88 
The Minor Tribes 
people confirm his statement; possibly it has 
extended from Hindostan to Zanzibar, and thence 
across the continent. Intoxicating hemp is now 
grown everywhere, especially in the Nkommi 
country, and little packages, neatly bound with 
banana leaves, sell on the river for ten sous each. 
It is smoked either in the “ Kondukwe ” or in the 
Ojo. The latter, literally meaning a torch, is a 
polished cow-horn, closed at the thick end with 
wood, and banded with metal; a wooden stem, 
projecting from the upper or concave side, bears a 
neat “ chillam ” (bowl), either of clay or of brown 
steatite brought from the upper Gaboon River. 
This rude hookah is half filled with water; the 
dried hemp in the bowl is covered with what 
Syrians call a “ Kurs,” a bit of metal about the 
size of half-a-crown, and upon it rests the fire. I 
at once recognized the implement in the Brazil, 
where many slave-holders simply supposed it to 
be a servile and African form of tobacco-pipe. 
After a few puffs the eyes redden, a violent cough 
is caused by the acrid fumes tickling the throat ; 
the brain, whirls with a pleasant swimming, like 
that of chloroform, and the smoker finds himself 
in gloria . My Spanish friends at Po tried but 
did not like it. I can answer for the hemp being 
stronger than the Egyptian hashish or the bhang 
of Hindostan; it rather resembled the Fasukh of 
Northern Africa, the Dakha and Motukwane of 
