In Native Homes 
until it becomes a stiff paste, is another favorite 
accompaniment of the inevitable native sauce. 
This sauce is a concoction of palm-oil, flesh of 
some kind, ochre, esculent herbs and the ground 
seed of a native melon. “ Palaver sauce ” is the 
name by which it is known among the Sierra 
Leone people and other foreigners because it is 
generally eaten in token of friendship after the 
natives have settled any difficulty; but the na¬ 
tives call it orbeh. It is made in both cheap and 
expensive forms. Poor people have no flesh and 
very little palm-oil in theirs. An ingredient 
called ogere, which has the disgusting odor of 
tainted meat, is frequently added by epicures. 
Two very agreeable dishes are balls of corn- 
meal dough, seasoned with peppers and fried in 
palm-oil, and beans stewed in this oil and highly 
seasoned in the same way. These peppers are 
very small and are anti-febrile. The juice which 
flows from incisions made in the palm tree is 
very extensively used as a beverage. It resembles 
cider in flavor and is not intoxicating until several 
days old. They also brew a weak beer from Indian 
and Guinea corn. Wild bees’ honey and a kind of 
taffy made from the juice of the sugar cane, are the 
only native sweets exposed in the markets. The 
children like to chew the cane and suck the juice, 
35 
