Controversial Books | Page 401

Damascus: Jewel of the Orient 397 tables and trees, with a small stage at one end. The bulbs had been covered with a coating of blue paint, giving the place a weird bluish glow. Seated at the empty tables were a half dozen women—hostesses—in search of drinking-mates. They ranged from a thin wisp of a girl to a charmer of mammoth proportions. The waiter told us that a bottle of beer "with a woman" cost eight lira; "without a woman" the price v0