86 NATIVE BEER. CHAP. III. 



women were drinking beer under a tree. In a few 

 moments the native doctor, one of the innocents, "nobody's 

 enemy but his own," staggered out of a hut, with his 

 cupping-horn dangling from his neck, and began to scold 

 us for a breach of etiquette. " Is this the way to come 

 into a man's village, without sending him word that you 

 are coming?" Our men soon pacified the fuddled but 

 good-humoured medico, who, entering his beer-cellar, 

 called on two of them to heljD him to carry out a huge pot 

 of beer, which he generously presented to us. While the 

 " medical practitioner " was thus hospitably employed, the 

 chief awoke in a fright, and shouted to the women to run 

 away, or they would all be killed. The ladies laughed at 

 the idea of their being able to run away, and remained 

 beside the beer-pots. We selected a spot for our camp, our 

 men cooked the dinner as usual, and we were quietly 

 eating it, when scores of armed men, streaming with 

 perspiration, came pouring into the village. They looked 

 at us, then at each other, and turning to the chief up- 

 braided him for so needlessly sending for them. " These 

 people are peaceable ; they do not hurt you ; you are 

 killed with beer : " so saying, they returned to their 

 homes. 



Native beer has a pinkish colour, and the consistency 

 of gruel. The grain is made to vegetate, dried in the sun, 

 pounded into meal, and gently boiled. When only a day or 

 two old, the beer is sweet, with a slight degree of acidity, 

 which renders it a most grateful beverage in a hot climate, 

 or when fever begets a sore craving for acid drinks. A 

 single draught of it satisfies this craving at once. Only 

 by deep and long-continued potations can intoxication be 

 produced : the grain being in a minutely divided state, it 

 is a good way of consuming it, and the decoction is very 

 nutritious. At Tette a measure of beer is exchanged for 

 an equal-sized pot full of grain. A present of this beer, 



