"Now, bear again in mind that, though in a fertile plain, the city is on the edge of a desert, and the traveller who comes here from the east has traversed a region of barrenness. For days and days he has seen no trees or other green things, water has been scanty and poor, and he must take great precautions to save himself from perishing by thirst. Is it any wonder that when he comes to Damascus, in the midst of its luxuriant gardens, and sees the fountains flowing at every street-corner and sparkling in every dwelling, he must think he has entered Paradise, or will doubt whether he is awake or dreaming? "As the sun went down behind the range of Anti-Lebanon we descended the hills and re-entered the city. There was nothing to be seen in the evening. Damascus goes early to bed, and so went we. "Next morning we were out in good season, and off for our round of sight-seeing. We visited the historic places of Damascus, including the house of Ananias the high-priest, and other buildings connected with St. Paul's stay in the city; and we went outside of the eastern gate a short distance to the leper hospital, which is supposed to stand on the site of the house of Naaman the leper. Some of the patients were in front of the building, and were sad objects to look upon. Some were blind, others were much swollen about the face, hands, feet, or limbs, and there was one whose face was covered with scales. The guide said that the edges of these scales when lifted revealed raw and inflamed flesh, and many of the patients were masses of sores. We did not wish to go inside, although we were assured that there was no danger of contracting the disease. [Illustration: A SCENE IN DAMASCUS.] "Doctor Bronson says this dreadful disease was once very common in Europe, and nearly every city and town had its leper hospitals. From the sixth to the thirteenth centuries it was spread from one end of Europe to the other, particularly after the wars of the Crusades. An order of chivalry, under the name of the Knights of St. Lazarus (named after Lazarus the beggar), had for its special mission the care of victims of leprosy, and after they were expelled from Jerusalem in the twelfth century they established a hospital at Paris. If you have been in Paris you will remember the _Gare St. Lazare_, the terminal station of the Western Railway, which is close by the _Rue St. Lazare_, and a walk of five or six minutes from the Grand Opera House. The leper hospital of Paris was in this neighborhood, and the name of the order of monks that founded it is preserved in the street and railway-station.