dropped into each. hole. A few days after the first
shower they rise above the ground, and when about
six inches high, the whole population turn out of their
villages at break of day to weed the dhurra fields.
Sown in July, it is harvested in February and March.
Eight months are thus required for the cultivation
of this cereal in the intense heat of Nubia. For the
first three months the growth is extremely rapid,
and the stem attains a' height of six or seven feet.
When at perfection on the rich soil of the Taka
country, the plant averages a height of ten feet, the
circumference of the stem being about four inches.
The crown is a feather very similar to that of the
sugar cane ; the blossom falls, and the feather becomes
a head of dhurra, weighing about two pounds. Each
grain is about the size of hemp-seed. I took the
trouble of counting the corns contained in an averagesized
head, the result being 4,848. The process of
harvesting and thrashing are remarkably simple, as
the heads are simply detached from the straw and
beaten out in piles. The dried straw is a substitute
for sticks in forming the walls of the village huts;
these are plastered with clay and cow-dung, which
form the Arab’s lath and plaister.
The millers’ work is exclusively the province of
the women. There are no circular hand-mills, as
among Oriental nations; but the corn is ground upon
a simple, flat stone, of either gneiss or granite, about
two feet in length, by fourteen inches width. The
face of this is roughed by beating with a sharppointed
piece of harder stone, such as quartz or
hornblende, and the grain is reduced to flour by
great labour and repeated grinding or rubbing with
a stone rolling-pin. The flour is mixed with water
and allowed to ferment; it is then made into thin
pancakes upon an earthenware flat portable hearth.
This species of leavened bread is known to the
Arabs as the kisra. It is not very palatable, but it
is extremely well suited to Arab cookery, as it can be
rolled up like a pancake and dipped in the general
dish of meat, and gravy very conveniently, in the
absence of spoons and forks. No man will condescend
to grind the .corn, and even the Arab women
have such an objection to this labour, that one.
of the conditions of matrimony enforced upon the
husband, if possible, provides the wife with a slave
woman to prepare the flour.
Hitherto we had a large stock of biscuits, but as
our dragoman Mahomet had, in a curious fit of
amiability, dispensed them among the camel-drivers,
we were now reduced to the Arab kisras. Although
not as palatable as wheaten bread, the flour of dhurra,
is exceedingly nourishing, containing, according to
Professor Johnston’s analysis, 11-J per cent, of gluten,
or 1^- per cent, more than English wheaten flour,
Thus men and beasts thrive, especially horses, which
acquire an excellent condition.
The neighbourhood of Cassala is well adapted
for the presence of a large town and military station,
as the fertile soil produces the necessary supplies,