a narrow passage that led to the principal room of the building. They tell us that this passage-way is generally made crooked, in order that people on the street cannot look inside when the doors are open by

any chance; this is especially the case with the women's apartments, into which no man except the master is allowed to look under any pre

AN ORIENTAL GENTLEMAN.

tence, and great care is taken that he shall not do so. We were shown into the reception-room, which had low windows that only let in a dim light: we wondered at this, until our guide explained that it was desirable to exclude the heat as much as possible, and therefore the windows were made low and the walls very thick. At one end of the room there was a platform six inches higher than the floor; there was an alcove in the middle of this platform, which was supposed to face toward Mecca, and, consequently, it was the place of worship at the hours when prayers were said.

"There were no chairs in the room, and no tables whatever; the only furniture we saw were some divans like wide sofas, and on these we were invited to sit while the ser

INTERIOR OF A MOSLEM HOUSE.

171

vants brought coffee for us to drink. There were heavy cushions at the back of the divans, and these are arranged so that they can be moved around just as one may desire in order to make himself comfortable. The Orientals sit cross-legged on these divans, and not after our style; and if you invite them to occupy an arm-chair they will quite likely double up into it, and put their feet beneath them. It is torture for them to sit as we do, just as it is torture for us to sit in the Oriental way.

"The ordinary mode of sitting on one of these divans is to get into a corner, or rather to make one by piling two of the cushions together across the divan. If an Oriental gentleman receives you, it is quite likely you will find him sitting as we have described, with his feet gathered under him, and his shoes lying where he can easily step into them in case he wishes to rise. In this position he will sit for hours perfectly contented, or, what is quite as

likely, he will fall back on the divan and go to sleep. The divans are occupied pretty much all the time, as they are used to sit upon during the day, and form sleeping - couches by night. As they are rarely less than three feet wide, are well stuffed, and covered with cloth resembling chintz, they are not to be despised, and form excellent substitutes for beds.

"There was a handsome lamp in the hall-way of the house, and the Doctor told us it was much like the lamps that are used for decorating the mosques. It hung under a wooden frame in the shape of a six-pointed star. The ornamentation upon the outside of the body of the lamp

AN EGYPTIAN LAMP.

was in curious patterns of arabesque design; the light was given by a series of little cups hanging on the outside, and not by the lamp itself.

Each cup was partly filled with oil, and a tiny wick floated on its surface, and gave out a small blaze of light. It reminded us of the floating wicks for burning in a sick-room at home, and we readily understood why there were so many of them. A single flame would not have been enough to light the hall-way, and it was only by employing a great many that the proper illumination could be secured.

"On leaving the house we went to the bazaars, which were crowded with people, partly because it was market-day, when so many country people, men and women, came to town, and partly because of the large party of strangers that had landed from the steamboat, and were sure to be in the bazaars before continuing their journey.

"We bought some fans of ostrich feathers, which were offered for about half of what they would cost in Cairo. Sioot is one of the startingpoints of the caravan routes to the regions where ostriches abound, and it is only natural that these things should be cheaper here than farther down the river. We also bought some cups and saucers, and a few pipe-bowls, made of a fine clay peculiar to the neighborhood of Sioot, and highly prized throughout Egypt. Of course we were obliged to bargain a long time to save ourselves from being cheated. It is of no use to tell these people you are in a hurry, and must have the lowest price at once; they cannot understand you, and will lose the chance of selling their goods rather than change their mode of dealing.

"Leaving Sioot we found ourselves in a region where the river winds considerably. The wind blowing from the north does not choose to follow all the bends of the Nile. A boat sailing up the stream will have a fair wind one hour and an adverse one the next, and when she finds both wind and current against her she must wait for a change in the breeze, or send the crew out with the tow-line. Towing up stream is slow work, but it is better than no progress at all. Ten or fifteen miles a day may be made by it, and sometimes as many as twenty miles, and if the passengers have a fondness for hunting they can indulge it very easily. Sometimes a walk of a few miles will cover a whole day's journey of the dahabeah while she is working around a bend, and even the steamer is not averse to gaining distance while her passengers are on shore.

"Towing is the hardest part of the occupation of the crew of a Nile boat. They are harnessed like horses, and attached to a rope which is taken to the bank. The captain remains on board to steer the craft, and if the sailors are remiss in their work he shouts to them in a voice the reverse of pleasing; and while it is a laborious task for the men it is a severe trial to the passengers, this dragging along at a snail's pace, and

AN ABUNDANCE OF PIGEONS.

173

listening to the imprecations of the captain, which grate harshly on the ear, even though they are uttered in an unknown tongue.

"We wound along the river, sometimes close to the cliffs that form

the eastern bank, and sometimes

PIGEON-HOUSES.

in the midst of a fertile plain, with the desert at a distance. We passed several villages, and the conductor told us their names; but as they were all pretty much alike, we did not think it worth while to write them down. An interesting feature of the villages was the great number of pigeonhouses, some of them standing by themselves, and others built on the tops of dwellings. The pigeons are kept in great flocks. Sometimes they are owned in common by a whole village, while at others they are the private property of indi viduals. The guano from the pigeon-houses is carefully saved for enriching the melon patches; and, where the house is the common property of the village, the key is kept by the sheik or chief. Some of the houses are like square towers, with a great many holes where the birds enter, and the inside of the walls is full of niches, where the pigeons make their nests. Others are of a circular shape, and have protuberances on the top like chimneys, which are filled with holes for admitting the pigeons, but too small for the hawks and other birds of prey that pursue them. "The pigeons get their living in the fields around the village, and sometimes they do a great deal of damage. When the grain begins to ripen. the people erect booths in the midst of the fields, where men are stationed. to frighten away the birds. They are armed with slings, with which they can throw stones to a considerable distance, and they keep up the alarm by blowing horns and making other noises. That the ancient Egyptians had the same practices we learn from the paintings in the tombs, where men are represented standing on platforms and using the sling to frighten away the thieving birds.

THE ORIENTAL PIGEON.

ner.

A WATCHMAN'S BOOTH.

"The abundance of pigeons in this part of Egypt is shown by the frequency with which the bird appears on our table. We have broiled pigeon for breakfast, cold pigeon for lunch, and roast pigeon for dinWe do not have cold pigeon for supper, and probably this can be accounted for by the fact that we do not have any supper at all. They give us a cup of tea and a piece of dry cake in the evening, and it is quite possible that if anybody asked for pigeon he would be accommodated; but nobody seems to want it.

"We met some funny-looking rafts a few miles above Sioot, and