Banquets of the nations

the mixture over the fire for a few minutes, then take it off and stuff the melon with it, fix the stalk-part on again, and fasten it down with a few small wooden skewers or pins. Lay the melon in a baking dish, put it in a moderate oven, and, when nicely baked, serve on a dish, with bread. Gibnah wa Urz. (Cheese and Rice.) Wash a quarter pound of rice in several waters ; put it into a saucepan with enough cold water to cover it, and when the water boils pour it off and add to the rice half a pint of milk, and let it stew very slowly for twenty minutes. Grate a quarter pound of hard dry cheese ; then take a flat dish and rub it thoroughly with oil, put on that a layer of rice, sprinkle over this some of the grated cheese, shake on to that a little salt and pepper, now add another layer of rice, then grated cheese, and a sprinkling of salt and pepper, and so on, rice and cheese alternately, till all is on the dish. Then put on the top half an ounce of butter cut in small pieces, and put the dish in a Dutch oven in front of the fire till the top is nicely browned. Makhlut Khudarat. (Mixed Vegetables.) Peel and wash some carrots and turnips, and cut them like olives. Cut some French beans into small diamond-shaped pieces. Take equal portions of the above vegetables, with an equal quantity of freshly-shelled young peas, and half the quantity of soaked beans, a few potatoes cut in pieces, and a handful of spinach. Boil them all separately in salted water. Thicken a breakfastcupful of milk with flour, and stir it over the fire till boiling ; then mix with it about half a teacupful of common stock and half an ounce of butter, and then move the saucepan to the side of the fire. Beat the yolks of two eggs, strain them, and stir them gradually into the sauce, turning the spoon one way only. Season with salt, pepper, and some grated horse-radish. When the vegetables are cooked, drain them, pour over the sauce, and serve with bread. PulacTbi al-Kumbur. (Pilau of Quails.) Bone and stuff six quails with a good forcemeat, seasoned with onion, caraway, and cinnamon. Wrap a large vine leaf round each, then a thin slice of fat bacon, which should be secured with a small wooden skewer. Put a quarter of a pound of butter into a stewpan, place it over the fire until it has melted, then put in the quails over a slow fire, turning them occasionally. More butter may be added if the above quantity is not sufficient to cook the birds in. Thoroughly wash half a pound of rice, throw it into a saucepan with plenty of water and a lump of salt, and boil quickly for ten minutes without stirring. At the end of that time drain the water off the rice, cover it with fresh cold water, which drain away also. Then move the saucepan to the side of the fire, and cover the rice with a thick folded cloth. Put a quarter pound of butter in a frying pan over the fire, and let it melt. Peel and thinly slice a small onion, put it with a bay leaf into the butter, and stew slowly until soft. Dust a small quantity of white pepper into the butter, when well flavoured with the onions, strain the butter into the rice, also the cooking butter and gravy of the quails, stirring to mix well. Put the quails on a hot dish, turn the rice over them, and serve. Murabbit Tin. (Stuffed Figs.)