"We went through one bazaar after another, and were offered all sorts of articles we did not want, together with a few that we did. What we most wanted were the genuine Damascus blades, and we looked for them in the arms bazaar for quite a while. [Illustration: SWORD-BLADES OF DAMASCUS.] "They offered us a good many swords, but none that came up to the stories of the ancient weapons, which could be tied in a knot or doubled up into a loop without the least injury. They asked a hundred dollars for one, but fell slowly to twenty, and as this seemed too cheap for an article once worth at least a thousand dollars, we declined to buy. "While we were looking at these weapons Doctor Bronson told us of the original Damascus blades, about which so much has been written. He said they were made in the early centuries of the Christian era, and the art was lost when Tamerlane carried the artisans away after his capture of the city. It was said they could be bent into many shapes, would cut through wood and iron without being marred or indented, and the old warriors frequently divided their victims in two from head to foot with a single stroke of one of these famous weapons. A good deal must be allowed for Oriental exaggeration, but there is no doubt that the Damascus blade was the finest ever constructed. It all depended upon the steel and the process of making it. "We asked the Doctor if anybody in modern times had been able to produce anything like the swords of Damascus. "'A great many attempts have been made,' said he, 'but none have completely succeeded. The nearest approach to success was by General Anosoff, a Russian officer in charge of the steel and iron works at Zlatoust, in Siberia. After many years of experiments he managed to produce weapons with nearly all the qualities of the original Damascus blades; he succeeded in making Damascus steel by four different processes, the most practical being that of melting iron in crucibles, with one-twelfth its weight of graphite, and some other things you can learn about in any good book on steel manufacture. The blades of General Anosoff were superior to any other modern ones in toughness, elasticity, and keenness of edge, and they had those peculiar marks known as "watering," exactly like the ancient blades.' [Illustration: DAMASK GOODS.]