CHAPTER XX.

DAMASCUS--HIS THIRD CONSULATE.

I find Richard has had a cordial reception--We go to Palmyra, or Tadmor in the desert--We go without an escort--Tadmor--Camp life--Our travelling day--Night camps--Return home after desert--Native life--The Arabic library at Damascus--The library--The environs of Damascus--How our days were passed--Our reception day --A most interesting and remarkable woman--A romantic history--Richard's love for children--Richard's notes on our wilder travels--The Tulúl el Safá--Our home in the Anti-Lebanon--Our day--With Drake and Palmer in the Lebanon--Religious disturbances--Holo Pasha gives us a panther--The Druzes--Their stronghold--We camp at the Waters of Merom--Richard is stung by a scorpion --Explorations of unknown tracts--I prevent Rashíd Pasha's intentions taking effect--Rashíd's intrigue about the Druzes--The manner in which we are received in villages--Remarks on the journey--Kurdish dogs--Excursions to unknown tracts--Troubles from a self-appointed zealot --Usurers very troublesome--A Jehád threatened--Jews --Usurers try to remove Richard--Letters of indignation and sympathy--Jews--Omar Bey's fine mare--Horse-breeding --The Holy Land.