different modes in which these small panels are formed and disposed. A few specimens are here introduced. The ceiling over the leewán is of wood, with carved beams, generally about a foot apart, partially painted, and sometimes gilt. But that part of the ceiling which is over the durká’ah, in a handsome house, is usually more richly decorated; here, instead of beams, numerous thin strips of wood are nailed upon the planks, forming patterns curiously complicated, yet perfectly regular, and having a highly ornamental effect. I give a sketch of the half of a ceiling thus decorated, but not in the most complicated style. The strips are painted yellow or gilt; and the spaces within, painted green, red, and blue.[24] In the example which I have inserted, the colours are as indicated in the sketch of a portion of the same on a larger scale, excepting in the square in the centre of the ceiling, where the strips are black, upon a yellow ground. From the centre of this square a chandelier is often suspended. There are many patterns of a similar kind; and the colours generally occupy similar places with regard to each other; but in some houses these ceilings are not painted. The ceiling of a projecting window is often ornamented in the same manner. A sketch of one is here given. Good taste is evinced by only decorating in this manner parts which are not always before the eyes; for to look long at so many lines intersecting each other in various directions would be painful. [Illustration: SUFFEH.] In some houses (as in that which is the subject of the engraving opposite p. 9) there is another room, called a “mak’ad,” for the same use as the mandar′ah, having an open front, with two or more arches and a low railing; and also, on the ground floor, a square recess, called a “takhtabósh,” with an open front, and generally a pillar to support the wall above: its floor is a paved leewán; and there is a long wooden sofa placed along one, or two, or each of its three walls. The court, during the summer, is frequently sprinkled with water, which renders the surrounding apartments agreeably cool—or at least those on the ground-floor. All the rooms are furnished in the same manner as that first described. [Illustration: SPECIMENS OF PANEL-WORK. These are represented on a scale of one inch to twenty-four or thirty. ]