AGRICULTURE AND TRADING 



district, which, when cooked in the same way as coffee, 

 gives them almost equal satisfaction. 



Of labour, then, around a Borana boma there is 

 but little — no tilling of the soil, no searching for roots 

 or wild plants and seldom any cooking. While the 

 men spend their days in hunting or idling, the women 

 keep guard over the cattle when they are grazing, 

 and the boys and girls tend the sheep and goats. 

 From what I could gather, I am of opinion that these 

 Tufi Borana are an inferior race to, or perhaps even 

 an outcast tribe of, the true Borana, who inhabit 

 southern Abyssinia. I am unable to speak with 

 authority on the subject, as I have not had the oppor- 

 tunity of studying the latter, but such at least is my 

 impression. When the habits and customs of both 

 these people have been further investigated by future 

 travellers, it will be of extreme interest to learn their 

 relationship and to know more of their primitive 

 customs, which are fast dying out before the spread 

 of Islam. 



I spent two days at this village, and during the 

 whole of that time trading went on continually. As 

 a result of this incessant bargaining, I found myself 

 the possessor of fifteen sheep, which would provide 

 my men with food, I hoped, until I reached Archer's 

 Post or even Meru. Had I had a few more of the 

 white metal bracelets and cubes, I should have done 

 better ; for so anxious were they to obtain them, that 

 for 250 cubes (value at the coast about 50 cents), 

 they would give me a nice fat sheep, and my little 

 stock of 2000 went almost immediately. The glass 

 beads I had were not regarded with much favour, a 

 new shade having become all the fashion, but cowrie 

 shells and Americani sold fairly steadily, and I was 



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