148 SHORT STALKS 



who complains of his tools, l)ut 1 certainly think that all 

 the Ijad luck which 1 ever deserved, and did not have, was 

 concentrated on this trip. 



While at El Outaja we made friends with the sheik of 

 the village, a very dignified and courteous personage, who 

 invited us to dinner, along with the stationmaster and a 

 French gentleman who had lately arrived to try an experi- 

 ment in vine culture. We were received in a wiudowless 

 room, with a handsome carpet and a good deal of furniture 

 of a plain kind. His secretary sat at another table writing- 

 most of the time, for the village sheiks exercise magisterial 

 functions. After a preliminary course or two of rather 

 highly spiced viands, served in European fashion, the 

 "piecG de resistance came on. The table was cleared and a 

 Hat iron dish, a yard in diameter, was placed there, after 

 which two servants bore in a half-grow^n sheep, roasted 

 whole, on a wooden spit. This was deposited on the dish 

 and the spit withdrawn. The sheik then proceeded to 

 pull off the choicer parts with his fingers and place them 

 on our plates, after which we were expected to help our- 

 selves in the same " go-as-you-please " fashion. It was 

 not so nasty as it sounds, for it was roasted very brown 

 and crisp. After this followed the great national dish of 

 Koiis-Kousou, signifying " generosity " — Hour moistened, 

 and rolled by the hand into tiny balls like sago, then 

 steamed and served with different sauces or raisins. A 

 wife is valued, to a great extent, according to her ability 

 to make Kous-Kousou. We had lots of Algerian wane, 

 which the sheik did not disdain to drink himself. Dates 

 and pomegranates finished the meal. 



The lano;uaa;e was a difiicultv, but we learned somethino- 



