r fast with (_el hassua_)
barley-gruel; they grind the barley to the size of sparrow-shot,
this they mix with water, and simmer over a slow fire two or three
hours. This food is esteemed extremely wholesome, and is
243 antifebrile. The Emperor takes this before he drinks tea in a
morning: his father, Seedi Muhamed ben Abdallah, also, who drank
none but fine hyson tea, never would drink that beverage till he
had first laid a foundation of _el hassua_.

The Arabs and Shelluhs, with whom _el hassua_ is generally used,
urge its salubrity, by reporting that a physician alighted in a
strange country, and when he arose in the morning, after performing
his matins, he seated himself with some of the inhabitants, and,
conversing, asked them how they lived, and with what food they
broke their fast? "With _el hassua_," was the reply: "Then,"
rejoined Esculapius, (_Salam u alikume_,) "Peace be with you; for
if you eat _el hassua_ in the morning you have no need of a
doctor:" and he immediately departed.

When I established the port of Santa Cruz, and opened it to
European commerce, the gratitude and hospitality of the Arabs and
Shelluhs of the province of Suse, was demonstrated in every way: so
rejoiced were they to see their port, after an inactivity of thirty
years, again re-established. If I rode out to visit any part of the
country, the women, on my approach to a douar, would come out to a
great distance with bowls of milk on their heads; others with bowls
of honey, with thin scrapings of butter in them, and bread or
244 cakes[169], similar to pancakes, baked in five minutes, on stones
heated with the embers of charcoal. These greetings I received by
tasting every bowl of milk, and dipping a bit of bread in the honey
and eating it. The milk thus presented is emblematical of peace and
amity; the honey of welcome: to refuse eating or tasting what is
thus presented, is considered, among this patriarchal people, a
great breach of good manners, an inexcusable want of courtesy,
which they say none but a _kaffer_[170] would commit. They would
then say, _Birk eeaudee, birk attajar u straha_, "Alight, I pray
thee, alight, merchant! and rest yourself."

[Footnote 169: See a similar custom in Genesis, xxiii. 5--8.]

[Footnote 170: Kaffer is the Arabic term for