The Nestorian is not allowed a place in the bazaar;[1] he cannot
engage in commerce. And in the mechanic arts, he cannot aspire
higher than the position of a mason or carpenter; which, of course,
is not to be compared to the standing of the same trades among us.
When our missionaries went to Oroomiah, a decent garment on a
Nestorian was safe only as it had an outer covering of rags to hide
it.
[Footnote 1: The bazaar is, literally, the market, but denotes the
business part of a city.]

In their language, as in Arabic, the missionaries found no word for
_home;_ and there was no need of it, for the thing itself was
wanting. The house consisted of one large room and was generally
occupied by several generations. In that one room all the work of
the family was performed. There they ate, and there they slept. The
beds consisted of three articles--a thick comfortable filled with
wool or cotton beneath, a pillow, and one heavy quilt for covering.
On rising, they "took up their beds," and piled them on a wooden
frame, and spread them down again at night. The room was lighted by
an opening in the roof, which also served for a chimney; though, of
course, in a very imperfect manner, as the inside of every dwelling
that has stood for any length of time bears witness. The upper part
of the walls and the under surface of the roof--we can hardly call
it ceiling--fairly glitter, as though they had been painted black
and varnished, and every article of clothing, book, or household
utensil, is saturated with the smell of creosote. The floor, like
the walls, is of earth, covered in part with coarse straw mats and
pieces of carpeting; and the flat roof, of the same material, rests
on a layer of sticks, supported by large beams; the mass above,
however, often sifts through, and sometimes during a heavy rain