“The porters who had accompanied me from the Raik, on learning my intention to proceed south amongst tribes unknown to them, and dreaded in consequence of the difference of weapons and savage habits, refused to proceed; and, consigning loads of ivory to them, in charge of a detachment of my Khartoumers, I sent them back to their own country. Levying in their stead a party of Djour for the transport of my stock in trade, I took the advantage of a moonlight night to perform the journey to the Dôr to Fan-Djau (the country of Djau), so named after my chief Djau, situated in about six degrees north latitude. “Our reception amongst them was most hospitable, and in the vicinity of the chief’s huts we were accommodated with strong wooden sheds, about six feet high, upon which their corn, divested of its reeds, was prettily stacked, consisting of different kinds of dourra of different colours—white, grey, and red—in separate batches. The stacks were formed with much taste, the sides being perpendicular, terminating in a cone. The precaution of raising their stacks so high from the ground was to preserve it from vermin and the white ants. “The Dôr surpass the Djour in industry, a proof of which existed in their extensive fields and granaries. Prior to the rainy season, their grain was threshed and preserved in large cylindrical receptacles, constructed of reeds and clay, from twelve to fifteen feet in diameter, and four feet in height, supported upon a strong wood framework some four feet from the ground. To preserve its contents from the rain, it was covered by a large thatched framework, not unlike an extinguisher in shape, and was so light in substance, that when the grain was required, one side of it could be lifted and supported by a pole, and the granary entered.[75] “Their huts were constructed of a beautiful basket-work of cane. The perpendicular walls were six feet high, and were surmounted with a pretty cupola-shaped reed roof, topped with wood carvings of birds. A wooden bedstead occupied its centre, and an oval-shaped hole, two and a half feet high, barely sufficient to admit a man in a stooping posture, formed the doorway. At night this was barricaded with logs of wood laid horizontally upon each other, between perpendicular posts. “Cooking was carried on in a separate hut, and in lieu of the stone-mill in use in the Soudan, a large wooden mortar, the pestle some four or five feet in length, by three inches diameter, served as their flour-mill. Their food consisted principally of a thick porridge, and a sauce flavoured with herbs and red pepper; but beef, whenever they could obtain it by barter for grain with the Djour, or meat from the chase, was preferred. Rats, mice, and snakes were highly esteemed, and of these the children were continually in search. Fowls were reared to a great extent, but from some unaccountable superstition they were only considered proper food for women: if eaten by men, it was a proof of effeminacy.