Manchurian Books

The heat is so great here, that
nearly every house is furnished with an apartment, which lies
several feet below the level of the street, and has windows only in
the high arches. People live in these rooms during the day.
The inhabitants consist for the most part of Arabs; the rest are
Persians, Turks, and Armenians. There are no Europeans. I was
advised to wrap myself in a large cloth and wear a veil when I went
out; the former I did, but I could not endure the veil in the
excessive heat, and went with my face uncovered. The cloth (isar) I
carried so clumsily that my European clothes were always visible;
nevertheless I was not annoyed by any one.
On the 16th of May, the steamer Nitocris arrived. It was small
(forty horse power), but very handsome and clean; the captain, Mr.
Johns, declared himself ready to take me, and the first officer, Mr.
Holland, gave up his cabin to me. They would not take any
compensation either for passage or board.
The journey from Bassora to Baghdad would have been very fatiguing
and inconvenient if I had not met with this opportunity.


Pages:
652 653 654 655 656 657 658 659 660 661 662 663 664 665 666 667 668 669 670 671 672 673 674 675 676