MINT FOÏl A SPONGING VTSITOB. 
135 
tents. When this ceremony is over, the people sit down around 
him, and enquire the news of the country from which he comes ; 
ll)ey ask, for example, M'hether such a horde have evacuated the 
spot on which they last encamped, whether he have met with others 
on his passage, &c. They then enquire the motives for and ex- 
tent of his journey, and ask about the tribe to which he be- 
longs. They never put any questions about his health till he \ms 
satisfied them on all the other points of their curiosity. 
If the stranger do not know any person amongst the horde 
which he visits, it is the richest of them who is obliged to shew 
him the rights of hospitality; but this is not the case vv'hen the 
travellers do not come alone. They give to each a large por- 
renger of milk, and barley Hour steeped in milk porridge or m 
water, when the happen to have any. If the visiter be able to 
read, they confer on him the honour of saying prayers; and on 
this occasion the table, or subordinate priest of the horde, places 
himself by his side as master of the ceremonies. 
If the stranger have friends amongst the horde, and be di??- 
tinguished either by his rank or property, they kill a goat or sheep, 
and sometimes an ox, for the purpose of regaling him. One of 
their wives prepares the feast. Before cooking the meat, she 
separates the suet, and serves it up to the guests in its raw state. 
As soon as the meat is dressed, she sets the share of her husband 
before his friends and neighbours; as it \vould be an irreparable 
error not to offer them this portion. She then puts the share of 
the stranger upon a layer of straw ; and the Arabian who gives 
the treat, causing either a Christian or a negro slave to carry it, goes 
and offers it himself. This repast is never served up till ten 
o'clock at night, even though the stranger should have arrived 
in the morning. The Moors offer nothing except at night by 
the light of the moon, or round a large fire, which they gene- 
rally kindle in all seasons. The traveller never fails to invite the 
person who treats him to do him the honour of eating with him; 
but the latter alM^ays beg to be excused, and his reason is, the 
respect which he bears for and ought to shew to strangers. 
The next day the traveller continues his route, and goes off 
without taking leave of any one : if he happen to remain longer, 
it is considered an infringement upon their hospitality, and they 
let him know it by giving him a smaller allowance, which they 
continue to diminish as long as he stays, and thus politely force 
him to depart. 
Amongst the Moors justice is prompt and decisive. Civil 
rights are little respected; but they know the necessity of check- 
ing men from committing crimes by the example of punishment. 
On these occasions, and in oxdinary cases, the guilty individuals 
