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In Kasson, twelve small tamarind stones make one minkalli, which I believe is the heaviest minkalli in this part of Africa. If gold is purchased with amber, one bead of No. 4 will, in almost all cases, purchase one teelee kissi: but it can be purchased with more advantage with beads or scarlet, and still more so with gunpowder.
A minkalli is a quantity of gold, nearly equal in value to ten shillings sterling. The women dye this cloth of a rich and lasting blue colour, by the following simple process: The leaves of the indigo when fresh gathered are pounded in a wooden mortar, and mixed in a large earthen jar, with a strong ley of wood ashes; chamber-ley is sometimes added.
A woman, with common diligence, will spin from six to nine garments of this cloth in one year; which, according to its fineness, will sell for a minkalli and a half, or two minkallies each. The weaving is performed by the men. The loom is made exactly upon the same principle as that of Europe; but so small and narrow, that the web is seldom more than four inches broad.
A woman with common diligence will spin from six to nine garments of this cloth in one year, which, according to its fineness, will sell for a minkalli and a half or two minkallies each. The weaving is performed by the men. The loom is made exactly upon the same principle as that of Europe, but so small and narrow that the web is seldom more than four inches broad.
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