446
CAIRO TO DAMASCUS
The second salon was much bigger—a large, rectangularshaped room, with a high ceiling and dim electric lights.
There were no benches, but several dozen stools were lined
along the walls and in groups about the room. We sat down
with five smokers, and ordered the josie.
"Weak or strong?" the attendant asked.
" 'Awi!" Ilagop said before I could speak. "Strong!"
In the room were a half dozen small groups of men. Smoking, coughing, and spitting went on all about me; some were
coughing so violently they seemed to be shaken by a cataleptic
fit. The clients here, I noted, were better dressed; the smokers,
however, were as youthful as those I had seen earlier. Coffee
was served: this was more like a cafe, a hasheesh den and
coffee house in one.
By this time the attendant arrived with the josie. I found
it even stronger than before and I underwent the same ordeal,
and the same violent convulsive seizure. The floor was filthy
with sputum. Later, I learned, an attendant would sprinkle
dried earth. The next morning, when the place was empty, the
blood-stained sputum of the tubercular would be swept along
with the others.
"I hope you'e had enough. Let's go," Hagop said, and once
outside, he remarked: "How do you feel?"
"Stimulated and hungry, very hungry."
We went to &W7FW&