Page:Palestine Exploration Fund - Quarterly Statement for 1894.djvu/171

Rh shove them into the mouth, as much as the mouth is capable of holding. The meat is distributed by an elderly man charged with this office according to the rank of the guests: the hind quarter is for the best guests, whilst it is humiliating to receive the fore quarter.

The first is the (Shada) the second is the  (Dra' il bagha). Coffee is served in tiny cups, after all men have washed their hands with soap and water, poured out on every individual according to rank. It is expected that every man soaping his hands passes the soap to his neighbour without letting it fall to the ground. The maladroit person who lets it fall is expected to buy a new piece. The guests now disperse, each one thanking the owner of the house,

whilst the feast-giver apologises in humble terms, as, "Everything belongs to you," or "This was only our duty," or "It is from your wealth," and receives again as answer, "God's and your arm's wealth,"

and thus the festival ends. On the day or days preceding the wedding a bard is invited, and through long hours, sometimes till morning, he sings to his fiddle the stories of old heroes, or love stories, and receives £1 and upwards for a night. I have never seen presents made at the weddings of the inhabitants of the mountains of Judah except in money, but in the plains other presents are carried before the bride, such as a mirror, copper utensils for the kitchen, a clothes box, a carpet, &c. Of riddles there is no end; some are excellent, some mediocre, some clean, some uncouth, some indifferent. The following are specimens:—

Green in the market, red in the house? Solve it, oh, ox! Understand it, oh, ass! Answer.—Henna

A bird flying; it drops unleavened bread, and every bread is as an atom? Answer.—A sieve.

The daughter of the king sitting in her palace, her hands on her waist? Answer.—The jug