Page:Ossendowski - The Fire of Desert Folk.djvu/274

258 ate with the thumb and two fingers of the right hand, dipping pieces of bread or meat into the gravies and sauces to fish out the vegetables.

During the meal I explained to our companions that the manner of eating in Mongolia resembles that of Maghreb, save that it was even more direct and energetic. There they serve a whole sheep or immense lumps of cooked meat, upon which every one throws himself with a great, heavy knife, cutting off chunks of the meat and breaking the bones. During a feast the hostess moves around the circle and carefully observes the hands of the guests. If the fat runs down from these and off the elbows, then she is satisfied that her food is being appreciated. At an Arab meal one can well wear a dinnerjacket, given a bit of caution and deftness; but for a Mongolian feast the best costume were "naked to the waist," as the prevailing fashion in the country of Jenghiz Khan dictates that a diner should be covered with grease from the mouth to the belt to be certain of paying the proper compliment to his amiable hostess. At a "real social success" a man's companions, if they be also good trencher-men, will assist in bespattering him from the sides and from behind. Naturally no one wears "a smoking" in Mongolia, as a costume there after only a fraction of a social season becomes so encrusted that it is best suited for the manufacture of soap or the trying out of fat for other purposes.

It is very easy to understand that following such a plentiful dinner as the one given us by Si Mahommed ben Chokrun we had little desire to walk much and that, consequently, after strolling through the beautiful garden or,