120 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES. 



injured by either drought or rain. The only care 

 required in its cultivation is to allow sufficient space 

 for the tillering of the plants, and to weed and hoe 

 the intervals during the early part of the growth ; 

 after which it will overtop and smother all weeds. 



When millet is ripe, the panicles are cut off near 

 to the top of the stalk, and collected in sacks or 

 baskets. They are then laid up in heaps, and care- 

 fully covered during five or six days; after which 

 they are spread on the barn floor, and the grain is 

 threshed out in the ordinary manner with a flail. 

 The more primitive method of treading out the grain 

 by means of oxen is resorted to in some parts of 

 India. 



If millet is not perfectly dry when deposited in the 

 granary, it will soon be spoiled; but, on the other 

 hand, if this precaution be properly taken, there is 

 no grain that will keep longer or better. The weevil 

 will not touch it, and although it is doubtless the 

 better for being turned over occasionally, that pro- 

 cess, so indispensable with other grain, may be 

 omitted here without producing any serious injury. 

 In addition to the use made of the stalks as fodder, 

 the Nubians employ them in the construction of tem- 

 porary huts. 



In the barren districts of Bornou, a species of 

 millet is produced, which is called by the inhabitants 

 gussub, and upon which both men and animals are 

 almost exclusively fed. By the poorer class it is fre- 

 quently eaten, simply parched, or even without any 

 culinary preparation. Other persons crush and then 

 steep the seeds in water previous to eating them, and 

 some few, who are the epicures of the land, clear the 

 grain from the husk, pound it, and make it up into 

 a light paste with melted fat: this favourite dish is 

 called kaddel. 



Travellers who have visited the central parts of 



