EGYPT, AND SYRIA. 251 
■ The provifions they ufe are fcanty and indifFerent, and by no 
means teftify any forefight for the neceffities of the fick, or for 
the procraftination of the voyage by thofe innumerable acci- 
dents that may befal them. 
I did not obferve that any of them were furnifhed with dried 
meat, as is common with the Fezzanners. But few ufed coffee 
and tobacco, and the reft contented themfelves with a leathern 
bag of flour, another of bread baked hard, a leathern velTel of 
honey or treacle, and another of butter. The quantity of each 
was regulated by the number of perfons, and feldom exceeded 
what is abfolutely neceflary. In travelling from Dar-Fur to 
Egypt another article is much in ufe, efpecially for the flaves, 
which Egypt itfelf does not afford, or produces in no quantity. 
The grain chiefly in ufe among the Furians is the fmall kajfob^ 
called among them dokn (millet). Of this, after it has been 
coarfely ground, they take a quantity, and having caufed it to 
undergo a flight fermentation, make a kind of pafte. This will 
keep a long time, and when about to be ufed, water is added to 
it ; if properly made, it becomes a tolerably palatable food. 
But the natives are not very delicate. From its acidity they 
efteem it a preventive of thirft. The fermentation gives it alfo 
a flight power of inebriating, and it has a narcotic tendency. 
The fubftance fo prepared is called g'mfda. The want of mate- 
rials for fire on the road prevents the ufe of rice, and other 
articles that would require cookery. 
Experienced travellers, among every ten camels laden with 
merchandize, charge one with beans, and ftraw chopped fmall, 
K K 2 which, 
