A large number of the First Dynasty contracts relate to commercial journeys of this sort, and record the terms of the bargains entered into between the interested parties. Such partnerships were sometimes concluded for a single journey, but more often for longer periods of time. The merchant always demanded a properly executed receipt for the money or goods he advanced to the trader, and the latter received one for any deposit or pledge he might have made in token of his good faith. In reckoning their accounts on the conclusion of a journey, only such amounts as were specified in the receipts were regarded as legal obligations, and, if either party had omitted to obtain his proper documents, he did so at his own risk. The market-places of the capital and the larger towns must have been the centres where such business arrangements were transacted, and official scribes were probably always in attendance to draw up the terms of any bargain in the presence of other merchants and traders, who acted as witnesses. These had their names enumerated at the close of the document, and since they were chosen from local residents, some were always at hand to testify in case of any subsequent dispute. The town-life in Babylonia at this time must have had many features in common with that of any provincial town in Mesopotamia to-day, except that the paternal government of the First Dynasty undoubtedly saw to it that the streets were kept clean, and made strenuous efforts to ensure that private houses should be soundly built and maintained in proper repair. We have already followed out the lines of some of the streets in ancient Babylon,[30] and noted that, while the foundations of the houses were usually of burnt brick, crude brick was invariably employed for their upper structure. They were probably all buildings of a single story, their flat mud roofs, supported on a layer of brush-wood with poles for rafters, serving as a sleeping-place for their inmates during the hot season. Contemporary evidence goes to show that, before the period of Hammurabi, private houses had not been very solidly built, for his legislation contemplates the possibility of their falling and injuring the inmates. In the case of new houses the law fixed the responsibility upon the builder, and we may infer that the very heavy penalties exacted for bad work led to a marked improvement in construction. For, when such a newly built house fell and crushed the owner so that he died, the builder himself was liable to be put to death. Should the fall of the house kill the owner's son, the builder's own son was slain; and, if one or more of the owner's slaves were killed, the builder had to restore him slave for slave. Any damage to the owner's possessions was also made good by the builder, who had in addition to rebuild the house at his own cost, or repair any portion of it that had fallen. On the other hand, payment for sound work was