far outstripped demand. In Bermuda, the business of making money from Christmas trees is unpredictable, to say the least.

In December, 1991, grown men forgot the Christmas spirit and literally fought with each other in an attempt to buy the last remaining trees at an auction carried out from the back of a truck at, of all places, St. Paul's Church, in Paget.

The memory of gravestones being trampled on and of people forking out up to $100 for a tree appears to have remained in the memories of too many Bermudian entrepreneurs.

So many have got into the business this year that it is becoming extremely difficult to make a profit, according to some local sellers.

The public conception that all suppliers add on a huge mark-up and make a killing is a misconception, they argue, particularly this festive season.

Mr. Alan Doughty, executive vice president of the MarketPlace group of supermarkets, said: "There's no doubt we've brought in too many trees, as has everyone else. You've only got to look around at the number still unsold to realise that. They're all normally gone by this time.

"What happens is that people see everyone fighting over them one year, think they can make easy money and the next year there are too many Christmas Trees on the Island.

"It then calms down for a few years before the whole thing starts up again.

It's cyclical.'' The MarketPlace group has had hundreds of trees on sale this year at seven locations around Bermuda, at a price of $20 for a `regular' size and $35 for a `special' size.

"We've been charging these prices for years and years,'' said Mr. Doughty.

"But I've heard of people charging crazy prices, like $50, in Bermuda. These people just bring them in and set up by the side of the road.'' He would not reveal what his firm's mark-up was, only saying that it was "fair''.

"Trees are cheaper in Bermuda than the US,'' he said. "In the US it's common to pay $25 to $35 for trees which we've sold in Bermuda for $20 for years.'' Mr. Jason Sousa, manager of Esso City Service Centre, said his company had sold over 200 trees between Tuesday and Friday of this week.

The initial price of $48 per tree was later dropped to $31 in order to get rid of them all, he said, although there were still about 40 left by Friday afternoon.

"A lot of people have lost out on trees this year,'' he said. "Some people bringing them in had to burn them because they arrived here in such a bad state. If salt gets to them while they are in transit it ruins the trees.'' He said that people who thought that Christmas Tree sales were a rip-off did not understand the full picture.

"It takes a lot of time and a lot of organisation to bring in trees and sell them,'' he said. "I wouldn't say there are too many people making a quick killing this year.'' * * * EAT The first McDonald's fast-food outlet in Saudi Arabia opened to long lines after prayers on Friday, but there were no sausage links on the menu and single men were kept away from families.

Hundreds of Riyadh residents have been flocking to the new restaurant since it opened last week. Police were deployed to organise traffic around McDonald's drive-through service window and to avoid overcrowding inside.

The restaurant, the first of many McDonald's outlets planned for the Gulf, serves up hamburgers for $1.50 to $3.50 depending on size but serves no pork products, in accordance with the strict Moslem dietary rules in force in the kingdom.

There is also a separate "family corner'' where women, who have to be covered in public, may sit with their families away from single men. Most of the workers at the new restaurant are Filipinos.

Owners Riyadh International Group plan to open another outlet in the capital, Riyadh, in about three weeks and have three more under construction in eastern Saudi Arabia at a total cost for all five of about $13 million.