Tortoise shells, scales of the manis, lions' claws, and those
of the leopard, roots, knots of trees of peculiar shape, and many other
things, are worn as talismans.
My wife's parrot was supposed to be a cojoor, or fetish. This was the
grey bird of West Africa, that was unknown in these parts. The
interpreter explained that "it could speak like a human being, and that
it flew about the country and listened to what people said - all of
which it repeated to its mistress and myself; thus we knew everything
that occurred, and the natives could not deceive us." This parrot was
exceedingly tame, and was never confined. It was now walking about the
deck, and while its extraordinary powers were being described by my Bari
interpreter, Morgian, to the amazement and fear of the natives, it
advanced stoutly to the sheik Bedden, and would have bitten his big toe
had he not quickly jumped up and taken leave.
The magnetic battery and the large musical box were also believed to be
magic.
At sunset, the great sheik departed in the best of spirits, with all his
people, as he had drunk a tumbler of Marsala before he started, in order
to try the quality of our merissa.
The population of this country is very large, and the natives are good
agriculturists. Although the soil is stony, it is very productive, as
the cultivation is carefully attended to. Dhurra, sesame, dochan, and
beans, in addition to a species of Hibiscus which produces an edible
seed and also a fine fibre, are sown in exact oblongs or squares
resembling the plots in allotment-grounds in England. Near the villages
are large heaps of manure, collected from the cattle zareebas. These are
mixed with the sweepings of the stations, and the ashes from the
cattle-fires, and are divided when required among the proprietors of the
herds.
Each cow of the zareeba is entitled to a certain measure of manure at
the commencement of the rains, when all hands turn out to cultivate;
thus the owner of many cows is enabled to farm a large area.
The cows are all herded in one or two pens; thus the whole manure is
heaped, and, when divided, is measured in large baskets. It is then
distributed very thickly over the field, and is roughly hoed with the
iron molote, the seed been thrown upon the manure broadcast, previous to
the hoeing.
The geological appearance of the country would suggest the presence of
precious metals. Large masses of rose-coloured and icy-white quartz
project from the surface in dikes. These run for miles in tolerably
direct lines, like walls, from west to east. Generally the rocks are
granitic, consisting of syenite and gneiss, with micacious schist in the
lower valleys. Occasionally, dikes of basalt break through the surface,
which is generally much denuded, and the rocks are weather-worn and
decomposed.
