IN THE CRIMEA. 
steel and flint for kindling their pipes. Some- 
times, in summer, they cover their feet with ^ 
morocco slippers, but these arc always taken 
off when they enter their apartments. Upon 
similar occasions we took off our boots: this 
was a troublesome ceremony; but they were 
evidently uneasy if we sat down without 
attending to this piece of etiquette. They have 
no chairs in their houses ; a single stool, about 
three inches high, answers the purpose of a 
table, for supporting a tray during their meals. 
This stool is often ornamented, either with 
carved work, or it is inlaid with mother-of-pearl. 
The use of a carpet and of matting for the floor 
is universal : sometimes, as a substitute, they 
employ thick cloths of their own manufacture 
from goat’s hair : these are exported to Con- 
stantinople. Of whatever material the covering 
of the floor may be, they are careful to keep it 
clean; but, after all, it is apt to swarm with 
vermin. During the summer months, the men 
make very little use of that part of the dwelling 
which is peculiarly set apart for them. Their 
chief delight consists in living exposed to the 
open air ; sleeping at night beneath the portico 
before their door, or under the shade of fine 
spreading trees cultivated near their houses. 
In the principal chamber of a Tahtar dwelling 
is a place bearing the name of sofa : this answers 
to the Turkish divan; it is a platform raised 
