386 



WOMAN GRINDING CORN.- 



Chap. XIV. 



mother began to grind her corn about two o'clock in the 

 morning. " Ma," -inquired a little girl, " why grind in the 

 dark?" Mamma advised sleep, and administered mate- 

 rial for a sweet dream to her darling, by saying, " I grind 

 meal to buy a cloth from the strangers, which will make 

 you look a little lady." An observer of these primitive 

 races is struck continually with such little trivial touches of 

 genuine human nature. 



The mill consists of a block of granite, syenite, or even 

 mica schist, fifteen or eighteen inches square and five or 

 six thick, with a piece of quartz or other hard rock about 

 the size of a half brick, one side of which has a convex 

 surface, and fits into a concave hollow in the larger and 



Woman grinding. 



stationary stone. The workwoman kneeling, grasps this 

 upper millstone with both hands, and works it backwards 

 and forwards in the hollow of the lower millstone, in the 

 same way that a baker works his dough, when pressing it 

 and pushing from him. The weight of the person is 



