These suburbs lead into the Meidan, another suburb running S., which terminates in Bawabet Illah (the gate of God), through which the caravans pass on their way to Mecca. Damascus is regular and cleanly for an oriental city; its streets are long and narrow, and tolerably paved with basalt, and many of its residences, though mean and unattractive without, are magnificent within. Almost every house has a fountain more or less decorated in the middle of the court. The market places are well constructed and adorned with numerous pillars. There are many fine baths with marble pavements. The bazaars are numerous. Each class of merchants and artisans has its own bazaar, some of them being very extensive, as those of the goldsmiths, the druggists, the butchers, traders in cotton stuffs, pipe makers, &c. The great khan is a large

building filled with various commodities, and frequented by merchants from distant lands. Many of the khans are of great antiquity, and afford even in their present state a good idea of the manner in which business was conducted in ancient times. Besides the mosque Abd el-Malek, there are several others of much beauty, four Jewish synagogues, and Greek, Maronite, Syrian, and Armenian churches. The most numerous Christian communion is the Non-united Greek church, of which the third highest dignitary, the patriarch of Antioch, has since the 16th century resided in Damascus. It is also the seat of the United Greek (Melchite) patriarch, and of a United Syrian and of a Maronite archbishop. The first Protestant congregation has been organized by Presbyterian missionaries from America.-Damascus is the centre of the com

merce of Syria; and its trade is very much increased by its forming the meeting point of all the pilgrims to Mecca from the north of Asia. The number of pilgrims who make Damascus their place of rendezvous, with their attendants, amounts annually to several thousands. The city at such times presents the appearance of a vast fair, and every vacant place is filled with camels, horses, mules, and merchandise. Caravans proceed from Damascus also to Bagdad and Cairo. The principal imports by these various channels are broadcloths, different sorts of metals from the coasts of the Mediterranean, and shawls, muslins, and Indian stuffs, which are brought by way of England. Its own manufactures consist chiefly of silk and cotton fabrics, highly finished saddles and bridles, fine cabinet work, jewelry, gold and silver trimming, and excellent soap, made of olive oil, soda, and quicklime. Large quantities of dried

fruits and sweetmeats are exported to Constantinople. In former days Damascus was celebrated for the manufacture of sabres that would bend to the hilt without breaking, while the edge was so keen as to divide the firmest coat of mail. (See DAMASCUS BLADES.)—This very ancient city was built, according to some traditions, by Uz, the son of Aram; it is repeatedly mentioned in the history of Abraham. It was the residence of the kings of Syria during three centuries, and has experienced many and great changes in every period of its history. Hadad, who is called by Josephus the first of its kings, was conquered by David, king of Israel, but its subjection was of short duration. In the reign of Ahaz it was taken by Tiglath-pileser, who slew its last king Rezin, and added its provinces to the Assyrian empire. The capture of Damascus figures among the lately discovered Assyrian sculp

tures. It subsequently came under the rule | of Babylonia and Persia. After the battle of Issus (333 B. C.) it fell into the hands of Alexander the Great, and soon afterward became a part of the dominions of the Seleucidæ. Pompey attached it to the Roman empire in 64 B. C. At the time of Paul's visit to the city and conversion there, it was temporarily in possession of Aretas, king of Arabia Petræa and father-in-law of Herod the Great. Many Jews had settled in Damascus after its conquest by Alexander; and Christianity being early preached here, it became the seat of a bishop. Under the emperors, Damascus was one of the principal Roman arsenals in Asia, and it was denominated by Julian "the eye of the whole East." The Saracens took it shortly after the death of Mohammed, and made it the seat of the caliphate and the capital of the Mohammedan world. The Ommiyades reigned at Damascus more than 90 years. On their fall the Abbassides, their successors, made Bagdad their capital. When the family of the Fatinites obtained the supremacy, Damascus fell under the sway of these Egyptian caliphs; but it was wrested from them by the Seljuk Turks, under whom it was in vain besieged by Louis VII. of France and Conrad III. of Germany, in 1148. Just at the beginning of the 15th century it was taken by Tamerlane, after a protracted resistance, which so enraged the conqueror that he put its inhabitants to the sword without mercy. The Mamelukes repaired it when they gained possession of Syria; but the Turks, under Selim I., took it from them in 1516, and it thus became part of the Turkish empire. In 1832 Ibrahim Pasha took it and added it to the pashalic of Egypt; but in 1840 it was restored to Turkey. In 1860 a massacre of the Christians in the Lebanon by the Druses took place, and many of the Christians in the villages round Damascus fled for refuge into the city. Shortly afterward the Mohammedans there, at a given signal, rose in a body and commenced a general massacre of them. Hundreds who fled out of the city were overtaken and killed. The exact number of the victims of this massacre has never been ascertained, but it is estimated that about 3,000 adult male Christians were murdered, and many of the women and girls were reduced to slavery. Abd-el-Kader, the exiled chieftain of Algiers, then living in retirement at Damascus, distinguished himself by protecting several hundred Christians who had taken refuge in his mansion. After the massacre numbers of Christian merchants and artisans removed to Beyrout. The building of a macadamized road between Damascus and Beyrout was commenced in 1859 by a French company, and diligences now run daily between the two cities.

