A circular table about eight inches high is then placed in the centre
of the guests; on this is placed a tray with the first course of the
dinner, frequently puffs of delicate pastry fried in butter over a
charcoal fire, and containing sometimes meat, sometimes a delicious
compound of almond paste and cinnamon. This, being removed, is
followed by a succession of savoury stews with rich, well-flavoured
gravies, each with its own distinctive spiciness, but all excellently
cooked. The host first dips a fragment of bread into the gravy, saying
as he does so, "B'ísm Illah!" ("In the name of God!"), which the
guests repeat, as each follows suit with a sop from the dish.

There is abundant scope for elegance of gesture in the eating of the
stews, but still greater opportunity when the _pièce de résistance_ of
a Moorish dinner, the dish of kesk'soo, is brought on. This kesk'soo
is a small round granule prepared from semolina, which, having been
steamed, is served like rice beneath and round an excellent stew,
which is heaped up in the centre of the dish. With the thumb and
two first fingers of the right hand you are expected to secure some
succulent morsel from the stew,--meat, raisins, onions, or vegetable
marrow,--and with it a small quantity of the kesk'soo. By a skilful
motion of the palm the whole is formed into a round ball, which is
thrown with a graceful curve of hand and wrist into the mouth. Woe
betide you if your host is possessed by the hospitable desire to make
one of these boluses for you, for he is apt to measure the cubic
content of your mouth by that of his own, and for a moment your
feelings will be too deep for words; but this is only a brief
discomfort, and you will find the dish an excellent one, for Moorish
cooks never serve tough meat.

If your fingers have suffered from contact with the kesk'soo, it is