TURKISH EATING. 107 meat stuck on wooden skewers, and roasted ovei* the embers, and if it be desired to make it somewhat better than common, pieces of flesh, fat, and liver are placed on the skewers alternately. The Turks of rank have generally their food prepared for them by the female slaves of their harem, but, even then, cleanliness is no matter of boasting, and none of the Turkish ladies know anything of cookery, and their laziness prevents their acquiring any knowledge of it. vSoup is never seen at Turkish tables, as it would be impossible to eat it with the shallow spoons they use, generally made of wood or horn. All the meat to be used for the dinner is boiled or sodden together in one great pot ; from this mass afterwards the various plats are prepared, almost all of which have a similar taste, having been all at first subjected to the same treatment. In some the meat is cut down smaller than in others, in some smothered by a vile sauce of butter or melted fat ; some slightly roasted, and otherwise disguised ; but in this way the cook prepares a number of dishes, as quantity, not quality, is his object, and constitutes the goodness of the dinner; but in none of them, is there either nourishment or flavour,— all are sodden and tasteless, from want of salt, pepper, spice, &c. The vegetables are ever villanously cooked, and floating in grease, or the water tiie meat has been boiled in. The sweets, of which all Easterns are especially fond, are better and more varied ; but even these are very similar in taste, and cannot for a moment compare with an European dessert.

All food is served, not on dishes, but on plates, many often not larger than a saucer, and all are at one time crowded and heaped on a sennie, i. e. a large copper flat dish, with a low edge, which is placed on a stool a foot or twenty inches high, or an equally lowtable. The honourable company sit round this, on carpets spread on the floor, and each at once plunges his hand into any or every dish that pleases him, and gropes about till he gets hold of the best bits, pulls them out, and swallows them. Very often a bite is only taken from the piece thus seized on, and the rest returned to the dish ; but, in spite of the cleanly treatment it has undergone, it is again soon seized hold of by another, and, perchance, again similarly handled, till all is finally bolted. The Turks eat incredibly rapidly, as they bolt every thing, and keep cramming into the mouth