[24] It is the Abana, or Barada, which waters by far the greater portion of this fertile district. The identification of the Pharpar, which Naaman mentioned also as one of the “rivers of Damascus” (II Kings 5:12), is uncertain. It may have been one of the branches into which the Abana divides as it passes through the city. More probably, however, it was the river now known as the Awaj; for this is the only other stream in the vicinity whose size is comparable to that of the Abana and, though it flows some seven miles south of Damascus, it is used for irrigating a considerable tract of the surrounding orchard-country. [25] Isaiah 7:8. [26] _Antiquities of the Jews_, I.6.4; I.7.2. [27] The _Koran_, Sura 56:26f; 61:12. [28] Estimates of the population of the city vary from 150,000 to a more probable 300,000. Of this number, some 10,000 are Jews, 30,000 are “Greek” and “Latin” Christians, and a few score are Protestants. At least four-fifths of the population is Mohammedan, and Islam is dominant and uncompromising in Damascus, as it is not in cities like Constantinople and Cairo, where Moslem fanaticism is to a greater or less degree held in check by the constant menace of interference by Christian powers. [29] Genesis 23:11. [30] Proverbs 20:14. [31] This includes the American, for all who speak the English language are ordinarily classed as _Ingleezy_. [32] Some years ago, our minister to Turkey, who had been promised an audience with Abdul Hamid, was made to wait half a day in an anteroom of the palace _without being offered coffee_. So far as I know, that fact was never published; for the American newspapers seem to have quite missed the significance of the omission, and our representative himself apparently did not realize that he had been publicly insulted. But the experienced diplomat who was then in charge of our Department of State cabled the minister, in case of further affront, to leave Constantinople immediately. [33] Isaiah 8:4. [34] According to the most strict Moslem teachers, the commandment of the Prophet (the _Koran_, sura 5:92, etc.) would prohibit the use of even the carved figures of the chess knights. [35] The _Koran_, sura 4:38. [36] In this effete generation, however, those who have the inclination and the money may take the sacred railway as far as Medina, and for many years the majority of the pilgrims from outside of Syria have traveled by steamer to Jeddah, the seaport of Mecca—under the direction of an English tourist agency! [37] See further the author’s _The Real Palestine of To-day_, chapter VII. [38] Acts 9:11. The ancient name has survived, or possibly has been revived, and the thoroughfare is still called _Derb el-Mustakîm_ or “Straight Street.” Its more common name, however, is _Suk et-Tawîleh_, the “Long Bazaar.” [39] II Kings 5:18.