of Ananias.  As for the “street called Straight,” it would be difficult at present to find any in Damascus corresponding to that epithet.