118 EATING CUSTOMS. CHAP. IV. 



buffalo and the tongue of an ox; but all the other meat 

 is tough, and, from its peculiar flavour, only to be eaten by 

 a hungry man. The quantities of meat our men devour 

 is quite astounding. They boil as much as their pots 

 will hold, and eat till it becomes physically impossible 

 for them to stow away any more. An uproarious dance 

 follows, accompanied with stentorian song ; and as soon as 

 they have shaken their first course down, and washed off 

 the sweat and dust of the after performance, they go to 

 work to roast more : a short snatch of sleep succeeds, and 

 they are up and at it again ; all night long it is boil and 

 eat, roast and devour, with a few brief interludes of sleep. 

 Like other carnivora, these men can endure hunger for a 

 much longer period than the mere porridge-eating tribes. 

 Our men can cook meat as well as any reasonable traveller 

 could desire; and, boiled in earthen pots, like Indian 

 chatties, it tastes much better than when cooked in iron 

 ones. 



