CHAPTER XVIII

OF DAMASCUS

DAMASCUS is situated in a plain, and surrounded by a broad and ample circuit of walls, strengthened with numerous towers, and intersected by four great rivers. The Christians frequent the church of Saint John the Baptist, but the king of the Saracens with his people established and consecrated another. On all sides beyond the walls are numerous groves of olives. From Tabor to Damascus it is a journey of eight days.