Indeed, the trade of Damascus is extensive. The city makes goods of various kinds which are shipped all over the world. It is noted for its beautiful brass and silver ware, its inlaid woodwork, and its oriental rugs. It has large caravan trade with Persia and other parts of Turkey, and long lines of camels are always bringing in and carrying out goods. There are some great buildings called _khans_ devoted to wholesaling and warehousing. I visited one of these. It was shaped much like a mosque, being lighted by nine great domes the tops of which were at least one hundred feet above the dirt floor. The domes were upheld by stone pillars. The floor, which covered almost an acre, was packed with merchandise. In one part of it were bags of wheat piled high toward the roof; in another hundreds of boxes of dates. In other parts were barrels and crates of fruit and bales of oriental rugs laid one upon the other. Some of the bales were enormous, one equalling a load for a two-horse wagon. I was told that they came from Bagdad. There were a number of these _khans_ in Damascus at the time of Christ, and there are several now in use. The space in them is rented out to merchants, the owners doing a general warehousing business. But come, let us go to the silver bazaar. This, like the warehouse establishment, is under one roof. It is composed of scores of silversmith shops or booths scattered over a large room of more than an acre. Each merchant has his own little quarter. He sits behind a desk or counter, and has a rude, old-fashioned safe at the rear. At the right and left, or still farther back, are his mechanics, who are working in silver and gold, making all sorts of jewellery. Each has a little anvil before him and a miniature furnace with a blow pipe, by which he melts and shapes the metal to the desired form. The pounding can be heard everywhere. We ask some of the merchants to show us their wares. They bring out heavy chains of silver, and gold rings set with diamonds and pearls and some magnificent pigeon-blood rubies. There are millions of dollars’ worth of jewellery under this roof. The customers are both men and women, the former in gowns and turbans and the latter in great black sheets with veils over their faces. We stop and watch the buying and selling. There is a woman looking at a bracelet of gold. The jeweller weighs it on rude little scales and then adds the cost of the labour. The woman is not satisfied with the price. She calls him a thief, and demands that he do not rob her children of bread. It may be an hour before the bargain is made.