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[Page 136]
a heap & only a small door for entering them, which is the only ventilation for the house. The huts are very small, the roofs being covered with corn stalks & palm branches, whist the house is composed of mud. Donkeys, goats, fowls & dogs make their home inside these huts with the inhabitants & the places are reeking with dirt; yet they make no attempt to keep the animals out. A few palm leaf mats, water vessels & crude working utensils comprise the furniture & effects, but they seem to live very happy in these circumstances. The upper class live in luxury, occupying well appointed dwellings & treat visitors to the best obtainable. Each village has its sheik or Omdah, who acts as governor of the place, but invariably they rob & sweat the poorer class to death & the word of the Omdah is law.
A few of us were invited to a land-owners home for dinner & there had the finest meal I ever had in this country. The places for the guests were marked by small flat loaves of bread & dishes of salad, but before sitting down, each person washes the hands & mouth basin, which was brought in by a servant & kept solely for that purpose. The first course was soup, for which a spoon was provided, each person dipping into the same bowl, which was in the centre of a small round table. This over, fish & pigeons were brought in & we waited in vain for knives & forks & plates. Our host gave us the lead by picking up the food from the dish with his fingers, so of course we did likewise, & made the best of a bad job. He would pick out choice portions