THE SHEIKH OF SHUHBA, 49 



led into a courtyard surrounded by buildings. As we 

 entered, seven dignified white-turbaned Druses bowed to 

 the ground ; then the Sheikh — a fine-looking man about 

 thirty-five years of age — came forth to welcome us, and 

 ushered us into his abode. We were received in the winter 

 residence, a large ill-lighted room, with a fireplace in the 

 centre, and divans round it. The Sheikh took his place on 

 one side of the fire, attended by a younger brother, and 

 several white-bearded elders. We, with our guard and 

 Francois in the background, sat opposite to him. The room 

 was quite filled with villagers. The conversation opened 

 with the usual compliments and enquiries as to the success 

 of our journey, but after we had requested the young brother 

 to sit down, which he at first declined to do, it diverged 

 into more general topics. We enquired as to the pos- 

 sibility of traversing the interior of the Lejah, and received 

 satisfactoi-y replies. We were told that in two days we 

 might easily reach Khubab, on the north-western border, 

 but that Ahireh, half a day's journey distant, was the oidy 

 stopping-place on the road, as Damet-el-Alya was now 

 uninhabited. 



Meanwhile coffee was prepared. Among those Easterns 

 who maintain their primitive customs, this is a very im- 

 portant ceremony, and must always be performed in public. 

 The coffee-maker is an old servant, well practised in the 

 art, and any failure on his part would be considered a 

 disgrace to the whole household. In the present case the 

 beans were first roasted over the fire in an open pan, 

 which the Sheikh himself took occasionally into his hand 

 for a moment, in order to keep up the appearance of 

 serving his guests in person. Then followed the pounding. 

 This is done in a finely-carved wooden mortar, and must 

 require considerable dexterity, as the operator is expected 

 to beat a lively march, like the rat-a-tat of a French 



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