"We had a chance to go into a fine house, and of course we embraced it at once. We passed through a gate-way with a lofty arch, and entered 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 pretence, 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 servants 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. [Illustration: AN ORIENTAL GENTLEMAN.] "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. [Illustration: AN EGYPTIAN LAMP.]