30 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. Chap. XXII. 
Iii the afternoon we strolled a long time about 
the market, which not being so crowded as the 
day before yesterday, was on that account far more 
favourable for observation. Here I first saw and 
tasted the bread made of the fruit of the magaria- 
tree, and called " tuwo-n-magaria," which I have men- 
tioned before, and was not a little astonished to see 
whole calabashes filled with roasted locusts ("fara"), 
which occasionally form a considerable part of the 
food of the natives, particularly if their grain has been 
destroyed by this plague, as they can then enjoy not 
only the agreeable flavour of the dish, but also take 
a pleasant revenge on the ravagers of their fields. 
Every open space in the midst of the market-place 
was occupied by a fire-place ("maidefFa") on a raised 
platform, on which diminutive morsels of meat, at- 
tached to a small stick, were roasting, or rather 
stewing, in such a way that the fat, trickling down 
from the richer pieces attached to the top of the 
stick, basted the lower ones. These dainty bits were 
sold for a single shell or " uri" * each. I was much 
pleased at recognizing the red cloth which had been 
stolen from my bales in the valley of Afis, and which 
was exposed here for sale. But the most interesting 
thing in the town was the " marina" (the dyeing- 
place) near the wall, consisting of a raised platform 
of clay with fourteen holes or pits, in which the 
* " Kurdi " (shells) is the irregular plural of " uri " (a single 
shell). 
