Chapter 44 Summary

It has been a long, hard ride to Damascus. The bare, colorless land, in addition to the sweltering heat of the day, plays hard on Mark Twain's fatigue. They drove on for thirteen hours, after which Twain is so tired, he simply copies portions of his personal journal into his travel entry to express his feelings. The men do stop momentarily at the top of the mountain to look down upon Damascus. Twain thinks it is probably more beautiful from this view than inside Damascus itself. He says that Muhammad must have thought so, too, because there was a time when he stood at the top of this mountain, but decided a person could only visit one paradise and chose the one above. Twain also mentions the arguable possibility that the garden upon which Damascus sits is the Garden of Eden. He says...