onverted into a long,
stiff rouleau, which either dangled down her back, or was hidden in the
folds of her dress. On her head she wore a small, closely-fitting fez.
Her sister, a pretty, smiling girl of ten years of age, had her hair
arranged in the same manner, and she wore the same sort of fez. She was
wrapped in a shawl of a clear sea-green hue, which was draped round her
figure very gracefully, but entirely concealed her arms. Her full
trowsers of rose-colored calico descended nearly to her ankles. The
costume of the elder sister was marked by greater elegance. Her shawl
was dark red, but of less size and thinner texture than that worn by her
sister. After we had been a few minutes together, we became quite
familiar friends, and the young ladies permitted me to have a minute
inspection of their dresses. They conducted us to their drawing-room,
or, as they called it, their _salon_. This apartment, like all the rooms
in the house, is exceedingly small; and on my expressing some surprise
at its limited dimensions, the elder sister replied in her broken
French, "Mauresques pas tener salons pas jolies comme toi Francais;" by
which she meant to say that their houses or saloons are not so fine as
those of the Europeans; for they call all Europeans, indiscriminately,
French. There was but little furniture in the drawing-room.

Over the middle part of the floor was spread a very handsome Turkey
carpet; and along the sides of the apartment were laid several carpets
of various kinds and patterns. In one corner of the room there was a
looking-lass in a miserable-looking frame, and beside it a loaded
musket. Whether this weapon be destined for the defense of the elegant
mirror or of the lovely Zuleica, I pretend not to say.

Having observed a telescope fixed at the window, I expressed some
surprise. Zuleica, who converses very intelligibly in what she calls
_lingua franca_ (a jargon principally composed of French words),
informed me that this telescope constitutes her principal source of
amusement, and that she is almost continually occupied in looking
through it, to watch the arrival of her friends, and the movements of
the steamers in the harbor. The walls of the apartment were simply
whitewashed, and the window and doors were arched as a precaution
against accidents in the earthquakes so frequent in this country. The
only decorations on the walls were two little frames, containing
passages from the Koran.

Among the other