Nothing favourable can be said of any of the Turkish towns, as they so much resemble each other in wretchedness, that it is a pleasure not to be compelled to enter them.  The streets are dirty, the houses built of mud or unburnt bricks, the places of worship unimportant, miserable stalls and coarse goods constitute the bazaars, and the people, dirty and disgusting, are of a rather brown complexion.  The women increase their natural ugliness, by dyeing their hair and nails reddish brown with henna, and by tattooing their hands and arms.  Even at twenty-five years old, they appear quite faded.

On the 23rd of June, we halted not far from the town of Dus, and took up our resting-place for the day.

In this place, I was struck by the low entrances of the houses; they were scarcely three feet high, so that the people were obliged to crawl rather than walk into them.

On the 25th of June, we came to Daug, where I saw a monument which resembled that of Queen Zobiede in Baghdad.  I could not learn what great or holy man was buried under it.

25th June.  At 4 this morning we came to the place where our caravan guide lived, a village about a mile from Kerku.  His house was situated, with several others, in a large dirty court-yard, which was surrounded by a wall with only one entrance.  This court-yard resembled a regular encampment:  all the inhabitants slept there; and, besides these, there was no want of mules, horses, and asses.  Our animals immediately went to their stalls, and trod so near to the sleepers, that I was quite anxious for their safety; but the animals are cautious, and the people know that, and remain perfectly quiet.

My Arab had been absent three weeks, and now returned only for a very short time; and yet none of his family came out to greet him except an old woman.  Even with her, whom I supposed to be his mother, he exchanged no kind of welcome.  She merely hobbled about here and there, but gave no help, and might as well have remained where she was lying, as the others.

The houses of the Arabs consist of a single, lofty, spacious apartment, separated into three parts by two partition walls, which do not extend quite across to the front wall.  Each of these compartments is about thirty feet in length by nine in breadth, and serves as a dwelling for a family.  The light fell through the common door-way and two holes, which were made in the upper part of the front wall.  A place was set apart for me in one of these compartments, where I could pass the day.

My attention was first directed to the nature of the relationships between the several members of the family.  At first this was very difficult, as it was only towards the very young children that any kind of attachment or love was shown.  They appeared to be a common property.  At last, however, I succeeded in ascertaining that three related families lived in the house—­the patriarch, a married son, and a married daughter.