Page:Ossendowski - The Fire of Desert Folk.djvu/78

62 great heaps of gaudy cushions, on which we were to repose, and in front of them a red-toned rug patterned in black arabesques. On a low table at the edge of the rug there had already been placed a majolica bowl filled with kouskous, the standard native dish made from wheat gruel, prepared with sugar, almonds, figs and raisins and all mixed with a mutton gravy. This is the sweet kouskous, or seffa, and it is a very palatable and nutritious dish, as is all the Tlemsen food, which has a reputation throughout the whole of Algeria and Morocco. With spoons provided for us Europeans, who were so much less deft in manipulating semi-liquid foods with our fingers, our bowl, having yielded, of course, a liberal serving for Mahomet, was soon almost entirely empty.

Zofiette was already quite satisfied and begged for tea, though I tried also a following dish of real taam, or the unsweetened kouskous made with broth and vegetables. Then only appeared an old woman, who cleared the little table and brought in a copper ewer full of tea, a basket of figs and grapes and a plate of round cakes, samsa and mekrout, very rich and tempting, but quite beyond our capacity even to sample. We, however, made inroads on the tea, in spite of the fact that it was infused with fresh mint and terribly over-sweetened. Tea with mint is a very good drink in hot weather and, after the rich native food, is really an ideal beverage in African conditions, if only it is made with a normal quantity of sugar.

After having arranged with Mahomet our plans for the next day we returned to the hotel. Just before reaching it, we came upon a native funeral. A crowd of Arabs hurried along, jostling for places nearest to the bier, on