CHAPTER XIY. 
AT HOME IN KISOONA. 
It appeared that Kisoona was to be head-quarters 
until I should have an opportunity of quitting the 
country for Shooa. Therefore I constructed a com¬ 
fortable little hut surrounded by a court-yard strongly 
fenced, in which I arranged a Rakooba, or open 
shed, in which to sit during the hottest hours of the 
clay. 
My cow that I had received from Kamrasi gave 
plenty of milk, and every second day we were enabled 
to make a small cheese about the size of a six-pound 
cannon-shot. The abundance of milk made a rapid 
change in our appearance ; and Kisoona, although a 
place of complete “ ennui,” was a delightful change 
after the privations of the last four months. Every 
week the king sent me an ox and a quantity of flour 
for myself and people, and the whole party grew fat. 
We used the milk native fashion, never drinking it. 
until curdled;—taken in this form it will agree with 
the most delicate stomach, but if used fresh in large 
quantities it induces biliousness. The young girls of 
thirteen and fourteen that are the wives of the king; 
are not appreciated unless extremely fat—they are 
subjected to a regular system of fattening in order to 
increase their charms ; thus at an early age they are 
compelled to drink daily about a gallon of curded milk, 
the swallowing of which is frequently enforced by the 
