dadah, were invited to sit with him. Round the chamber which
opened to the air, other chieftains were invited to spread their
carpets also; the centre was left clear. The rest of the Sheikhs and
rhookatadgis established themselves in small parties, grouped in the
same fashion, in the great court and under the arcades, taking care to
leave free egress and regress to the fountain. The retainers feasted,
when all was over, in the open air.

Every man found his knife in his girdle, forks were unknown. Fakredeen
prided himself on his French porcelain, which the Djinblats, the
Talhooks, and the Abunekeds glanced at very queerly. This European
luxury was confined to his own carpet. There was, however, a
considerable supply of Egyptian earthenware, and dishes of pewter and
brass. The retainers, if they required a plate, found one in the large
flat barley cake with which each was supplied. For the principal guests
there was no want of coarse goblets of Bohemian glass; delicious
water abounded in vases of porous pottery, which might be blended, if
necessary, with the red or white wine of the mountain. The rice, which
had been dressed with a savoury sauce, was eaten with wooden spoons
by those who were supplied with these instruments; but in general the
guests served themselves by handfuls.

Ten men brought in a framework of oaken branches placed transversely,
then covered with twigs, and over these, and concealing everything, a
bed, fully an inch thick, of mulberry leaves. Upon this fragrant bier
reposed a wild boar; and on each side of him reclined a gazelle. Their
bodies had closed the moment their feet had been loosened from the
stakes, so that the gravy was contained within them. It required a most
skilful carver not to waste this precious liquid. The chamber was filled
with an invigorating odour as the practised hand of Habas of Deir el
Kamar proceeded to the great performance. His instruments were a silver
cup, a poniard, and a handjar. Making a small aperture in the side of
the animal, he adroitly introduced the cup, and proportionately baled
out the gravy to a group of plates that were extended to him; then,
plunging in the long poniard on which he rested, he made an incision
with the keen edge and broad blade of the handjar, and sent forth slice
after slice of white fat and ruby flesh.

The same ceremony was performing in the other parts of the castle.
Ten of the pits had been cleared of their burden to appease the fir