DAMASCUS BLADES. These famous weapons, though in use among nations little skilled in the metallurgic arts long before the Christian era, and made familiar to the European nations

from the time of the crusades, have until a recent period defied all attempts to reproduce their remarkable qualities. It appears that the wootz of India was in those ancient times carried from the region of Golconda in Hindostan (where, as well as in Persia, it still continues to be manufactured by the original rude process), and being delivered at Damascus, was there converted into swords, sabres, and scymitars. The articles were particularly distinguished for their keen edge, their great hardness, toughness, and elasticity, and the splendid play of prismatic color upon their surfaces, especially when viewed in an oblique light. Their polished surfaces were also covered with delicate lines appearing as black, white, and silvery veins, parallel to each other or interlaced and arranged in bundles of fibres, crossing each other at various angles, or in knots and bunches. Although probably fabricated by simple methods, the highest skill of modern science was long taxed in vain to imitate this variegated or watered appearance, and the rare qualities associated with it. Methods of great ingenuity and complexity were contrived, by which some very good imitations were made; but it was not till after the investigations of M. Bréant and of the Russian general Anosoff, an account of which was published in the "Russian Mining Annual” about 20 years ago, that the subject was fully comprehended. Karsten remarks that the true Damascus (leaving aside the false, which is merely engraving upon a coating of some substance laid upon the steel) is a certain proof of a want of homogeneousness in the metal. All steel, even after melting, and malleable iron also, shows this texture, if polished, plunged in acid, and examined with a microscope; and the softer the metal the more decided this is. The Damascus appearance may be given to iron by welding together bars of different degrees of hardness, drawing them down, and repeating the process several times. Karsten suggests that by using bars of good steel the best oriental blades may have been fashioned in this way. Such was the "torsion" process of Clouet and Hatchette, the bars being well twisted between each welding. The "mosaic" process, also practised by them, differed from the other by cutting the bar into short lengths and fagoting these pieces, the cut surfaces always being placed so as to face outward. Blades of great excellence were thus produced, but still inferior to the genuine Damascus. Faraday in 1819 detected aluminum in wootz by two analyses, and was inclined to refer the peculiarities of the steel to this alloy; but Karsten failed to find any appreciable quantity of this metal, and other chemists have sought in vain for this or any other ingredient to which its excellence could possibly be attributed. Elsner entertained the opinion, which is generally received at Sheffield, that it is the remelting and working over of the steel that imparts to it such valuable properties. M. Bréant appears to have

been the first to suspect the real nature of the Indian process. By producing the steel with a considerable excess of carbon, and by a suitable method of cooling, he found that two distinct compounds of the metal with carbon were formed, one of which may be steel, and the other of a quality approaching cast iron. Left to cool slowly, these tend to separate from their confused mixture, and to crystallize, each quality by itself; the slower the cooling the more complete is this separation, and the coarser the bands of stripes or lines in the hammered steel. The steel was prepared by M. Bréant by melting soft iron with its weight of lampblack; a much more ready way of making steel than by the cementation process. With this he made excellent blades, and also from filings of gray cast iron mixed with an equal quantity of the same oxidized, the materials being carefully stirred during their fusion. The more oxidized the iron the better the effect, a large proportion of carbon causing the steel to work badly under the hammer. Gen. Anosoff, however, who repeated these experiments, was not satisfied with the results, the steel appearing to him to have neither the true lines of the Damascus nor its excellent qualities. The Indian method of carbonizing the iron, which they obtain direct from the ore, getting only about 15 per cent. of metal from the magnetic oxide they employ, is to place it in crucibles made of clay, intermixed with straw, adding about 10 per cent. of dry wood in small bits, and cover it in the crucible with two or three green leaves; only a little more than a pound of iron is the charge of each crucible. They exercise a choice in the wood and leaves, selecting of the former the cassia auriculata, and of the latter the asclepias gigantea or the convolvulus laurifolius. The crucibles are then closely covered with moistened clay, rammed to exclude the air, and 20 or more of them placed together in a small blast furnace, and, with charcoal for fuel, kept at as high a temperature as possible for about 24 hours. On removing them from the fire and cooling, they are broken, and the steel obtained in the form of a melted lump. If this is covered with irregular protuberances, the quality is bad; but if the surface is smooth, and covered with striæ radiating from the centre, the operation has succeeded, and the steel is excellent. Four or five of these lumps are commonly rejected. The best are remelted, and then, on account of their brittleness, they are exposed to a red heat for some hours in a small wind furnace, by which a portion of the carbon is removed, and the steel is softened, so that it can be easily drawn out under the hammer. This Indian steel, in the opinion of Mr. Stodart, is far superior for cutlery to the best English cast steel. One of the best samples selected by Gen. Anosoff, and analyzed by M. Ilimoff, gave the following result: iron, 98; carbon, 131; sulphur, 0.014; silicium, 0·5; aluminum, 0.055; copper, 03; silver, traces. The researches of Gen.

