Narrative of travels and discoveries in Northern and Central Africa, in the years 1822, 1823, and 1824Denham, Dixon
History
Narrative of travels and discoveries in Northern and Central Africa, in the years 1822, 1823, and 1824
Denham, Dixon
Africa, Central -- Description and travel; Africa, North -- Description and travel; Natural history -- Africa, North
This sort of question and answer, at once useful and exhilarating,
is constantly kept up until the time of halting. We did not move from
Affagay until the next morning, when the whole army were supplied with
bullocks and sheep. This was the first meal I had made since leaving
Angornou, and the following is their method of roasting the meat:
the sheep were killed, cut in half, and laid upon a frame-work of
wood made of strong stakes, and having four supporters; under it was
a strong fire, and by this means the meat was roasted better than I
ever saw it done in any part of Europe except my own country. Towards
the evening I received a summons from Barca Gana, and in his tent
found five or six of the chiefs assembled: half of a roasted sheep
was laid on green boughs placed on the sand before us; the black
chiefs then stripped off the dark blue shirt, their only covering;
the sharpest dagger in the party was searched for, and being given
to one who acted as carver, large slices of the flesh were cut,
distributed about, and quickly devoured without either bread or salt:
when we arrived at the bones, another side shared the same fate,
and our repast closed by huge draughts from a large wooden bowl
of rice water, honey, tamarinds, and red pepper, which nobody was
allowed to drink of but myself and the kashella.—I expressed my
satisfaction at this plentiful feast. Barca Gana said, “What the
country afforded he always lived on; that he never carried any thing
with him in these expeditions but a kind of paste, made of rice,
flour, and honey, which, mixed with water, he took, morning and
evening, when no better fare was to be had.”
On the 20th at noon we reached Delahay, our road lying through a
thick wood. Delahay is a spot surrounded by large wide-spreading
acacias, affording a delightful shade; and here there are between
thirty and forty wells of very sweet water: the huts of a numerous
tribe of Shouaas, called Hajainy, are near this place. It was a
cloudy day, sultry and oppressive; the thermometer in my tent, in the
afternoon, was at 109°. In the evening we made another halting-place,
called Hasbery, where we found no water; having come a distance of
thirty-four miles.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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