Out of a fairylike lacework of apricot trees in full blossom the towers and minarets and cupolas of that “rose-red city, half as old as time”[28] pointed to heaven. Abana and Pharpar were threading their silvery way among the blushing orchards, as they did when Abraham pitched the tents of his tribe of wandering Arabs under the shade of the forest trees fringing the river banks. Small wonder that Naaman the Syrian, when he thought of his own sweet gardens lapped by these crystal streams, should have shuddered at the thought of plunging into the mud of Jordan! Grim and grey, the walls told of centuries—of tens of centuries—of sacred history and medieval legends, stories of patriarchs, of saints Christian and saints Mussulman, of steel-clad Crusaders and turbaned Saracen Emirs. Above all, closing my eyes, I seemed to realize the vision of Saul, “breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord,” when the great light “shined round about him,” and he fell to the earth, stricken blind. Who can look upon Damascus for the first time and remain unmoved? We had reached this earthly paradise of Mahomet’s, as was fitting, through Purgatory. The ride from Jerusalem northward had been disastrous. It was raining when we struck our tents outside the Joppa Gate of the Holy City. Day after day the rain came down pitilessly, hopelessly. When the rain ceased, snow took its place; we were half frozen and drenched to the skin, the water made jugs of our boots and the saddles were like sponges. Our tents were soaked through and our camping-grounds had been quagmires. It was everywhere the same: Gerizim, the mountain of blessings, was no kinder than Ebal, the mountain of curses. At Nazareth, where we lodged in the monastery, the kind Franciscan monks gave us a pan of charcoal in the hopes that its very inadequate heat might help to dry our clothes. Worse and worse: the fumes made us very ill, and one of our party fell down asphyxiated, and for a while looked like death; we carried him out into the air, and to our joy a little colour began to come into his cheeks.