or in the house. This draws it together, and sometimes they carry in it the meal made into dough; in this manner they bring it full of bread; and, when the repast is over, carry it away at once, with all that is left, in the same manner."-HARMER, vol. iv. pp. 367, 369.

"For a

The same article is described by Niebuhr. table, with table-linen, we had a round piece of leather, with iron rings at certain distances round it, through which cords were passed, after our meals; and the table hung, in the form of a purse, upon one of our camels." Of this kind, probably, were the kneading-troughs which the Israelites carried bound up in their clothes.-Travels, vol. i. p. 169.

CHAPTER VI.

FOOD.

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BREAD-BAKING-OVENS-ARAB BREAKFAST-FUEL-PARCHED CORN-FOOD IN EGYPT BEANS-RED POTTAGE - MILK CHURNING-BUTTER AND HONEY-HONEY OR DIPSE-SAVOURY MEAT-LOCUSTS-SALT.

BREAD-BAKING-OVENS.

GENESIS Xviii. 6.

"And Abraham hastened into the tent unto Sarah, and said, Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes upon the hearth."

EXODUS Xiii. 7.

"Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days; and there shall no leavened bread be seen with thee; neither shall there be leaven seen with thee in all thy quarters."

LEVITICUS ii. 4-7.

"And if thou bring an oblation of a meat-offering, baken in the oven, it shall be unleavened cakes of fine flour mingled with oil, or unleavened wafers anointed with oil. And if thy oblation be a meat-offering baken in a pan (or plate), it shall be of fine flour unleavened, mingled with oil... And if thy oblation be a meat-offering baken in the frying-pan, it shall be of fine flour with oil." (vii. 12; Numb. xi. 8.)

1 KINGS Xix. 6.

"And behold there was a cake baken on the coals...and he did eat. (John xxi. 9.)

2 KINGS iv. 42.

"And there came a man ... and brought the man of God...twenty loaves of barley. (Judges vii. 13.)

PSALM XXI. 9.

"Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger. (Malachi. iv. 1.)

JEREMIAH vii. 18.

"The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the Queen of Heaven."

EZEKIEL iv. 9.

"Take thou also unto thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentiles, and millet, and fitches, and put them in one vessel, and make thee bread thereof."

"I found the villager's wife, (at the village of Lachale, in Syria,) engaged in the operation of baking cakes. The fuel consisted of dried dung, laid upon the hearth, and withered branches of the vine, and the bread was spread out with the hands, like a pancake. These are eaten new. Each cake was exceedingly thin, and when eaten was folded into a compass that admitted the whole to be put into the mouth at once."-RAE WILSON'S Travels, vol. ii. p. 156.

"The modes of baking bread are different in different places of Arabia... (In one place) the oven was simply an earthen pot glazed; and a fire of charcoal was kindled up within it. When the oven was sufficiently heated, the cakes were laid against the sides of the pot, without removing the coals, and in a few moments the bread was taken up half-roasted, and was eaten hot.

"The Arabians of the desert use a heated plate of iron, or a gridiron, in preparing their cakes, which are. often as thin as wafers. When they have no gridiron,

they roll their dough into balls, and put it either among live coals, or into a fire of camel's dung, where they cover it till it is penetrated by the heat. They then remove the ashes, and eat the bread, while it is scarcely dry, and still hot. In the towns, the Arabians have ovens like ours; their bread is of barley-meal, and of the form and thickness of our pancakes; but they never give it enough of the fire."-NIEBUHR's Arabia, vol. ii. p. 231,

"In cities and villages, where there are public ovens, the bread is usually leavened; but among the Bedouins, as soon as the dough is kneaded, it is made into thin cakes, either to be baked immediately upon the coals, or else in a tajen, which is a shallow earthen vessel, like a frying-pan."-See SHAW's Barbary, vol. i. pp. 415, 416. "In the evening we received some sour milk, and

warm thin cake of durra bread. This is baked on a flat stone, eighteen inches square, raised from the ground by a small stone at each corner, so as to admit a fire under it; and when it is at a certain degree of heat, the paste is laid on it, which being quite soft, or nearly liquid, spreads in a sheet all over the stone, and in one minute is firm enough to be turned, which is done with great dexterity without breaking it. As soon as one is baked, another is placed on the stone; and they are pretty good if eaten while hot, but when cold, they are quite sour and disagreeable. They are generally eaten with sour milk; but if allowed to get cold, they are broken to pieces, put into a bowl, and boiled lentils poured on them. This forms the general food of the country."-BELZONI's Travels, pp. 84, 85.

Burckhardt also mentions that the bread used at breakfast is frequently made "by spreading out in a circle a great number of small stones, over which a brisk fire is kindled; when the stones are sufficiently heated, the fire is removed, and the paste spread over the hot stones, and immediately covered with glowing ashes, and left until thoroughly baked."-Notes on the Bedouins, &c. vol. i. p. 58.

"In the court of one of the houses, we examined the Arab oven, a rude and simple contrivance. It is