370
CAIRO TO DAMASCUS
against direct hits or cave-ins. Further on, behind a bank,
workers were digging another hole that would be cementlined for the storage of bank funds and securities.
Jordan had no streetcars, horse-drawn or otherwise, less
than three hundred miles of railroads, and only 360 miles of
roads. And it was probably the only Arab State that had not
a single Jew. Jews, by an unwritten law, were forbidden to
take up residence. This explained in part Jordan's commercial
and cultural lethargy. The King proved kind to the Armenians, many of whom settled in Jordan after fleeing from
Palestine. Displaying energy and resourcefulness, they had
already achieved some prominence in many fields of endeavor,
adding materially to Jordan's progress.
Unlike the people of Cairo—many of whom were hostile
and suspicious—I found the Arabs in Amman even-tempered
and friendly. Even the fiercest-looking, sun-bleached Bedouin,
armed with rifle, cartridge belt, and daggers, was someone
with whom you could sit down and enjoy a glass of chai. One
did not see constant brawls, bullying of children, or beggars
without number, as in Cairo.
Amman was a new city in an ancient setting. Directly opposite the Philadelphia Hotel were the ruins of a huge Roman amphitheater, dating from the Roman occupation in
A.D. 90. I walked from tier to tier, through the vaults underneath the stone theater, then in the elliptical arena itself.
They were all in shabby condition, now repository for filth
and human refuse. The outlines of temples, palaces, and
classic columns were barely distinguishable amid the rubble.
Amman officials boasted of these antiquities, but treated them
as garbage dumps.
When conquered in A.D. 650 by Arabic hordes, Amman
entered a period of decline intensified later by Turkish conquest, so that in Amman as in other Arab capitals I heard the
phrase: "Wherever the Turk has walked there the grass has
stopped growing." Depopulation, extensive soil erosion, deforestation, and banditry continued unchecked until Trans-