A MOORISH DINNER PARTY.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1290, 19 November 1896, Page 9

A MOORISH DINNER PARTY.

AT TABLE WITH MOROCCO'S GRAND VIZIER.

; Dinner is announced, and, led by the J Vizier, we pass down the length of the j garden, among the courtiers, soldiers and j slaves, and we find ourselves entering a ! second and even more gorgeous apartment j than we have just left. Under the arcade j of arches that gives entrance to this room I stood our dinner, 92 huge covered dishes I of earthenware filled with all the delii cacies that native cooks know so well how jto prepare. "Within stands the dining I table, loaded with fruit and flowers and i sweetmeats, with candelabra and dessert ; dishes, and set in European fashion, as I strange an anomaly in so Oriental a scene ; as the furniture which lies scattered about J the room. At either extremity of the 1 large apartment stand four-posted bed- ! steads of French “Empire" design, in j ebony and walnut respectively, while | mirrors of every shape, form and design, ; from handsome constructions in “buhl” :to the most flashing of modern gilt j hideosities. Clocks of many shapes and ! designs ticked against the walls, while ! the floors of marble and tiles are strewn j with antique carpets of the country and modern Brussels of suicidal hues ; the candelabra on the table of inferior pewters the forks and spoons of handsome silver g-ilt; everywhere the i same mixture of Orientalism and civilisa- | tion, of wealth and shoddiness. Nor was ! the company less diverse, fcr next to Her I Majesty’s Minister in evening dress and I decorations sat a tall figure swathed in white wool and silk ; while behind a young officer in the mess kit of the Grenadiers stood a group of Moorish servants in scarlet and gold, black slaves, and soldiers in their crimson “fezzes.” The perplexity of the British butler who was shown close upon a hundred dishes and told to serve dinner was a feature in the entertainment, but fortunately there is no routine in Moorish feasts, and one eats promiscuously of spiced meats, young pigeons richly stuffed, fowls roasted with lemon peel, and “ kooskoosooo,” the national dish, to mention but a very few of the many delicacies prepared. No wines are ever given at these entertainments, and one falls back upon one’s own supplies, brought for the purpose, for the Moors are by I’eligion and generally by practice, staunch teetotallers, nor would those who do imbibe in secret venture to do so at a public feast, in the presence alike of Europeans and their own compatriots. We did not do justice, it must be I confessed, to even a small proportion of the repast prepared, excellent though the dishes were, nor is one expected to do so, for the number of cooked dishes is a sign of honour and hospitality, and one tastes rarely of those which one’s servants think most according to their master’s gout, the rest being carried away to the different apartments in which the Vizier is entertaining his fellow-members of the Ministry and the court in general, for only the Cnancellor of the Exchequer and two of the Under Secretaries of State dined with us at table. A lull in the music in the garden without tells us that the the musicians have not been forgotten, butare feasting apace. Then back once more to the reception room, to seat ourselves upon a semi-circle of chairs arranged at equal distances from one another, where we are sprinkled with rose and orange water from tong-necked silver sprinklers, and refreshed with the heavy scent of incense. Trays of green tea in minute cups and tumbleis, such as we would use for liqueur, follow, tray after | tray, until the threo cups apiece prescribed ' by Moorish etiquette are drunk. Then ■' the musicians approach and seat themselves under the arcade without, a long row of men with inlaid guitars ; and violins and strange instruments that have no name in English. But the proxi- j mity is too great, and what was music at a distance becomes noise at close quarters. Beyond them is the garden, seen through the arches, half lost in shady gloom, half apparent in the bright moonlight and , brighter flash of numbers of lanterns, j Again the white-robed figures come and \ go, passing and repassing each other, like ghosts among the trees, and the members of the court and their attendant soldiers and slaves wander at will along the tiled paths. A move is made, and, bidding our adieus to our host, we mount once more and, surrounded by soldiers and servants bearing lanterns, seek our home.— St. James' Gazette.