The Arabs make a first-class dish of melach, by mixing a
quantity of pounded dried meat with a thick porridge of dhurra
meal, floating in a soup of barmian (waker), with onions, salt,
and red peppers; this is an admirable thing if the party is
pressed for time (if not too hot, as a large quantity can be
eaten with great expedition. As the Arabs are nomadic, they have
a few simple but effective arrangements for food during the
journey. For a fortnight preparatory to an expedition, the women
are busily engaged in manufacturing a supply of abrey. This is
made in several methods: there is the sour, and the sweet abrey;
the former is made of highly-fermented dhurra paste that has
turned intensely acid; this is formed into thin wafers, about
sixteen inches in diameter, upon the doka or hearth, and dried in
the sun until the abrey has become perfectly crisp; the wafers
are then broken up with the hands, and packed in bags. There is
no drink more refreshing than water poured over a handful of sour
abrey, and allowed to stand for half an hour; it becomes
pleasantly acid, and is superior to lemonade. The residue is
eaten by the Arabs: thus the abrey supplies both meat and drink.
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