a gaily dressed officer rode past us on a magnificent
horse, reminding me of an American militia hero on training day. We
looked at the fence of palisades, and stepped under the gateway
leading to the government quarter. Over the gate was a small room like
the drawbridge room in a castle of the middle ages. Twenty men could
be lodged there to throw arrows, hot water, or Chinese perfumery on
the invading foe.

A Manjour acquaintance of our captain invited us to visit his house.
We entered through the kitchen, where there was a man frying a kind of
'twisted doughnut' in vegetable oil. The flour he used was ground in
the Manjour mills, and lacked the fineness of European or American
flour. Judging by the quantity of food visible the family must have
been a large one.

The head of the household proclaimed himself a Tartar, and said he
was the proprietor of four wives. I smoked a cigar with him, and
during our interview Borasdine hinted that we would like to inspect
his harem. After a little decorous hesitation, he led us across an
open and muddy courtyard to a house where a dozen women were in the
confusion of preparing and eating supper. With four wives one must
have a proportionate number of servants and retainers, else he cannot
maintain 'style.'

Such a scene of confusion I never saw before in one man's family.
There were twelve or fifteen children of different ages and sexes, and
not one silent. Some were at table, some quarreling, some going to
sleep, and some waking. Two women were in serious dispute, and the
Tartar words poured out freely. The room was hot, stifling, and filled
with as many odors as the city of Cologne, and we were glad to escape
into the open air as soon as possible. I did not envy that Mongol
gentleman his domestic bliss, and am inclined to think he considered
it no joke to be as much married as he was.

I did not sec any pretty women at Igoon, but learned afterward that
they exist there. The Manjour style of hair-dressing attracts the eye
of a stranger. The men plait the hair after the Chinese manner,
shaving the fore part of the head. The women wind theirs in a peculiar
knot, in about the position of the French chignon. They pierce this
knot with two long pins like knitting needles, and trim it with bright
ribbons and real or artificial flowers. The fashion is becoming, and,
excluding the needles, I would not be surprised to see it in vogue in
Western civilization within half a dozen years