The railway service actually working in Syria consists of the line between Jaffa and Jerusalem, the service between Beirut and Damascus, the extension from Reyâḳ on the Damascus line through Ba‛albek, and the line from Damascus southward to Mezayrîb and the east-Jordan country, destined ultimately to reach Mekka. A line from Haifa to connect with this latter line is under way. Two classes of passage are provided. The cars generally have compartments, though some, as the second class on the Jaffa-Jerusalem line, have one-room cars with seats running along both sides and a bench through the middle. Even in the second-class cars a separate section is often provided for the use of women. This section is known as the _ḥarîm_. In the seclusion of the ḥarîm apartment the women may put off their veils and have the freedom of the place. When the conductor comes for the tickets he raps sharply on the door of the ḥarîm to give the women warning. After sufficient time has been allowed them for veiling their faces the conductor may step inside if necessary for the collection of fares. The word _ḥarîm_ signifies any place reserved for the exclusive use of women. It may be in a dwelling, a mosk or a railway-train, or it may apply to the group of women sitting under a tree or on the roadside or in the cemetery. This term, generally spelled _harem_ in English, has no polygamous connotation in itself whatever. A man’s wife, mother, sisters and daughters, as we should say collectively, _the women of the family_, are denoted by the analogous expression ḥarîm.