sorts of angles and curves--American,
Syrian, Circassian; Christian and Mohammedan--forming a kind of crazy
patch-work on the earthen floor. And imagine my supreme disgust when I
discover a big, dirty, odorous, unshod human foot, erect on the heel
and with toes spread out like a fan, within a few inches of my face!
Bah! How was it that I slept! I turn my face to the wall and soon lose
thought of the disturbing vision in slumber.

It is quite late when again I wake. The host is sitting on his mat near
me fumbling beads and chanting prayers. Without moving I watch him for
a while and note that he is also interested in me, and that he now
knows that I am awake. I begin an investigation of myself, and find, to
my glad surprise, that while I am stiff and sore I feel quite
refreshed. I dress myself--a simple matter this morning, simply putting
on my shoes--and while my dragoman prepares our breakfast I exercise
myself somewhat by walking down to an old Roman bridge spanning the
small stream flowing through the village. In this half-hour I get a
good general knowledge of the location of the town, its outline, its
magnificent ruins, etc. But I am not ready yet for sight-seeing. I
prefer to listen to the brook singing its happy way almost hidden among
the pink oleanders that grow in such profusion along its sides. The
running water, the perfume of the flowers, the flood of sunlight--these
are like balm to me after my awful yesterday. Certainly I shall be
ready early to study the ruins of this wonderful, mysterious, ancient
city.

Breakfast is ready. It consists of boiled eggs, bread, cheese, and tea.
Our table is the floor on which we slept. The male members of the
house-hold join us as we sit on mats around the simple meal. Our host
sends one of the men (a visitor to a Mohammedan home never meets, and
frequently never sees a woman) to bring a little of his own bread. It
does not look at all tempting to me, but I am told that if I wish to
secure my host's friendship I must eat of it. This I do, but only once,
and now he would be almost willing to die for me should occasion arise.

After breakfast he shows me some antique coins that he had found, and
when my guide explains that I am an American schoolmaster, he manifests
exceedingly his delight. He almost pulls me out into his little yard
where he had been digging, and where he had unearthed an inscribed
cylindrical block of marble about two feet in diameter and four feet in