There is much reason to conclude that the cheese used by the Jews differed in no respect from that still common in the East; which is usually exhibited in small cakes about the size of a tea saucer, white in color, and excessively salt. It has no rind, and soon becomes exceedingly hard and dry—being, indeed, not made for long keeping. It is best when new and comparatively soft; and, in this state, large quantities are consumed in lumps or crumbs not made up into cakes. All cheese in the East is of very indifferent quality; and it is within the writer's own knowledge that the natives infinitely prefer English or Dutch cheese when they can obtain it. In making cheese, the common rennet is either butter-milk or a decoction of the great-headed thistle, or wild artichoke. The curds are afterwards put into small baskets made of rushes or palm leaves, which are then tied up close, and the necessary pressure applied.