The bazaar, where all the news of the town and district are brought, and whence culled by the curious, had already heard of my arrival, and as I entered in company with Mansur I found myself greeted by Kurd and Jew alike. This cordiality did not, however, extend to business, for to my disgust the Jew upon whom I had purchased my little bills refused to meet them, and I found that the Sulaimania seller had promised to send goods to him for the value of the bills, but being short of money, had drawn the drafts and sold the goods on his own account in Sulaimania. Matti, who had in Sulaimania procured them for me, had fortunately guaranteed them, so I was not more than temporarily inconvenienced, for, as Mansur said, “He who stays with Lady Adela has no need of money.” It appeared that I was the first Persian they had ever seen in Halabja, and considerable curiosity was evinced as to my native place. Sitting upon a carpet before the shop of the Jewish merchant, a little crowd of interested Kurds and Jews collected, endeavouring with some success to talk to me in Persian, and one and all descanting upon the beauties of Halabja, utterly refusing to believe that the Shiraz whence I came could be larger or finer, or that Kurdish was not understood there. Most remarkable was the space Lady Adela took up in their affairs and conversation. She had, in building this bazaar which attracted trade and was a source of profit to merchants, at the same time done the best thing for her own pocket that she could possibly have devised, for she was heavily in debt to the occupants, and had naturally the widest option as to when she should pay. It was reported that she always did pay in the end; and for this reason, and also the excellent reason that makes a tenant submissive to a powerful landlord, no one attempted to limit her purchases, which in cloth and stuffs were really enormous. The prices these Jews charged to her, too, were exorbitant, and they excused themselves for this by an account of the interest lost by delay, much as one’s tailor must do. [Sidenote: LADY ADELA’S RECEPTION] We spent all the morning in the bazaar, and returned for lunch, which appeared about noon. In the afternoon, about the time tea was served--for the Persian invented afternoon tea long before Europe--we went to the divan of Lady Adela. The long room this time was crowded to its fullest. Near the mattress of Lady Adela two others had been put, one for Majid Beg, the Pasha’s eldest son, a man of forty-five or thereabouts, and Tahir Beg, both of whom usually called in the afternoon. The former was already there, a stern Kurd, totally unlike his rakish-looking younger brother. A much bigger man, his grave face was much more of an English cast than any other Kurd I ever saw, though an immense number of them have the features and appearance of the Saxon races.