October 24, 1884.] 



SCIENCE. 



405 



The country is wild, picturesque, and densely wooded. 

 The men are fine-looking. Blue eyes are rare, but 

 brown ones, and light, or even reddish hair, are com- 

 mon. The complexion varies from a ruddy blond 

 to a bronze color, which is, doubtless, partly due to 

 exposure. Their stature is but moderate. The men 

 are fearless but lazy, and leave the work of agricul- 

 ture to the women. When not at war they hunt. 

 They are devoted to the dance, with which they 

 occupy most of their evenings. The dance in use is 

 invariably initiated by a woman, who goes through a 

 prelude of graceful posturing. At a given signal, the 

 dancers take their places on either side of the fire ; 

 the musicians, with a drum, flutes, and cymbals, 

 taking a place at the end of the lines. At a second 

 signal, couples form, and later turn singly around the 

 fire. The dance terminates by a new formation of 

 couples, holding a stick between them, feet firmly 

 planted and close together, when they turn with 

 great rapidity, first from right to left, and then in the 

 reverse direction. 



The houses are constructed on the mountain-side. 

 The ground-floor is of stone, ten or twelve feet high, 

 and is not used, except for storing wood and dry 

 dung, both used for fuel, the latter especially in the 

 preparation of cheese, which is made daily, and is of 

 good quality. Above the stone foundation the struc- 

 ture is entirely of wood, with a sort of gallery around 

 it. There are but two rooms, clean but very dark. 

 The door-jambs are rudely carved. There is little 

 furniture, but chairs of wood or wicker are in general 

 use. The ordinary food is composed of bread and 

 cheese in a sort of sandwich, dipped in melted butter, 

 and boiled meat. The beds are built like a bunk 

 attached to the wall. Some houses are provided 

 with two stories, both of similar construction. The 

 roof is made of flat stones, covered with a coating of 

 clay. 



The temples comprise a single square room, in 

 which there are some large water-worn stones taken 

 from the bed of the river, but no idols, except certain 

 figures used in the funeral ceremonies be so con- 

 sidered. The dead are taken in their coffins into the 

 temple, where sacrifices are made, and the remains 

 then carried to the appointed place in the cemetery, 

 but they are not buried. As to religion, the Kafiri 

 believe in a passive supreme being, and a very active 

 devil to whom all mischances are ascribed. 



The men shave the head, except a single long lock 

 on the summit, and go uncovered. Their dress is 

 much like that of the Afghans, chiefly of cotton, 

 with leather buskins made of laced strips of hide. 

 The women wear the hair long, coiled under a large 

 bonnet, through the top of which two tufts of hair 

 project, looking at a distance like horns. Slavery is 

 practised, Polygamy is exceptional. The unfaith- 

 ful wife is beaten, and her lover fined not less than 

 nix head of cattle, and more according to his means. 

 They have been supposed to be great wine-bibbers; 

 but Mr. Macnair found in use only grape-juice, 

 neither fermented nor distilled. This is pressed out 

 during the vintage, and kept in jars under ground 

 until needed. They are armed with the bow and 



arrow and a few matchlocks. The traveller observed 

 artificial ponds, made to entice the wild ducks who 

 pass over in their annual migrations. Some of the 

 rivers carry gold; but the chiefs oppose washing for 

 it, having in view the inevitable consequences to 

 which successful gold-mining would give rise. 



The people are intensely jealous of European in- 

 vasion. The mere suspicion of European origin 

 several times put the life of Mr. Macnair in serious 

 danger, and intended journeying in several directions 

 was given up as unsafe on this account. 



THE CHANGES WHICH FERMENTA- 

 TION PRODUCES IN MILK. 1 



Milk, if left standing a short time, becomes a sort 

 of acidulated jelly called curd. In cheese-making 

 this transformation is hastened by bruising ; but in 

 both cases the acidity and the peculiar savor of the 

 curdled milk are caused by a microbe, the lactic ba- 

 cillus, whose little rods are swimming by millions in 

 the turning liquid. Only the caseine, the albuminous 

 portion of milk, which forms the principal ingredi- 

 ent of cheese, coagulates : the lactic bacillus, recently 

 studied by Mr. Hueppe, avoids this, and prefers the 

 sugar of the milk, which it changes into a lactic acid. 

 Without the bacillus, the milk would not sour. If 

 milk, when fresh, is carefully poured into steril- 

 ized flasks, and corked, it may be preserved indefi- 

 nitely. Repeated warmings have the same effect ; but 

 the operation is too delicate to be of practical value. 

 If we touch curdled milk with the point of a pin, and 

 then plunge the point into fresh milk, in a few hours 

 this milk will also be curdled. This pin-point carries 

 the lactic bacilli in sufficient quantities to sow any 

 quantity whatever of the milk-food. By introducing 

 other microbes, milk will undergo a number of dis- 

 similar transformations, according to the germs which 

 are sown in it. The germs of the butyric bacillus 

 condense the milk without its becoming acidulated : 

 on the contrary, it will have an alkaline reaction, with 

 a bitter taste, and an odor resembling that of fresh 

 cheese or whey. By adding a little blue milk, in a 

 few hours the whole becomes blue. The milk neither 

 curdles nor sours, but a drop examined under the 

 microscope is seen to swarm with vibrios. This is the 

 cyanogen bacillus ; and when sown in glue, in potato, 

 or in soup, it everywhere multiplies, and makes the 

 substance blue. At times this bacillus causes an 

 eruption, which is cured with much difficulty. Milk 

 is not rendered unwholesome by it, nor disagreeable 

 in taste; but it is blue, which does not increase its 

 market-value. A little ropy milk added will in three 

 days make milk so thick that we can invert a bottle 

 containing it without losing a single drop. In this 

 case a peculiar microbe, a micrococcus, has been at 

 work. This has been described by Mr. Schmidt-Mul- 

 heim, who deserves a place of honor among confec- 

 tioners; for he has discovered a method of producing 



1 Abridged from an article by Dr. II. Fol, in the Journal de 



Geneve. 



