384 



^vooden moitar^. It is afterwards winnowed witli a kind of cane 



tanner on mats. 



M 



. — ~ D ' — ""-J 



stirred for a few minutes. The water is then poured off and the 

 natives add to it palm oil, butter or milk; but the Europeans and 

 negroes connected with the colony stew it with fowl, fish or 

 mutton, ndding a small piece of salt pork for the sake of flavour, 



, and the dish thus prepared is stated to resemble kous-kous. The 

 grain is also made into a pudding with the usual condiments, and 

 eaten either hot or cold with milk ; the Scotch residents sometimes 

 dressing it as milk-porridge. Mr. Clarke is of opinion that if the 

 fundi grain were raised for exportation to Europe, it might prove 

 a_ valuable addition to the list of light farinaceous articles of 



•diet in use among the delicate or convalescent." 



Subsequently it was noticed by Dr. A. Chevalier in ''line 

 Mission au Senegal" (.1900), 241. He identified it with 

 Fasfolum longiflorum, Retz, and gave ''Fonio" as the native 

 (Bambara) name. According to him it is cultivated almost all 

 over the French Sudan, in Upper Gambia, Upper Casamance and 

 Fouta-Djallon. The 3'ield is small, but the taste so pleasant 

 that even Europeans relish it. Pobeguin (Essai s.l. Flore de la 

 Gumee Frangaise, 1906, p. 215) also records it as cultivated all 

 over French Guinea, and on the label of a specimen collected 

 near Kouroussa (Upper Niger) he even calls it the principal food 

 of the natives. Dr. Kersting observed it in cultivation in Togo- 

 land. In 1904 Kew received specimens of it from the late Mr. 

 W. R Elliot from N'orthern Nigeria, with a note to the effect that 

 the plant was cultivated at Loko, Nassarawa, and the seeds 

 eaten ^ made into porridge." The native name given was 

 Acha_. In 1911 it was sent in by Mr. C. C. Yates from the 

 JNiger Province, and last year bv Mr. P. H. Lamb from Zaria, 

 with the statement that ''Acha" was so^vn broadcast as a field 

 crop m the Hausa States. He has since informed us that it is 

 even more largely cultivated by the Pagan tribes who inhabit the 

 muchi Plateau at an altitude of 4000 ft., where the soil is, for 

 llie most part, poor and sandy. 



Z). emlis approaches D. longifiora, Pers., very closely, and 

 Uilters from it mamly in the perfectly glabrous and somewhat 

 more turgid spikelets which, when mature, weigh on the average 



mav 



000 grains to the ounce V W 



2-4 



and tliere are 



bUO grams, which is well below the yield of Iburu. The very 

 much more general use of Fnndi, as compared with Iburu, 

 Pvff t /°™' ^^^'J^^ges in favour of the former which are, how- 

 rJ..T;buV^Tr* ^'""'^ the meagre material at hand. The close 

 lon^^ntT \f"'''' ^- f '"^^^ ^^•l ^- longifiora points to D. 



accepfed .Tr^rE r n ^^^^^.^^T ^^^ore this hypothesis can be 



accepted as proved. D. lonalAora is w^rUI.. ^J.+'k^i^.i l^. ^i,^ 



Worl d 



