dinner; then takes a pipe and a cup of coffee, and, in hot weather, usually indulges himself with a nap. Often he retires to recline in the hareem; where a wife or female slave watches over his repose, or rubs the soles of his feet with her hands. On such occasions, and at other times when he wishes to enjoy privacy, every person who comes to pay him a visit is told, by the servant, that he is in the hareem; and no friend expects him to be called thence, unless on very urgent business. From the time of the afternoon-prayers, until sunset (the next time of prayer), he generally enjoys, again, his pipe and a cup of coffee in the society of some one or more of his friends at home or abroad. Shortly after sunset

he sups.

I must now describe the meals of dinner ("el-ghadà ") and supper ("el-'ashà "), and the manner and etiquette of eating. The same remarks will apply to both these repasts; except (that supper is always the principal meal. It is the general. custom to cook in the afternoon; and what remains of the supper is eaten the next day for dinner, if there are no guests in the house. The master of a family generally dines and sups with his wife or wives and children; but there are many men, particularly of the higher classes, who are too proud to do this, or too much engaged in society to be able to do so, unless on some few occasions; and there are men even of the lowest class who scarcely ever eat with their wives or children. When a person is paying a visit to a friend, and the hour of dinner or supper arrives, it is incumbent on the master of the house to order the meal to be brought; and the same is generally considered necessary if the visiter be a stranger.

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Every person, before he sits down to the table, or rather to the tray, washes his hands, and sometimes his mouth also, with soap and water; or, at least, has some water poured upon his right hand. A servant brings to him a basin and ewer (called "tisht" and "ibreek"), of tinned copper, or of brass.2 The former of these has a cover pierced with holes, with a raised receptacle for the soap in the middle; and the water, being poured upon the hands, passes through this cover into the space below; so that when the basin is brought to a second person, the water with which the former one has washed is not seen. A napkin ("fooṭah") is given to each person.

1 See Mark vii. 3.

2 In the houses of some of the opulent, these utensils are of silver. I have also seen some of gilt copper.

A round tray (called "seeneeyeh," and saneeyeh,") of tinned copper, or sometimes of brass, generally between two and three feet in diameter, serves as a table; being placed upon a stool ("kursee") about fifteen inches high, made of wood, and often covered with mother-of-pearl, tortoise-shell, bone, &c. These two pieces of furniture compose the "sufrah." Round cakes of bread, such as have been before described, sometimes cut in halves across the middle, are placed round the tray, with several limes, cut in two, to be squeezed over any of the dishes that may require the acid; and a spoon of box-wood, or of ebony, or tortoise-shell, is put for each person. The bread often serves as a plate. Several dishes of tinned

TISHT AND IBREEK.1

copper, or of china, containing different kinds of viands, vegetables, &c., are then placed upon the tray, according to the common fashion of the country; or only one dish is put on at a time, after the Turkish mode.

The persons who are to partake of the repast sit upon the floor around the tray; each with his napkin upon his knees: or, if the tray be placed near the edge of a low deewán, which is often done, some of the persons may sit on the deewán, and the others on the floor: but if the party be numerous, the tray is placed in the middle of the room, and they sit round it with one knee on the ground, and the other (the right) raised; this being the most approved posture at meals in every

1 The width of the former is fourteen inches; and the height of the latter, the same.

case and in this manner, as many as twelve persons may sit round a tray three feet wide. Each person bares his right

arm to the elbow, or tucks up the hanging end of his sleeve. Before he begins to eat, he says, "Bi-smi-llah" (In the name

of God). This is generally said in a low, but audible voice; and by the master of the house first. It is considered both as a grace and as an invitation to any person to partake of the meal; and when any one is addressed with "Bi-smi-llah,” or "Tafaḍḍal" (which latter signifies, in this case, "Do me the favour to partake of the repast"), he must reply, if he do not accept the invitation, "Heneeän" (or "May it be productive of enjoyment"), or use some similar expression: else it will be feared that an evil eye has been cast upon the food; and they say that, "in the food that is coveted" (or upon which an envious eye has fallen) "there is no blessing." But the manner in which the Egyptian often presses a stranger to eat with him shews that feelings of hospitality most forcibly dictate the "Bi-smi-llah." The master of the house first begins to eat; the guests or others immediately follow his example. Neither knives nor forks are used: the thumb and two fingers of the right hand serve instead of those instruments; but the spoons are used for soup or rice or other things that cannot be easily taken without; and both hands may be used in particular cases, as will be presently explained. When there are several dishes upon the tray, each person takes of any that he likes, or of every one in succession: when only one dish is placed upon the tray at a time, each takes from it a few mouthfuls, and it is quickly removed, to give place to another.2 To pick out a delicate morsel, and hand it to a friend, is esteemed polite. The manner of eating with the fingers, as practised in Egypt and other Eastern countries, is more delicate than may be imagined by Europeans who have not witnessed it, nor heard it correctly described. Each person breaks off a small piece of bread, dips it in the dish, and then conveys it to his mouth, together with a small portion of the meat or other contents of the dish. The piece of bread is generally doubled together, so as to enclose the morsel of meat, &c.; and only the thumb and first and second fingers are commonly used. When a person takes a piece of meat too large for a single mouthful, he usually places it upon his bread.

1 Or "Bi-smi-lláhi-r-raḥmáni-r-raheem" (In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful).

2 Our Saviour and his disciples thus ate from one dish. See Matt. xxvi. 23.

Or he merely sops his morsel of bread in the dish. See Ruth ii. 14; and John xiii. 26.

The food is dressed in such a manner that it may be easily eaten in the mode above described. It generally consists, for the most part, of "yakhnee," or stewed meat, with chopped onions, or with a quantity of "bámiyehs," or other vegetables; 'káwurmeh," or a richer stew, with onions; "warak mahshee," or vine-leaves, or bits of lettuce-leaf or cabbage-leaf, with a mixture of rice and minced-meat (delicately seasoned with

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salt, pepper, and onions, and often with garlic, parsley, &c.,) wrapped up in them, and boiled; cucumbers ("khiyár"), or

1 The bámiyeh is the esculent "hibiscus :" the part which is eaten is a polygonal pod, generally between one and three inches in length, and of the thickness of a small finger: it is full of seeds and nutritive mucilage, and has a very pleasant flavour. A little lime-juice is usually dropped on the plate of bámiyehs when they are cooked alone, and also when they have a little fried minced-meat sprinkled upon them, as is often done. 2 One of the servants is holding a water-bottle, the other, a fly-whisk made of palm-leaves.