in many a pool of standing water. My guide paused in front of an irregular building of mud and stone, and, with out saying a word by way of introduction, left me alone at the threshold of the wide-open door. Just within it I saw a group of harsh-voiced, loudly-talking women standing in front of an immense wood fire, which was burning on a raised floor, about three feet high. They were evidently entertaining another group of women, who sat on the dais round the fire, silently and eagerly listening. The leaping flames lighted up their large dark eyes, their long glistening teeth, and the silver coins of their head-dresses. I stood for a moment watching them, before I claimed their attention. There was no outlet for the smoke, except a hole over the door; so it was rather difficult, at first, to distinguish the shape of the room. There were curiously irregular projections, and niches, and recesses, where mattresses were piled up, and jars and cooking utensils were arranged. The walls were of baked mud or clay, blackened with smoke.
When I announced myself, some of the young girls uttered exclamations of wonder and fear, imagining me to be a spirit; but the elder women silenced them, and welcomed me calmly and kindly, without showing any signs of surprise, though I was afterward assured that I was the first Afranjî—that is, European—lady who had ever paid a visit to Kefr Kâra.
The women who stood below lifted me on to the dais, the roof over which was so low that I could only just stand upright. I sat down with the group round the fire, and took off my hat and hooded cloak, and one of the women undertook to dry them. They were all exceedingly astonished that I only kept my head covered when out of doors—heads are never uncovered in the East, except as a sign of deep mourning. The women were dark, dirty, and rather haggard-looking, but dignified in their manners and movements. The girls were strong and handsome, but their well-shaped mouths and lower jaws were disproportionately