Anosoff were made with great minuteness, and their results present many curious and interesting particulars. The information he acquired upon the subject led to the establishment of works at Zlatust in the Ural mountains, where the manufacture of Damascus steel is carried on by a process of his own invention. The quality of the steel he found to be indicated by the appearance of the lines upon the surface, by the color of the ground, and by that of the light reflected from its face. The scoriæ detached from the metal in forging receive from it the impression of its lines, and when examined by the aid of a microscope they serve better to denote its character than the metal itself; but much experience is required to distinguish correctly the effects of the great variety of lines. Straight lines nearly parallel indicate a bad quality of steel. As they shorten and curve, the quality improves. It is still better when the short lines are broken up, and the spaces between them are dotted over with isolated points, particularly if they become like the meshes of a net, and are connected by serpentine lines running in different directions. The most perfect quality of steel is indicated by the threads or lines forming little points or knots, and being arranged in groups of the same pattern over the whole surface of the steel. Figures coarsely and strongly marked are much to be preferred to fine delineations. The scoriæ also indicate the depth of the color of the steel; those of deep color and vitreous are the best. When the cool surface of the melted steel in the crucible is not uniform and displays no colored reflections, the quality is bad. The more brilliant the lustre and the more decided the reflection, the better it is, especially if this has a golden yellow tint. It may also have a bluish or reddish color. The peculiarities of the lines (whether properly coarse, or whether too fine) appear to Gen. Anosoff to depend upon the proportion of carbon and the intimacy of its combination with the iron. The color of the watered lines and that of the ground depend upon the purity of the iron and the carbon; a ground of deep shade and brilliant lustre, with undulations of white, indicates purity of materials. The reflection which the surface of the steel gives is the best indication of the condition in which the carbon exists in it. In the yellow-colored only is the combination of carbon and iron complete. When the reflection is red, the carbon is mixed with some strange substance; and when there is no reflection, the carbon is apparently unaltered from its original condition, and the steel, if largely charged with it, is brittle. Gen. Anosoff produced steel having the qualities of Damascus by four different methods. That which was the most practicable consisted in melting the iron in crucibles with graphite. A charge of 11 lbs. of iron, or a smaller one for a very hard steel, is introduced into the crucible with as much graphite, and part of scales of iron, together with a certain quantity of some flux, as dolomite.

