Nearly all the men seemed to be away, making preparations for the harvest, I suppose, and as the women shut themselves up in their houses after the Oriental fashion, though the few that I saw about were unveiled and rather good-looking, I did not gather any intelligence worth noting.
To tell the truth I cannot remember being in a more uninteresting place than this little town with its extremely uncommunicative population which, it seemed to me, lived under a shadow of fear that prevented all gaiety.

Even the children, of whom there were not many, crept about in a depressed fashion and talked in a low voice.

I never saw any of them playing games or heard them shouting and laughing, as young people do in most parts of the world.

For the rest we were very well looked after.
Plenty of food was provided for us and every thought taken for our comfort.

Thus a strong and quiet pony was brought for me to ride because of my lameness.