Notwithstanding The Misrule That Fetters The Steps Of
Improvement, Nature Has Bestowed Such Great Capabilities Of
Production In The Fertile Soil Of This Country, That The Yield Of
A Small Surface Is More Than Sufficient For The Requirements Of
The Population, And Actual Poverty Is Unknown.
The average price
of dhurra is fifteen piastres per "rachel," or about 3s. 2d. for
500 lbs.
Upon the spot where it is grown. The dhurra (Sorghum
andropogon) is the grain most commonly used throughout the
Soudan; there are great varieties of this plant, of which the
most common are the white and the red. The land is not only
favoured by Nature by its fertility, but the intense heat of the
summer is the labourer's great assistant. As before described,
all vegetation entirely disappears in the glaring Sun, or becomes
so dry that it is swept off by fire; thus the soil is perfectly
clean and fit for immediate cultivation upon the arrival of the
rains. The tool generally used is similar to the Dutch hoe. With
this simple implement the surface is scratched to the depth of
about two inches, and the seeds of the dhurra are dibbled in
about three feet apart, in rows from four to five feet in width.
Two seeds are dropped into each hole. A few days after the first
shower they rise above the ground, and when about six inches
high, the whole population turn out of their villages at break of
day to weed the dhurra fields. Sown in July, it is harvested in
February and March. Eight months are thus required for the
cultivation of this cereal in the intense heat of Nubia. For the
first three months the growth is extremely rapid, and the stem
attains a height of six or seven feet. When at perfection on the
rich soil of the Taka country, the plant averages a height of ten
feet, the circumference of the stem being about four inches. The
crown is a feather very similar to that of the sugar cane; the
blossom falls, and the feather becomes a head of dhurra, weighing
about two pounds. Each grain is about the size of hemp-seed.
I took the trouble of counting the corns contained in an
average-sized head, the result being 4,848. The process of
harvesting and thrashing are remarkably simple, as the heads are
simply detached from the straw and beaten out in piles. The dried
straw is a substitute for sticks in forming the walls of the
village huts; these are plastered with clay and cow-dung, which
form the Arab's lath and plaster.
The millers' work is exclusively the province of the women. There
are no circular hand-mills, as among Oriental nations; but the
corn is ground upon a simple flat stone, of either gneiss or
granite, about two feet in length by fourteen inches in width.
The face of this is roughened by beating with a sharp-pointed
piece of harder stone, such as quartz, or hornblende, and the
grain is reduced to flour by great labour and repeated grinding
or rubbing with a stone rolling-pin.
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