2-979-577 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Desert Route - Latakia, 1857. 'Not much is to be seen without; but...the interior of some of the houses in this street - for instance, that very identical one near the black girl that is carrying the bag of wheat - have marble pavements, and princely apartments to boot. All is a scene of dilapidation in the streets. The earthquake of 1822 has left very many signs of its mighty strength and duration. The two handsomely-carved pillars on the right-hand side are what once constituted a magnificent mosque. At every twenty paces there is a coffee-shop, and loiterers lazily linger in this pestiferous neighbourhood, smoking their pipes...The minaret in the distance is on the outskirts of the town, and there the scenery is as picturesque and the air as pure as they are the reverse in this narrow and filthy thoroughfare'. From "Illustrated London News", 1857.