Journal of a second expedition into the interior of Africa, from the Bight of Benin to Soccatoo : $b To which is added, the journal of Richard Lander from Kano to the sea-coast, partly by a more eastern route.Clapperton, Hugh
History
Journal of a second expedition into the interior of Africa, from the Bight of Benin to Soccatoo : $b To which is added, the journal of Richard Lander from Kano to the sea-coast, partly by a more eastern route.
Clapperton, Hugh
Sudan (Region) -- Description and travel
At daylight the whole household arise: the women begin to clean the
house, the men to wash from head to foot; the women and children are
then washed in water, in which the leaf of a bush has been boiled
called Bambarnia: when this is done, breakfast of cocoa is served out,
every one having their separate dish, the women and children eating
together. After breakfast the women and children rub themselves over
with the pounded red wood and a little grease, which lightens the
darkness of the black skin. A score or patch of the red powder is put
on some place where it will show to the best advantage. The eyes are
blacked with khol. The mistress and the better looking females stain
their teeth and the inside of the lips of a yellow colour with gora,
the flower of the tobacco plant, and the bark of a root: the outer
part of the lips, hair, and eye-brows, are stained with shuni, or
prepared indigo. Then the women who attend the market prepare their
wares for sale, and when ready go. The elderly women prepare, clean,
and spin cotton at home and cook the victuals; the younger females
are generally sent round the town selling the small rice balls, fried
beans, &c. and bringing a supply of water for the day. The master of
the house generally takes a walk to the market, or sits in the shade
at the door of his house, hearing the news, or speaking of the price
of natron or other goods. The weavers are daily employed at their
trade; some are sent to cut wood, and bring it to market; others to
bring grass for the horses that may belong to the house, or to take
to the market to sell; numbers, at the beginning of the rainy season,
are employed in clearing the ground for sowing the maize and millet;
some are sent on distant journeys to buy and sell for their master
or mistress, and very rarely betray their trust. About noon they
return home, when all have a mess of the pudding called waki, or
boiled beans, and about two or three in the afternoon they return to
their different employments, on which they remain until near sunset,
when they count their gains to their master or mistress, who receives
it, and puts it carefully away in their strong room. They then have a
meal of pudding and a little fat or stew. The mistress of the house,
when she goes to rest, has her feet put into a cold poultice of the
pounded henna leaves. The young then go to dance and play, if it is
moonlight, and the old to lounge and converse in the open square of
the house, or in the outer coozie, where they remain until the cool of
the night, or till the approach of morning drives them into shelter.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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