Note 10 — Chapter I · BEYOND THE PALE OF THE RAILWAY (ALEPPO AND URFA)
Reading edition
A legend attaches to these columns which should make a strong appeal to anyone with gambling instincts. One of the two is full of gold and silver; the other acts as stopper to a prodigious fountain of water which is capable of producing another Noachian flood. He who pulls down the former will win wealth beyond the dreams of avarice; but if he touches the latter he will eliminate mankind. Which is which no one can tell, for the two are precisely similar, and consequently nobody hitherto has had courage to risk the attempt.