The best houses, the priest explained, were built within walls twenty to twenty-five feet high, and such windows as showed in the walls were very high up.

The tops of palm-trees showed above the walls.

The poor people's houses were little square huts with a door and two windows, and smoke coming out of a hole in the back.
'The poor Egyptians haven't improved so very much in their building since the first time we came to Egypt,' whispered Cyril to Anthea.
The huts were roofed with palm branches, and everywhere there were chickens, and goats, and little naked children kicking about in the yellow dust.

On one roof was a goat, who had climbed up and was eating the dry palm-leaves with snorts and head-tossings of delight.

Over every house door was some sort of figure or shape.
'Amulets,' the priest explained, 'to keep off the evil eye.' 'I don't think much of your "nice Egypt",' Robert whispered to Jane; 'it's simply not a patch on Babylon.' 'Ah, you wait till you see the palace,' Jane whispered back.
The palace was indeed much more magnificent than anything they had yet seen that day, though it would have made but a poor show beside that of the Babylonian King.