CITIES OF SYRIA.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 20316, 15 August 1931, Page 5

CITIES OF SYRIA.

FLYING OFFICER'S LEAVE. AN INTERESTING LETTER. Some interesting notes relative to old Syrian cities are contained in letters from Flying-Officer L. E. Jarman, son of Mr H. E. Jarman, Acting-General Manager of the Christchurch Tramways, to his parents. Regarding Umm Jimal, Flying-Officer Jarman writes that it is an ancient Nabataen city built entirely of basalt rock. As the inhabitants had no wood, they had to construct rafters, roofs, and even doors from solid rock. Ho took a photograph of one of these rock doors, which, even to-day, can be opened and closed, and is a perfect fit. It was 6ft by 4ft and Bin thick, and worked on stone hinges. Umm Jimal was a Christian city in A.D. 233, and there are several churches, with numerous crosses and towers, covered with Greek inscriptions. City of Damascus. Ho spent his leave in Syria, and he narrates that at Rosphina there was an examination by Customs officers who declined to accept him as an Englishman because he had only a New Zealand passport; consequently he had to pay £2 10s to enter the country. Their route took the party through the hills around Mt. Hermon, through the Anti-Lebanon to the plain on which Damascus is situated. "It iB a wonderful sight," Flying-Offlcer Jarman writes, "after having been in Transjordania for nearly a year. Damascus is well-irri-gated by the river Abana, and as it enters the plain through a gorge it has been artificially divided into seven rivers and these flow one above the other on both sides of the valley. The city is a large one, and has a tramway system which has been idle for three months owing to the employees striking for more pay, so you can see that Christchurch is not the only City that has its tramway troubles. We took a motor round the city gardens, and throjigh the gorge, stopping by the way at an outdoor cafe, built in a glade of trees beside the river. After dinner we set out to enjoy the night life of the place, and settled down in a cabaret where there were many good-looking Syrian girls to dance with, and Bome good dancing and acrobatic turns. . . . Travelling is wonderfully cheap in this country; it cost only £1 3s each for our trip in a car from Jerusalem to Damascus—a six hours' journey of over 230 miles." A Well-Kept War Cemetery. He visited the war cemetery for British and New Zealand troops, and concerning it he writes:—"l have never yet seen such a beautiful and wellkept cemetery. There are 600 graves, of which over 400 are of New Zealand-

erg. Over each grave is a stone,-Trith the name, .regiment, and the regimental crest. On the New Zealand stones *ther« is engraved the fern leaf with 'fNew Zealand" across it. The eemetery is t situated in the middle of a cypress grove, and is surrounded by a white stone wall, with a large altar and monument at the eastern end." Marvellous Baalbek. Beyrouth and Baalbek also were visit* ed. Of Baalbek he writes that it ia impossible for him to describe it. "Baal* bek is .simply amazing," he writes, "and in beautiful carving and hug® colonnades it dwarfts Jerash in Transjordania. Everything is colossal; all pillars are over 30ft in circumference, and single stones, whose dimensions ara 16ft by 40ft by 60ft, weighing ove? 1000 tons, are ranged along on top of these columns, probably 100 ft high.** -i - - -•