This being a very fusible flux, only about part is employed. Being well covered, the crucible is placed in the fire, and the blast is put on. In 3 hours the surface is covered with a thin layer of scoriæ, on which floats the excess of graphite; one fourth of it has disappeared. The metal has acquired a weak display of longitudinal lines, a clear ground, and, if the graphite is good, a certain degree of reflection. By continuing the fusion four hours the loss of graphite is one third, and the lines are undulating. In 4 hours half the graphite is taken up, and the lines attain a medium degree of coarseness. The crucible generally begins to fail at this point, but if it should retain its shape five hours three fourths of the graphite will have disappeared, the lines will be reticulated and of medium coarseness, and the scoriæ amount to nearly half a pound in weight. By continuing, when possible, the fusion for another half hour, the graphite will nearly all disappear, the scoria will amount to two thirds or three fourths of a pound, and the lines upon the steel will become more or less decided, reticulated, and sometimes zigzag. The following are given as requisites for the best steel: charcoal of the cleanest sort, as pine: a furnace constructed of the most refractory materials; the best quality of crucibles; iron also the best, very malleable and ductile; pure native graphite, or that obtained by breaking up the best crucibles; flux of dolomite or calcined quartz; a high temperature; fusion as long continued as possible. The blast of the furnace is kept on till the fuel is entirely consumed; and the crucible is not removed until it is cold, or at least black. The cover is then taken off, the graphite removed, the scoriæ are broken, and the lump of steel is extracted. When cold, this presents a surface of uniform appearance; or there may be a depression in the centre if the steel is very hard and shows no reflection; or if steel of this quality exhibits no outward depression, a cavity may be looked for in the interior of the lump, which is the effect of too rapid cooling, and indicates a very inferior quality. The lump, which weighs about 11 lbs., is drawn out under the hammer with three to nine heats; it is then separated into three pieces, each of which is forged anew. Particular care is required in reheating to attain the proper temperature. At a white heat the steel, if hard, will crumble; if tender, it loses the watered lines. The best steel may be drawn out cold without cracking, and may even become red-hot by hammering. In working the bars into other shapes, they ought not to be heated beyond a clear red, and the last heat should not exceed a cherry red. It is well, as the lower part of the lump is always better marked than the upper, to keep the two original sides distinguished from each other, that the cutting edge may be formed out of the lower. The process of bringing out the watered appearance on the surface of Damascus blades is accomplished by the use of a diluted acid, VOL. V.-42

which acts more upon the ground than upon the lines. All acids are not equally suitable for this purpose. Nitric acid acts not only upon the iron, but also upon the carbon, and moreover injures the lustre. Sulphuric acid, having no effect upon the carbon nor the reflection of the surface, is much to be preferred, especially when it is used in the state of a sulphate; and a sulphate of iron which contains a certain quantity of sulphate of alumina is found to produce the best effects. The blade, thoroughly cleaned, is washed with the solution by pouring it over the surface, and when the lines are developed it is repeatedly washed with soap and water, and wiped dry with a cloth, care being taken not to wet any portion after it has been once dried. Some vegetable acids, as lemon juice or vinegar, answer very well in place of the solution of sulphate of iron. The last operation is to rub the surface over with pure olive oil and again wipe it dry. The total expense of the production of blades by these processes is estimated at Zlatust to be about $1 10 a pound. They prove to be of similar properties to those of the famous oriental blades, the accounts of which have not been so much exaggerated as is generally supposed. Gen. Anosoff died in 1851, and Atkinson in his work on Siberia says that his successor at the works failed to produce the remarkable blades for which the establishment had become celebrated. The observations of Gen. Anosoff upon the introduction of other metals to alloy the steel are minute, but they are unfavorable to any mixtures with the iron and carbon.

DAMASK, a fabric originally manufactured at Damascus, whence its name. It was made of silk, and was distinguished by its ornamental woven figures of fruits, flowers, animals, and landscapes. It is still distinguished by these ornaments, and by the mode in which they are introduced in the process of weaving, though the material of modern damask is often linen, sometimes indeed woollen, or even cotton, or a mixture of linen and cotton. The cotton fabric, from its want of durability and beauty, has little to recommend it for this manufacture, particularly as it is only by great care and frequent bleaching that it can be made to retain its whiteness. Its peculiar texture is that called tweeling or twilling, in which the warp and the woof cross each other, not alternately, but at intervals of several threads. These intervals being at every eight threads in damask, the stuff is called an eight-leaf twill.. The linen damasks manufactured at Dunfermline in Scotland, and at Lisburn and Ardoyne in Ireland, are used chiefly for table cloths and napkins. Diaper is a variety of damask, differing from it by the warp and the woof crossing each other at intervals of five threads.

DAMASKEENING, the art of ornamenting iron or steel by inlaying with gold, silver, or some other metal. It is chiefly used for adorning sword blades, guards, and locks of pistols. The most beautiful method of damaskeening con

sists in cutting the metal deep with a graver, and filling the groove with thick wire of gold or silver. In this way the wire adheres very strongly. The more common process is superficial only. For this, the metal is heated to a blue color; it is then hatched with a knife, and the figure desired is drawn with a fine brass bodkin upon the hatching. This done, a gold wire is conducted according to the pattern designed, and sunk carefully into the metal with a copper tool. Of late a method is in practice of eating out a cavity for the precious metal by means of acid. The art was carried to great perfection in Damascus, whence its name. Its invention is attributed by Herodotus to Glaucus of Chios.

