If the Arab has eaten a midday meal he will probably sleep for an hour after, and then continue doing what he has to. About six-thirty comes the dinner, and this meal is important. There is always the highly spiced soup with pieces of meat floating about, usually another dish of meat and vegetables, and always the _kous-kous_, with more meat. They drink water or milk, for even those who are in the habit of taking wine and spirits rarely do so in their own houses if Europeans are not there. After dinner they drink their mint tea or coffee, and friends come in to see them, or they go out themselves and sit in the shops or cafés and drink more tea, and talk and laugh until it is time to go to bed. Their meals are eaten on the floor. They keep a kind of narrow mattress on which they sit, and the dishes are placed on a small table about a foot high known as a _maïda_. A common napkin some eight feet long is placed on their knees all round the circle. All the food, except the soup and sometimes the _kous-kous_, is eaten with the hand, and before the meal and after, soap and warm water are carried round and every person washes his hands and face. It is said that these ablutions bring prosperity. There are usually no glasses, and a common mug is handed round from which sips are taken. Of course, when receiving guests of note, or Europeans, the meal is much more sumptuous, and among the Europeanized chiefs there is a gaudy dining-room kept for the friends from over the seas. Crockery of all kinds is produced, knives and forks, a jumble of wines and a general atmosphere of inconsequent confusion. But the meal is excellent, though sometimes a trifle long. This is an average menu for a short dinner: _Chorba_. Soup with vermicelli, highly spiced. _Bourak_. Mutton minced with mint and sage, rolled up in a light pastry—this is a kind of sausage roll. _Leham Lalou_. A kind of mutton stew in a dark sauce, cooked with prunes and sweet almonds. The words mean sweetmeat. _Mechoui_. The lamb roasted and served whole. Even to Europeans no knives or forks are issued, and it must be torn to pieces with the hands. _Kous-kous_. Looks like semolina and is made of hard wheat kneaded into tiny round balls and steamed. With it is served a kind of vegetable soup called _marga_, a highly spiced sauce, and often mutton or chicken. There are countless varieties of _kous-kous_ varying according to localities. _Heloua_. Sweets and cakes made of flour and honey and almond paste and orange water. There are many other alternative dishes; game often appears, but as a general rule the _chorba_, the _mechoui_, and the _kous-kous_ are _de rigueur_ for the set dinner. In the place of the sheep there may occasionally appear a gazelle, and if an Arab wants to show his deepest respect for you he will serve a baby camel roasted whole. But this is very rare.