MAJOR SEMPLE LISLE, 327 



high, with no windows towards the ftreet, and 

 very few any where clfe ; they are all flat roofed, 

 and, from the badnefs of the workmanfhip, the 

 i-oof is fure to fink in the middle, thereby form- 

 ing a fort of refer voir for the rain-water, which 

 drops plentifully through, and renders the 

 apartments very damp and difagreeable. Every 

 houfe, great or fmall, enclofes a quadrangle, 

 where the gloomy mailer can fit, ftupified with 

 opium, fmoaking his pipe, afraid left any ftran- 

 gerfhouldget a peep at his women, who, though 

 perhaps objects of jealoufy to their hufbands, 

 are certainly not objecfls of temptation to any 

 one who has ever beheld the blaze of Britifli 

 beauty. The entrance into their houfes is by a 

 winding palTage, vi'hich leads into the quadran- 

 gle, from whence are the entrances into all the 

 apartments, and I no where faw the door of one 

 room lead into another; thefe doors are large, 

 with two folding flaps, like thofe of a coach 

 gateway, and in them is a little wicket, fcarce 

 big enough for a man to pafs in a ftooping pof- 

 ture. The apartments are fmall, and very nar- 

 row in proportion to their lengths, being like 

 partitioned fpaces taken out of a gallery, and 

 have feldom any light but what they receive from 

 the wicket. 



This town is, however, rendered very plea- 

 fant, as it is the refidence of all the Confuls- 



Y 4 Genera^, 



