234 BIRD-HUNTING 



in the middle on the floor. Cigarettes made of ex- 

 cellent home-grown tobacco are smoked incessantly 

 in long wooden tubes about two feet long. The 

 raki luckily is not very strong, for it is passed round 

 continually. As a guest I had a small flask and a 

 liqueur-glass ; the rest drank from the bottle. And 

 though I drank as little as possible, it was impos- 

 sible to avoid taking a little each time they raised 

 their bottle to me with the Italian 'Viva,' or the 

 Albanian ' Put-mlr.' Then I used to respond either 

 ' Viva ' or ' Bof-mir.' With two of the brothers I could 

 speak pretty freely in Italian, as also with a sporting 

 old chap called ' Zef,' who attached himself to my 

 service. This last was a Scutarine, but I fancy had 

 left Scutari for the good of his health somewhat 

 suddenly about two years before. 



At first I used to have my meals served separately, 

 but after I had been with them a few days and had 

 got to know them better, I hinted that I should 

 prefer to eat with them ; and I think that this made 

 a good impression and gratified them all. 



When dinner was ready the raki and cheese were 

 put away, and a large round wooden table about four 

 inches high brought in, while we all squatted round 

 it, provided each with a long-handled wooden spoon. 

 Then a large flat round basket was brought, in 

 which was a big round loaf of maize bread, which 

 just fitted it. This was cut up by the head of the 



