text:  To this concentration of his faculties in the task of observing we probably owe the minute detail he has given us of the festive scene before him which we must quote as a companion sketch of Feringhi manners to the previously cited account of the ball at Guildhall:--"At length dinner was announced: and all rose and led by the queen of the city (the lady mayoress ) withdrew to another room where the table was laid out in the most costly manner being loaded with dishes principally of silver and gold and covered with _sar-poshes_ (lids or covers ) some of which were of immense size like little boats