NUBIA AND THE NILE RAPIDS. 375 



beer, and palm wine; hand-mills or stones for grinding the grain; 

 iron or earthen plates, slightly hollowed on the surface, for baking 

 bread; hollow gourds, a hatchet, a gimlet, several mattocks, and 

 the like. Mats, curtains, screens, and coverlets are accessories; 

 bowls, flat woven dishes and their lids are luxuries which not every 

 house possesses. The food consists chiefly, sometimes almost ex- 

 clusively, of vegetable produce, milk, butter, and eggs. The grain, 

 which is more frequently rubbed than ground, is worked into 

 dough, and baked into a doughy bread. This may be eaten alone 

 without any relish, or along with milk, or with thick mucilaginous 

 soups made of various plants. To the latter may be added numer- 

 ous pungent spices and some shreds of flesh, which has been dried 

 in strips in the sun. The Nubian is more keen for drink than for 

 food, and of every intoxicating liquor, whether of native or foreign 

 origin, he always shows an eager, not to say excessive, appreciation. 



The habits and customs of the inhabitants of the middle Nile 

 valley display a remarkable amalgamation of inherited and acquired 

 characters. Taciturn and carelessly pliant, the Nubian seems as 

 willing to adapt himself to what is new as to forget the traditions 

 of his home. Worshipper of Islam more in name than in reality, 

 he is as innocent of strict adherence to the tenets of his creed as 

 of intolerance towards those of another faith. Until he has reached 

 mature manhood or old age, he seldom or never respects the com- 

 mandments of the Prophet with the conscientiousness of Arab or 

 Turk. He circumcises his boys, gives his daughters in marriage, 

 treats his wives, buries his dead, and celebrates the feasts according 

 to the laws of Islam; but he thinks that he has done quite enough 

 if he observes the external regulations of his cult. Song and dance, 

 amusing conversation, jokes, and a drinking revel, please him better 

 than the precepts and commandments of the Koran; he has no 

 mind to engage in monastic exercises of faith and penitence, nor 

 even in the fasts which other Mohammedans hold so sacred. 



At the same time, no one can call the Nubian weak-willed, fickle, 

 servile, untrustworthy, treacherous, or, in short, bad. In lower 

 Nubia, where he constantly meets with hundreds of travellers, rich 

 in his eyes, and free-handed, he of course frequently becomes a 



