owns.
At some parts of the walls there are towers. Both walls and towers are
made of earth.

In every large town they have an open market place with shops around
it. In most of the shops they sell food. In a few of the shops they
sell cotton cloth and other dry goods. Many of the shops are kept by
women.

The streets are swept every day. Every family sweeps the street in
front of its own door.

The houses in the towns are made of stone. They have flat mud roofs
and small windows. The Arabs have no chairs or beds in their houses.
They sit on mats or carpets spread on the floor. They also sleep on
mats.

The chief room in an Arab house is the coffee room. It is a large room
with a furnace or fireplace at one end of it for making coffee.

Many of the Arabs live in tents. They move about from place to place.
Sometimes they cross the desert to come to the towns. They must often
cross it to find water and grass for their horses and camels and sheep.

[Illustration: Arabs and Tent.]

The camel is very useful to the Arabs. Perhaps you have seen a camel.
It is much larger than a horse. It has a great hump on its back. It
has large feet with broad, flat soles; and it can walk or run over the
sand without sinking.

The camel can carry a very heavy load. It gives milk which is good to
drink. Its hair is made into cloth. Its flesh is good meat. It can
bear thirst and heat far better than a horse can. It can travel and
carry a load in the desert for three or four days without drinking.
This makes it very useful to the Arabs.

[Illustration: A Camel.]

But the Arabs have horses also. They are the finest horses in the
world. An Arab is very proud of his horse. He loves him almost as
much as he loves his children.

Did you ever hear the story that is told of Hassan and his horse?
Hassan was an Arab who had a horse which he loved very much. And the
horse loved Hassan very much.

One day Hassan was riding on his horse in the desert with some other
Arabs. They were met by a party of men called Turks, who made them
prisoners. The Turks tied the feet of Hassan and his friends with
leather straps. They tied the horses also. They planned to carry them
off next morning.

During the night Hassan heard his horse neighing. He crept up to him
and said in a low voice: "What will become of you, my poor horse? You
will not be happy with these Turks. Go home to my tent. Tell my wife
that she will neve