86 



THE DOOR. 



kuti or cajan) garnish the roofs of the native 

 town. Europeans do not patronize these look- 

 outs, fires being frequent and the slaves danger- 

 ous. Some foreigners have secured the comfort 

 of a cool night by building upper cabins of 

 planking, and have paid for the enjoyment in 

 rheumatism, ague, and fever. 



Koranic sentences on slips of paper, fastened 

 to the entrances, and an inscription cut in the 

 wooden lintel, secure the house from witchcraft, 

 like the crocodile in Egypt ; whilst a yard of 

 ship's cable drives away thieves. The higher the 

 tenement, the bigger the gateway, the heavier 

 the padlock, and the huger the iron studs which 

 nail the door of heavy timber, the greater is the 

 owner's dignity. All seems ready for a state of 

 siege. Even the little square holes pierced high 

 up in the walls, and doing duty as ventilators, 

 are closely barred. As heat prevents the use 

 of glass in sleeping-rooms, shutters of plain or 

 painted plank supply its place, and persiennes 

 deform the best habitations. The northern Euro- 

 pean who sleeps for the first time in one of these 

 blockhouses fairly realizes the first sensations 

 of a jail. Of course the object is defence, there- 

 fore the form is still common to Egypt and Zan- 

 zibar, Syria and Asia Minor. 