DAMAUN, or Daman, a seaport of India, on the coast of N. Concan, belonging to the Portuguese, situated at the mouth of the Damaun river, on the gulf of Cambay, 82 m. N. of Bombay; pop. about 6,000. It has a fine appearance from the sea, and has several churches, convents, and Parsee temples, but the streets are narrow and dirty. The river has a bar at its mouth, with 18 feet of water at high tide. Ship building is carried on to some extent. The Portuguese sacked and burned the town in 1531, and in 1558 took formal possession of it. The territory which they hold has an area of 155 sq. m.; pop. in 1866, 40,980.

DAMBOOL, or Dambolo, a village in the island of Ceylon, 40 m. N. of Candy, with an immense rock about a mile distant, rising 550 ft. above the plain, and called Damboollagalla. On its S. side, 100 ft. from the summit, are five very remarkable caves, ornamented with images of Buddha and other deities, in which the Ceylonese monarch Walogam bahu concealed himself during an invasion of the Malabars, about 100 B. C. In gratitude for the protection afforded, he converted the caves into Buddhist temples. Images of the god were placed there, priests appointed to conduct the worship, and the revenues of certain lands set apart for their support; and the service is still kept up. In one of the caves is a colossal statue of Buddha hewn out of the rock; a long inscription in another is interesting for the information it conveys concerning the government of Ceylon during the 12th century.

DAMER, Anne Seymour, an English sculptor, only child of Field Marshal Conway, born in 1748, died May 28, 1828. She imbibed an early love for literature, and was celebrated for her accomplishments. In 1767 she was married to John Damer, who killed himself in 1776. She then turned her attention to sculpture, took lessons from Ceracchi and Bacon, and went to Italy to prosecute the art. She was also an excellent amateur actress. The productions of her chisel are numerous and admired. Among them are a bust of Nelson in the Guildhall, two colossal heads on Henley bridge, and a statue of George III.

DAMIANI, Pietro, an Italian prelate and saint of the Roman Catholic church, born in Raven

na about 1000, died at Faenza, Feb. 22, 1072. While young he entered the monastery of Font' Avellana, of which he became abbot in 1041, and in 1057, greatly against his own will, was raised by Pope Stephen IX. to the rank of cardinal-bishop of Ostia. He persuaded the simoniacal Benedict X. and the antipope Cadalous to lay aside their pretensions; he vigorously supported the reforms of which Hildebrand (Gregory VII.) was the prime mover, and he was in consequence persecuted by the disorderly clergy_of Milan, to whom he was sent as legate. In 1062 he withdrew to his solitude at Font' Avellana, but the next year was sent to France by Alexander II. to investigate the charges of simony against the French clergy. In 1069 he went on a mission to Germany to oppose the application of Henry IV. for a divorce, and succeeded in dissuading that sovereign from his intentions. In 1071 he left his monastery again to restore order in Ravenna, the archbishop of which city had been excommunicated. There are many editions of his writings, comprising sermons, lives of saints, treatises on church affairs, and a work on the abuses of the clergy.

DAMIENS, Robert François, a French regicide, born near Arras in 1714, executed in Paris, March 28, 1757. His character was of the worst description. While a child he was called Robert le Diable on account of his wickedness. He twice enlisted as a soldier, but deserted; afterward robbed one of his employers, and fled to Belgium in 1756, where he formed the design of assassinating Louis XV. for political reasons, as he himself alleged, though the popular impression was that he was incited by the Jesuits. He stabbed the king at Trianon on Jan. 5, 1757, was seized and tortured, and finally drawn asunder by horses. He died without disclosing his accomplices, if he had any.

DAMIETTA (Arab. Damiat; anc. Tamiathis), a town of Lower Egypt, on the right bank of the E. branch of the Nile, 6 m. from its mouth, and 100 m. N. N. E. of Cairo; pop. in 1871, 28,913, of whom 50 were foreigners. Its general appearance is that of a straggling collection of poorly built houses, relieved by magnificent mosques, bazaars, and marble baths, with a few brick dwellings of a better sort on terraces near the river. It has a military school for 400 military officers, founded by Mehemet Ali, a cotton-spinning factory, a large rice mill, and a good coasting and interior trade in dried and salted fish from Lake Menzaleh, rice, coffee, beans, dates, flax, linen, &c. It was once famous for the manufacture of leather and striped cloth, and the name of dimity is supposed to be derived from it. Its foreign commerce was formerly large, but is now merged in that of Alexandria. Its harbor is bad, and is inaccessible to large vessels, owing to a bar at the mouth of the Nile.-The ancient town of Damietta stood about 5 m. nearer the sea than the present. Under the Saracens it rose to great importance, and the