168 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT. 



than they can help, may be supposed never to know 

 what downright hunger is. Among their plats was 

 one of pancakes, made right artistically, and as 

 though in regard of Shrovetide. We wound up with 

 a bowl of sherbet, or some variety of that genus, for 

 the consumption of which we were allowed .the use 

 of spoons. It would be pleasant enough to dine with 

 them, were it not for the barbarity of eating with 

 one's fingers an evil which their notions of hospi- 

 tality tend still further to aggravate. On occasions 

 when they wish to do particular honour to a guest, it 

 is their custom to pick tit-bits out of the dish, perhaps 

 to roll up such morsels in a ball, and pop them into 

 the stranger's mouth. Sometimes the attentive host 

 will dig his fingers into the mass, and pile up the 

 nicest pieces on the side of the dish, ready for your 

 consumption, and this by way of saving you the 

 trouble of selection. Happy were we that our 

 friendly entertainer was content with this milder 

 exhibition of benevolence ; for it did not require any 

 great ingenuity to pretend a mistake as to the identity 

 of morceaux. The malicious doctor seemed bent on 

 making us undergo this trial, and did his best, with 

 winks and whispers, to rob us of our ignorance. 

 Very kind was this good Miralahi to us. We sat 

 long, and talked much with him, and he was urgent 

 in invitations to us to prolong our stay in the city. 

 The inducement that he held out was certainly 

 tempting nothing less than the promise that he 



