of Edinhurgli, Session 1883-84. 
309 
dokn flour, witli a little butter added, is boiled with milk. Vege- 
tables are eaten alone, bread being used with meat. 
The cooking vessels are earthenware jars. Mixing sticks are the 
only cooking utensils used besides knives. They are cleaned after 
use. No vegetable broths or stews are made. Farinaceous puddings 
are unknown. Meat very well cooked is preferred. Preserving of 
fruit with sugar and pickling of vegetables are unknown. 
The only beverages are water, milk, and dhurra beer. This beer 
is made by the women in large quantities, and kept in jars in a hut 
set apart for the purpose. To this hut the people go to drink. 
It is common property, and not paid for. They do not take the 
beer home, or drink it at meals. 
There are three meals in the day — before sunrise, at midday, and 
at sunset. No ceremonies are observed at the commencement of 
meals, nor are there any religious rites connected with them. 
When fine, meals are taken outside the entrance to the hut near 
the cooking place. It is customary for members of different house- 
holds to meet together for dinner, each family providing a bowl of 
food, round which they sit, and eat from one bowl after another, 
using their fingers as spoons and forks. They always wash their 
hands before and after meals, a jar of water being provided for 
the purpose, but the water is not poured over the hands. The men 
and boys sit in one group, the women and girls in another. The 
women do not wait on their husbands, the food when ready being 
fetched by the children. Any stranger who may chance to pass 
by is invited to share the meal. Water is always kept at the door 
of the hut to give to passers by. Wooden stools are used outside 
the dwelling, but it is not considered proper to use them at meals. 
The gathering does not disperse directly the meal is over, but 
digestion is aided by telling and hearing tales^ 
No cannibalism exists in the country, and the people express 
great abhorrence of the custom as practised by their neighbours the 
Nyam-Nyams. 
Fire . — Wood is used for fire, and lighted with dried grass. 
The fire is produced by friction of wood, one piece of wood about 
the size and shape of a large pencil being rapidly rotated in a hole 
in a flat piece of hard wood. One man holds the hard wood steady, 
whilst two others take it in turn to rotate the stick 
VOL. XII 
X 
