e only fifty or sixty Europeans living there.

The town is partly situated on both sides of the Tigris, but chiefly
on the east. It is surrounded by fortified walls of brick, with
numerous towers at regular intervals; both walls and towers,
however, are weak, and even somewhat dangerous, and the cannons upon
them are not in good condition.

The first thing that it was necessary for me to provide myself with
here, was a large linen wrapper, called isar, a small fez, and a
kerchief, which, wound round the fez, forms a little turban; but I
did not make use of the thick, stiff mask, made of horse-hair, which
covers the face, and under which the wearer is nearly suffocated.
It is impossible to imagine a more inconvenient out-door dress for
our sex than the one worn here. The isar gathers the dust from the
ground, and it requires some dexterity to hold it together in such a
way as to envelop the whole body. I pitied the poor women greatly,
who were often obliged to carry a child, or some other load, or
perhaps even to wash linen in the river. They never came from this
work, except dripping with water. Even the smallest girls here are
clothed in this way whenever they go out.

In my Oriental dress I could walk about without any covering on my
face, perfectly uninterrupted. I first examined the town, but there
was not much to see, as there are no remains of the old Caliphate
buildings. The houses are of burnt bricks, and are only one story
high; the backs are all turned towards the streets, and it is but
rarely that a projecting part of the house is seen with narrow
latticed windows. Those houses only whose facades are towards the
Tigris make an exception to this rule; they have ordinary windows,
and are sometimes very handsome. I found the streets rather narrow,
and full of dirt and dust. The bridge of boats over the Tigris,
which is here 690 feet broad, is the most wretched that I ever saw.
The bazaars are very extensive. The old bazaar, a relic of the
former town, still shows traces of handsome columns and arabesques,
and Chan Osman is distinguished by its beautiful portal and lofty
arches. The principal passages are so broad, that there is room for
a horseman and two foot passengers, to go through side by side. The
merchants and artisans here, as in all eastern countries, live in
separate streets and passages. The better shops are to be found in
private houses, or in the chans at the bazaars. Miserable cof