324 
AKZ-ROUM TO AMASIA. 
various fashions. On this were placed piles of bread all around, onions, 
endive, and basins of yaourt , milk, and plates of cheese, with two 
wooden spoons at intervals for the guests. When all was ready our 
host said, “ booyouroun” or “ you are served,” and we approached the 
table. When seated each guest was attended by a page, who threw a large 
napkin with gold-embroidered borders over each shoulder, and arranged 
another on our knees; an apparatus not unlike that of the preliminary 
service of shaving. A small cloth was placed in the centre of 
the tray, on which stood the dish. First, in a glass vase, came 
a species of sweet soup which was not unpalatable; then a lamb roasted, 
stuffed with rice and almonds; then stewed pears, then a stew of 
mutton, then sweet jelly; in short, there was a succession of at least 
one hundred dishes, consisting generally of an intermediate sweet ar¬ 
ticle between the meats, besides pastry to each. The master of the 
entertainment said, “ Booyouroun when it was brought in, and 
“ Colder C or 44 take away,” when we had eat two or three mouthfuls, 
and scarce any other words but these two were heard during the whole 
feast. Servants attended behind each guest, with a vase of lemonade 
or sherbet. The dishes were not, in general, badly cooked, although 
much coarser than those of Persia. The whole was closed by an im¬ 
mense pillau. The principal dishes were the yakne, which resembles 
our Irish stew; the dolmah , meat balls enclosed in vine leaves; the 
Jcabob, which is roast meat; the chorbah , or soup; the baklavah , a cake 
of honey, paste, and other sweet ingredients; the lokmah, a light paste 
puff; and the pillau, which is nothing but rice intermixed now and then 
with plums, almonds, and always well peppered and spiced. When 
all was over we washed our hands with soap and hot water, smoked, 
drank coffee, and went away, and were dunned as usual for backshishes 
on departing. 
A strange character joined us at Arz-roum ; he was a native of Bosnia , 
and took the opportunity of our escort to reach Constantinople. He 
seemed to fear the wild inhabitants of the country through which we 
