United States or Democratic Republic of the Congo ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Where was the valiant Bacheet the would-be Nimrod, who for the last three months had been fretting in inactivity, and longing for the moment of action, when he had promised to be my trusty gun-bearer? He was the last man to appear, and he only ventured from his hiding-place in the high dhurra when assured of the elephants' retreat.
Although not as palatable as wheaten bread, the flour of dhurra is exceedingly nourishing, containing, according to Professor Johnston's analysis, eleven and a half per cent. of gluten, or one and a half per cent. more than English wheaten flour. Thus men and beasts thrive, especially horses, which acquire an excellent condition.
"And shall we go that way?" asked Frank. "Only as far as the first village, where we can buy grain corn, and dhurra. Then we strike away again into the desert, along whose borders we must keep. It is safer, and we are less likely to meet with wandering dervish bands.
The average price of dhurra is fifteen piastres per "rachel," or about 3s. 2d. for 500 lbs. upon the spot where it is grown. The land is not only favoured by Nature by its fertility, but the intense heat of the summer is the labourer's great assistant.
This is made in several methods: there is the sour, and the sweet abrey; the former is made of highly-fermented dhurra paste that has turned intensely acid; this is formed into thin wafers, about sixteen inches in diameter, upon the doka or hearth, and dried in the sun until the abrey has become perfectly crisp; the wafers are then broken up with the hands, and packed in bags.
Still farther back from the river lay fields of grass and patches of green dhurra; and behind these again an undulating waste of sand and gravel, dotted here and there with scrub and rock, and stretching away to the faintly-discerned hills of the desert. The shade of the trees tempered the heat, making a pleasant change after the roasting, toilsome journey up country.
Here is, as I had always anticipated, an opportunity for commencing legitimate trade." "JAN. 31st. Throngs of natives arrived to carry our luggage GRATIS by the king's orders. Started at 7 A.M. and marched ten miles and a half parallel with the Nile, south; the country thickly populated, and much cultivated with sesame, sweet potatoes, beans, tullaboon, dhurra, Indian corn, and plantains.
The Arabs here had extensive plantations of sesame, dhurra, and cotton, and the nights were spent in watching them, to scare away the elephants, which, with extreme cunning, invaded the fields of dhurra at different points every night, and retreated before morning to the thick, thorny jungles of the Settite.
This might have been a sudden gust, but the sharp crackling of brittle dhurra stems distinctly warned us that elephants had invaded the field, and that they were already at their work of destruction.
Having scrambled up the steep bank of the Kanieti river, we crossed a large field of dhurra, and arrived at the village of Wakkala. The village, or town, is composed of about seven hundred houses, the whole being most strongly protected by a system of palisades formed of "babanoose," the hard iron wood of the country.
Word Of The Day