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The houses have windows towards the streets, which is 
not the case at Morocco, but they are always shut with 
very close blinds. 
It is a strange fashion in the houses of Tripoli, that 
in almost all the rooms, which are Very long and narrow, 
there is at each end a sort of stage of planks, about four 
feet high with narrow stairs. These alcoves are fur- 
nished with rails and wooden ornaments, and there is 
a door under each of them. On inquiry, I found that 
they are made to contain the complete household furni- 
ture of a woman; as upon one of the alcoves the bed 
is placed; upon the other the wearing apparel and that 
of the children; under the one are the table utensils and 
the victuals; under the other, the remainder of the 
wearing apparel, linen, &c. 
In consequence of this arrangement, the middle of the 
apartment is noways incumbered, and affords plenty 
of room to receive the company, and a man may keep a 
house of three or four rooms, three or four women, 
with all possible convenience, and without their being 
in the way of each other. 
There are neither springs nor rivers in Tripoli. The 
inhabitants are obliged to drink rain water, which they 
preserve in cisterns, attached to every house; for their 
baths, ablutions, and other uses, they employ brackish 
water, which they take from wells. 
The plague has much diminished the population of 
Tripoli, and has often carried off whole families. There 
are still some houses which have been abandoned, or 
destroyed on account of this scourge. 
