A GRAND PARTY. 163 



The dinner was laid out in a long, nar- 

 row, low room, which would not contain 

 all the guests whom our truly hospitable 

 hosts had invited, amounting to nearly 

 seventy. The junior part of the native 

 society retired to an adjoining room, where, 

 as I believe is often the case at large par- 

 ties, they fared better than we did at the 

 principal table; at all events, they were very 

 merry and happy, their bursts of laughter on 

 the utterance of any good joke often reach- 

 ing our ears, and forming a striking con- 

 trast with the silent etiquette of the first part 

 of the feast at our table. According to the 

 custom of the country, the person of highest 

 rank takes the head of the table, the foot is 

 occupied by the person next in rank, the 

 third sits on the right-hand of the head of the 

 table, and the giver of the feast on the left ; 

 the rest of the guests arrange themselves on 

 either side, taking their seats according to 

 their rank from the head of the table, always, 



M 2 



