of Edinburgh, Session 1883-84. 
311 
short one; or if standing, there are two other shapes employed. 
The two first kinds of hoe are made of wood and iron, the last 
solely of wood. 
The married women always carry a knife in their girdles, which 
they use amongst other things for cutting corn. Its wooden handle 
is either carved or ornamented with iron. These implements are all 
of home manufacture, there being a good supply of iron in the 
country. The wooden handles are often ornamented, and differ 
much in shape. One very common shape I noticed was much 
that of a tortoise, but apparently there was no design in it ; and 
no attempt seems made by these people to represent anything by 
carving, as obtains in other tribes. 
Hammers and anvils are often made of iron, but stone ones are 
also used; there are no other stone implements. 
The weeds are gathered together into little heaps, and left on the 
ground until it is prepared for seed again, when they are hoed in 
with the soil. Underwood is burnt on the field. Digging and 
mowing are dispensed with. 
Ho animals are used in the cultivation of the soil. 
Six months of the year are dry, and six months more or less rainy. 
At times the rains are very heavy. The corn is sown at the com- 
mencement of the rains, and some early kinds are reaped in fine 
periods between the rains. Most of the crops ripen and are reaped 
when the dry weather sets in. The soil is so fertile that two and 
three crops may be sown in one year. 
There are four varieties of dhurra, besides dokn and telaboon, 
which are species of dhurra having very small grain. The seed of 
some of these kinds is mixed and sown together. An early and a 
late kind are sown in different rows in the same field. After the 
early sort (Dli) has ripened and has been reaped, semsem is sown in 
its place, or sometimes the ground is planted with a kind of 
cucumber. A cereal called deli is sown in the gardens ; its grain, 
however, is not eaten, but only kept for seed. The stems, which 
grow as high as 20 feet and about 2 inches in diameter, are sweet, 
and resemble sugar-cane. They are dried, peeled, and eaten un- 
cooked ; sometimes they are cut in small pieces, dried over the fire, 
ground, and mixed with semsem. Dokn stalks are dried in the 
huts, tied into bundles, and used as torches. The dhurra stalks are 
