Page:Travels & discoveries in the Levant (1865) Vol. 1.djvu/237

Rh overlooking the village and commanding an extensive view. On a tablet on the N.B. wall I copied part of an inscription in Gothic letters.

On the N. wall were four escutcheons of the Knights.

On our way back we slept at a village near Rhodes called Koskino, one of the cleanest and most flourishing in the island. Here most of the inhabitants are muleteers, and own a little land besides. They are a thriving, active, fine-grown set of men, good specimens of the peasant proprietor.

Externally the house of the Rhodian peasant much resembles those in the villages of Malta. It is built of squared blocks of freestone, the door on one side, and very high up under the roof two small windows. The roof is flat, and supported inside by one large arch traversing the whole width of the house. The ceiling is made of reeds, over which outside is a thick bed of earth, which intercepts the fiercer rays of the sun, and, if duly rolled, keeps out the winter rain.

Internally, the house forms one large room very destitute of furniture. (See Plate 13.) In one corner is the nuptial bed, raised high above the floor on a kind of platform; in another corner the fireplace. The wall opposite the door is ornamented with an imposing array of plates of the old Lindos ware, each hung by a string. They are for ornament, not for use, and form part of the dower which every