374 BEDOUIN BANQUET. 



and soon came pushing round the bush to this 

 labour of love. Dropping down by the side of 

 Zaido, he caught hold of the head of the sheep by 

 the chin, fixed its shoulders against his knee, and 

 bending the former back, with a furious wrench 

 tore the wound in the throat open by the force, 

 and effected at once the dislocation of the neck, 

 and immediate death. Soon flaying the animal, they 

 dragged asunder the joints, separating the bones 

 from their articulations by many twists, and with 

 as little use of their well-preserved knives as 

 possible. The flesh thus almost torn from the body 

 was put into cooking vessels, whilst the head, with 

 the skin still attached, was placed amidst the wood 

 ashes of the fire, until the brain was well stewed in 

 the bony cavity of the skull. The shank bones, 

 broken between large stones, afforded to their 

 fortunate possessors delicious tit-bits of raw marrow, 

 drawn with a long spluttering sough into the mouth. 

 The entrails, after being taken out, were hastily 

 drawn through the closed hand, to squeeze the 

 contents upon the ground, and without more 

 dressing, transferred to the pots along with the 

 other meat, and which were soon bubbling fast and 

 furious, over the crackling, sparkling brushwood or 

 dried mimosa that formed the fuel. By and by 

 the savage banquet is prepared, and the meat taken 

 from the pots is put upon mats, or into the hollow 

 of an old shield ; every one now tries to get first to 

 help himself, all struggling and pushing, but in the 



