United States or Zambia ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
The panja of wheat at Tete is worth a dollar, or 5s.; but the native grain may be obtained among the islands below Lupata at the rate of three panjas for two yards of calico. The highest articles of consumption are tea and coffee, the tea being often as high as 15s. a pound.
Two yards of calico are demanded for six fowls; this is considered very dear, because, before the war, the same quantity of calico was worth 24 fowls. Grain is sold in little bags made from the leaves of the palmyra, like those in which we receive sugar. They are called panjas, and each panja weighs between 30 and 40 lbs.
And since panja means in Hindustani a hand with the five fingers extended, it is no violent assumption to conclude that even puncher may owe quite as much to Hindustani as to English, though I cheerfully admit that it would perhaps never have existed had it not been for English associations. Thus a Gipsy calls a pedlar a packer or pack-mush.
In one corner was spread a coarse sheet with a couple of pillows against the wall, upon which the silent Mahomedan bade us by a sign recline; in the opposite corner a 'panja', a species of altar smothered in jasmine wreaths and surmounted by a bunch of peacock's feathers; and immediately in front of this an earthen brazier of live charcoal.
From morn till eve the streets are filled with bands of boys, and sometimes girls, blowing raucous blasts on hollow bamboos, which are adorned with a tin 'panja, the sacred open hand emblematical of the Prophet, his daughter Fatima, her husband Ali and their two martyred sons.
Word Of The Day