286 



THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA. 



is the essential occupation of the women. The prin- 

 cipal inebrient is a beer without hops, called pombe. 

 This Torog Qsiog of the negro and negroid races dates 

 from the age of Osiris : it is the buzah of Egypt and 

 the farther East, and the merissa of the Upper Nile, 

 the t;i$ov and xythum of the West, and the oala or 

 boyaloa of the Kafirs and the South African races. 

 The taste is somewhat like soured wort of the smallest 

 description, but strangers, who at first dislike it exceed- 

 ingly, are soon reconciled to it by the pleasurable 

 sensations to which it gives rise. Without violent 

 action, it affects the head, and produces an agreeable 

 narcotism, followed by sound sleep and heaviness in the 

 morning — as much liked by the barbarian, to whom 

 inebriation is a boon, as feared by the civilised man. 

 Being, as the Arabs say, a " cold drink," causing 

 hydrocele and rheumatism, it has some of the after- 

 effects of gin, and the drunkard is readily recognised 

 by his red and bleared eyes. When made thick with 

 the grounds or sediment of grain, it is exceedingly 

 nutricious. Many a gallon must be drunk by the 

 veteran malt-worm before intoxication ; and individuals 

 of both sexes sometimes live almost entirely upon 

 pombe. It is usually made as follows : half of the 

 grain — holcus, panicum, or both mixed — intended for 

 the brew is buried or soaked in water till it sprouts ; 

 it is then pounded and mixed with the other half, also 

 reduced to flour, and sometimes with a little honey. The 

 compound is boiled twice or thrice in huge pots, strained, 

 when wanted clear, through a bag of matting, and 

 allowed to ferment : after the third day it becomes 

 as sour as vinegar. The "togwa" is a favourite drink, 

 also made of holcus. At first it is thick and sickly, 

 like honeyed gruel ; when sour it becomes exceedingly 



