213 
of Edinburgh, Session 1884 - 85 . 
MaraL. district, but, curiously enough, it is never eaten, but 
exported as an article of barter. Rice is also sparely grown in some 
parts of the country. 
Dhurra and rice are ground, and then made into bread, as also a 
root which is considered poisonous until well boiled. In order to 
keep the bread, which is in the form of pancakes, it is broken up 
into small pieces, dried for a day or two in the sun, and then 
preserved in leathern sacks. Milk is much used as an articlet’of 
diet; it is obtained from cows, sheep, goats, and camels. Very 
good butter, cheese, and curds are made. The butter is chiefly 
used for anointing the body and as pomade ; for this purpose it is 
mixed with dried odoriferous plants. The flesh of goats and sheep 
is considered to be the best meat, and that of young kids the most 
strengthening. As a great luxury, a fat she-camel is sometimes 
killed ; this, however, can only be indulged in by rich chiefs. 
Meat is not much used in hot weather, fowls being preferred then, 
and they are also considered the best food for invalids. Rice 
boiled for a long time in new cow’s milk is one of the best and 
most expensive dishes. Cow’s liver, raw, with Cayenne pepper, is 
eaten by rich people and by invalids. The brains of all animals 
are thought a great delicacy ; marrow is also a tit-bit ; the bones 
are cracked, and it is taken out with a chop-stick or knife. The 
blood of bullocks and of fatted he-goats is eaten after being well 
boiled, strongly flavoured with Cayenne pepper. 
The poor buy meat at open-air sales ; the rich kill their own 
cattle, and after drying the meat in the sun, store it away in huts. 
These are built like the dwelling huts, and are surrounded by 
thorn hedges ; there are separate store-houses for meat and corn. 
The granaries are constructed as follows : — A circular framework is 
made of poles, and this is tilled up by bundles of dried grass, 
bound securely to it by rope made of fibre. The roof is formed of 
thatch, shaped at the top like a pinnacle. A deep hole is dug inside 
the hut, and it is lined with mats or hides, and then filled with 
grain. The meat store-houses are narrower, higher, and stronger ; 
the door is made of very strong wickerwork, and halfway down the 
roof a wicker-lattice provides for ventilation. Inside the hut are 
shelves made of sticks on which to support the small pieces of meat; 
the larger pieces are suspended from poles fixed in the roof. 
