590 
but so it is, and they are re larly driven 
down to water at the ia 
of day, even wher the fasts are at the 
severest, The people; Who attend thiem 
are obliged to (Plaster ‘their own faces, 
and other par ts of the ‘body usually ex- 
pon to the’. air, With a sort of muddy 
clay whit hs in general protects them 
from its most. jnalignant eflects. . "The 
periods: of the wind’s blowing are ge- 
nerally from. noo till sun-set ; they 
cease almost entirely during the night; 
und the direction of the gust is alway “ 
from the north-east. When it has 
passed over, a sulphuric and indeed 
Joathsome smell, like putridity, remains 
for a long time. The poison which 
occasions this smell, must be deadly ; 
for if any unfortunate traveller, too fir 
from sheltcr, meet the blast, he falls 
immediately ; aud, in a few minutes his 
flesh becomes almost black, while both 
it and his bones at once arrive at so 
extreme astate of corruption, that the 
smatlesl moyement of the body would 
separate the one from the other. When 
we, listen to these accounts, we can 
easily understand how the Almighty, 
in Whose hands are all the instruments 
of nature, to work even the most mira- 
culous effects, might, by this natural 
agent of the S$ Samicll brought from. afar, 
make it the brand of death. by which the 
destroying angel wrought the destrne- 
tion of the ariny of Sennacherib. Mine 
host also told, me, that, at. the com- 
mencement of November the nights 
begin,.to be ke en; and then the people 
remove their beds from their airy and 
star-lit cunopics at the tops of their 
houses, fo the chambers within; a dull, 
but comfortable exchange when the 
winter ady ances, the cold being fre- 
quently at an excess to, freeze the sur- 
face of the water in their chamber-jars ; 
but almost as soon as the sun rises, it 
turns to its liquid state again, 
ARRIVES AT BAGDAD. 
A stravger arriving from Irak Ajem, 
into this renowned capital of Trak Arabi, 
cannot fail being instantly struck, with 
the marked difference between, the pco- 
ple before him,, and those he left north 
of the, mountains, "There, the yesture 
was simple and close, though Joug, with 
a plain-hilted knife stuck in the girdle, 
and the bead of the wearer covered wath : 
a dark cap, of sheep-skin, Here, the 
outer garment is. ample and flowing, | 
the turban high and superbly, folded, 
and the costly, shawl, round. jhe Waist, 
additionally. ornamented with a richly 
embossed dagger. _ With personages in 
indty times: 
Sir R, Ker Porter's, Travels in Georgia, Persia, Armenia, 5c. 
every, variety of this "Bagdad fi costume, 
I saw the ase of Bagdad filled on my 
entrance. omettolig® tarbans cof all, 
lnies, pelisses, ‘and Vests, of silk, palin, 
and cloths, it ted, blue, green, Ke 
of every shade and fabric, ‘clot ie a the 
motley groupes who: appeared, “every 
where ;, some slowly, movitig along the 
streets, others scaled Gros: legged 
the ground, or mounted on "hotince te by, 
a es side, . Sipping their collee,. 5a 
thems PS ees pat bd sai ie 
but recollect Twas now in: the fare. 
famed city of the Caliphs, the capilal o of 
Haroun-al-Raschid, through’ whose Tee 
mote avenues he and his faithful vizie\ 
used to wander by wight, in disguise ; 
to study the characters of lis subjects, 
and to reign with justice.” 
The outward fashion of the. houses’ 
bore an aspect new to me in the Bast. 
They are built in different stories, with 
withteer openings thickly latticed ; whic h 
style giving them an European | appear- 
anec, £ felt a kind of welcoming | old. 
arqnaintanceship jn looking, at them 3 
that, perbaps, made me prefer, th ir 
height hefore the low Asiatic dwellings” 
I had left. in Persia. “In proceeding 10, 
Mr. Rich’s house, the point Whither we 
were moving, we crossed through part 
of the great bazar. It was. crowded 
with people, and displayed every kind 
of Asiatic commodity for traffic. “Num- 
berless coffee-bouses, intermingled with 
shops, were, arrange “d, on eac hh ‘side 5 all 
of which, Were. well- stored with, silent 
and smoking cuests, seated i in rows like 
so. Many painted automatons, There 
was a rustling sound of -slippered fect, 
antl silken carmeuts, and a low mono. 
tonous ium from so numerous a hive; 
but nothing like the brisk, abrupt. moyc- 
ments, and clamorous noises of a Persian , 
assemblage of the same sort, _ Yet, aS. 
all present were not of, tlie tac turn) Na 
tion; Jews, Armenians, and, cven some 
of the great king’s subjects, mln ling in, 
tlie exchange of commerce 3a ‘ino 
the swell of aman Voices augmented 
a little; ‘but take it in) general, ii 
the 
