40 DRESS OF TURKISH SOLDIERS. 



rable order ; and there was more cleanliness than 

 I could have given them credit for. Each soldier 

 has a rug, on which he sleeps on the ground, as 

 is the custom with the lower orders of Mahom- 

 medans generally, and on this he also kneels to 

 go through his devotions. We were received with 

 great civility by Daoud Pasha, the general officer 

 commanding, who made us take sweetmeats and 

 other refreshments, and ordered the band to play 

 whilst we were sitting in his room. This band 

 was certainly but an attempt at music, and I 

 fear Strauss would have put his fingers to his 

 ears and run out of the room, each individual 

 composing it having, as it appeared to me, a most 

 invincible determination to play some favourite 

 tune of his own. The troops, in general, might 

 be made to look more soldier-like than they do. 

 They wear a sort of European costume ; although 

 it does not look very European because of the 

 fez or red cap, and the looseness of the trowsers, 

 which are so made because Turks always sit 

 cross-legged, an impossible position in tight ones. 

 They seemed to consider stocks a superfluous 

 luxury ', and the cut of their clothes altogether 

 was not of the most* elegant kind. With proper 



