DESCRIPTION OF THE CITY, 
639 
his officers, and chnose any house in the town, 
the owner of which should he instantly dis- 
lodsed to make room for me: but I could not 
bear the idea of this ; and, besides, 1 was 
unwilling to give any further trouble. I con- 
sidered that the difference in the dwellings 
here must, after all, be incon.nderable ; and 
that the pasha had, in all likelihood, in the 
first instance, done the best for us he con- 
veniently could : I therefore resolved to make 
a virtue of necessity, and put up with the 
proposed house ; and immediately saw that 
iny determination gave general satisfaction. 
I now, therefore, sent Minas to escort Mrs. 
Rich into town, for the Koords had a great 
objection to my returning back again to camp 
to-day. It was easy to see that tliey had 
some superstitious idea of ill luck to their 
affairs if 1 left the town ; so I passed, til! M rs. 
Rich’s arrival, two or three hours very un- 
pleasantly in walking and lounging about, 
which confirmed the nervous headache with 
which I had been tlireatened in the morning. 
The description of our hou«e will serve for 
that of ail the beiter sort in Sulimania ; it is 
a square building of one story, standing on a 
basement of about three feet high, and built 
of bricks dried in the sun, having a plastering 
of mud mixed with chopped straw over the 
whole. One or two rooms inside have been 
white-limed over the mud coating. The roof 
is flat, and is formed by rafters, reeds, and 
a coating of earth . This house stands in a 
large open enclosure, or as we would say in 
India in a com [,ound : this is subdivided into 
ivvo courts by a cross wall, which joins the 
house at each side near its centre, leaving tire 
front in one enclosure and the back in ano- 
ther: this makes the Maram''^ and Divan 
Khaneh f; but there is no communication be- 
tween them by a door in the house itself, as 
in all Turkish Irouses ; you must go round by 
a door in tire wall which divides the com- 
pound into two : this is peculiarly inconveni- 
ent in bad weather. The area of both courts 
is coveted with grass, and planted with wil- 
lovvs, poplars, mulberries, and rose bushes, 
interspersed in little bouquets. A stream of 
water runs through the court of every house 
in Sulimania, which is supplied from the 
mountains by a kaliteez or aqueduct. With 
respect to the distribution of the rooms, it 
seems regulated by no plan, at least 1 am not 
able to discover any order or contrivance in 
it; only that in both the harain and divan 
khaneh is a talar, or room quite open in the 
fr ont, which is the general r eceiving and sleep- 
ing room in summer. No one but the poorest 
persons, who have not such an accommoda- 
tion in their houses, sleeps on the roof. Some, 
indeed, in the greatest heats, which only last 
* The women’s apartments- 
+ .1 hat part of the liouse Avhefe the master 
receives his visitors, and in which the men 
servants reside. 
a month, use a sekoo, or low platform, for 
that purpose; and, during summer, many 
construct tchardaks, or huts mode of boughs, 
over a little tank in their own court-yard, or 
else pitch a tent, to escape from fleas, which 
are a terrible nuisance all over the East, and 
are said to be particularly formidable here. 
In the divan khaneh part of the house i.s a 
large vacant space or hall, supported by posts, 
and almost dark : this is said to be a cool re- 
treat in summer, but the pest of the fleas must 
still exist, and another still worse, that is 
scorpions, which are said to be numerous, 
large, and venomous. Centipedes are also 
found here, but I believe are not much dread- 
ed ; nor are the snakes, which are large and 
numerous, said to be venomous. 
The winter rooms of the house are entered 
by a long dark passage : their appearance 
does not render one desirous of a nearer in- 
spection ; indeed, 1 keep as much as possible 
on the outside of the house. 
The ordinary houses are mere mud hovels, 
which makes the place look like a large Arab 
village: they are perfectly exposed, but the 
people do not seem to regard this, the women 
going about with the men, and performing 
their domestic labours witliout any veil. This 
miserable-looking town, however, contains 
five khans, two good mosques, and a very fine 
bath. The population of Sulimania is esti- 
mated by the best judges among the Koords 
at ten thousand .souls, including the officers 
of government and retainers of princes resid- 
ing liere. 'fhe ordinary citizens are of the 
peasant race. 
As soon as the baggage arrived, 1 pitched a 
large two-poled tent for a divan or receiving 
room ; and when ornamented with my arms, 
and covered with a handsome carpet and nim- 
muds*, which the pasha was kind enough to 
send me, it made altogether a kind of barbaric 
receiving hall of no contemptible appearance 
— certainly much pleasanter and better looking 
than any room in the town. Thesepoys pitched 
tents also in the court; and some of the people, 
who did not relish the appearance of their 
quarters, followed their example. 
In the haram our preparations for the first 
night were not so fortunate. We tried the 
most airy-Iooking room ; but alas ! the heat, 
close smell, and swarms of sand-flies soon 
showed us the folly of our attempts, and we 
drew our beds out into the talar : here again 
we were unsuccessful in our efforts at repose. 
We were kept awake till daybreak by these 
Koordish tormentors ; -though a few hours’ 
sleep would have been a real blessing to me 
in my state of nervous pain. 
* Narrow strips of thick soft felt, handsome- 
ly oriiamenfed with various colours, which are 
placed round the rooms in Persia and Koordi- 
atan, and serve Instead of sofas and chairs. 
