280 ARAB FOOD 



a ceremony to be lightly thrust aside, nor indeed easy so 

 frequently to go through. These simple folk saw a Frank 

 so rarely that I was like an odd specimen of ferce nature. 

 So little did they know of what lay beyond their horizon 

 that even my host had once only been in the City of 

 Tunis; scarce another in the country round had even 

 been to Sousa. The word Frank had no definite mean- 

 ing, except that the Franks dwelt beyond the only sea of 

 which they knew the Mediterranean; and they recog- 

 nized no difference in the French, Germans, Italians, Span- 

 iards, English. They had neVer heard of the Atlantic, 

 nor of America. I identified myself by telling them that 

 I lived in the land where the cotton-plant grew ; and as 

 they all wore cotton goods of English manufacture, this 

 was to them a pleasure to know. When I told them, in 

 days' journeys of a horse, how far off my country was, 

 they " Allahed !" in a marvellous fashion. My watch and 

 chain were a great charm to them, and they never tired 

 of examining a pair of gossamer rubber shoes I wore, and 

 every one wanted to see me stand in a pan of water, and 

 then show my dry feet within. The elasticity of a few 

 rubber bands I had in my pocket was again a wonder. 

 A gross of such would have bought out half M'Kalta. 

 They were very children, and yet delightful in their grace, 

 dignity, and politeness. The usual repast was seethed 

 kid's flesh (not bad eating by-the-way), or lamb, and the 

 national dish, koosh-koosh, a sort of wheaten preparation 

 which resembles cooked rice, and is eaten with a pepper- 

 sauce, was a truly delicious species of curry. The dexter- 

 ity in tearing the meat apart with the fingers of one hand 

 was marvellous. Once I was offered some native wine 

 (vile is no word for it), and when I asked how it came 

 that, among sons of the Prophet, there was wine made, 

 they laughingly said that, of course, no one drank it ; and 



