The exact precision which characterizes every legal enactment in ancient Erinn, and which could not have existed in a state of barbarism, is manifested even in the regulations about food. Each member of the chieftain's family had his appointed portion, and there is certainly a quaintness in the parts selected for each. The _saoi_ of literature and the king were to share alike, as we observed when briefly alluding to this subject in the chapter on ancient Tara; their portion was a prime steak. Cooks and trumpeters were specially to be supplied with "cheering mead," it is to be supposed because their occupations required more than ordinary libations; the historian was to have a crooked bone; the hunter, a pig's shoulder: in fact, each person and each office had its special portion assigned[251] to it, and the distinction of ranks and trades affords matter of the greatest interest and of the highest importance to the antiquarian. There can be but little doubt that the custom of Tara was the custom of all the other kings and chieftains, and that it was observed throughout the country in every family rich enough to have dependents. This division of food was continued in the Highlands of Scotland until a late period. Dr. Johnson mentions it, in his _Tour in the Hebrides_, as then existing. He observes that he had not ascertained the details, except that the smith[252] had the head. The allowance for each day is also specified. Two cows, and two _tinnés_,[253] and two pigs was the quantity for dinner. This allowance was for a hundred men. The places which the household were to occupy were also specified; so that while all sat at a common table,[254] there was, nevertheless, a certain distinction of rank. At Tara there were different apartments, called _imdas_, a word now used in the north of Ireland to denote a couch or bed. The name probably originated in the custom of sleeping in those halls, on the benches which surrounded them, or on the floor near the fire-place. In the ground plan of the banqueting hall at Tara, the house is shown as divided into five parts, which are again divided into others. Each of the two divisions extending along the side wall, is shown as subdivided into twelve _imdas_, which here mean seats; the central division is represented as containing three fires at equal distances, a vat, and a chandelier.