16 DESCRIPTION OF THE 



that, glad as we all were to find shelter, we could 

 scarcely make up our minds to lie down on the 

 floor of the exceedingly miserable-looking hole, 

 about twelve feet square, and dignified with the 

 appellation of a room, where a ragged, beggar- 

 like Albanian boy was in his first slumbers, and 

 out of which he was aroused to make way for us. 

 The room was covered with a few worn-out mats, 

 which had served as couches for years for the 

 most ragged and wretched of the Albanian po- 

 pulation ; beneath these mats were boards which 

 could never have been scrubbed, and on which an 

 almost inconceivably thick layer of dust shewed 

 the marks of the mats which had for many years 

 lain upon it, whilst every movement made in the 

 room would force the dust through the interstices 

 of the mats, and affect, in any thing but an agree- 

 able manner, the olfactory nerves of the unfor- 

 tunate tenants. 



I shall not easily forget our countenances of 

 horror and disgust when w^e found ourselves 

 compelled to occupy for the night, under the 

 guard of a Turkish sentry, this vastly disagree- 

 able abode. We were wet to the skin, and yet 

 were too much excited to unpack our small al- 

 lowance of baggage and change our clothes ; we 



