They Have No Buffaloes, Shudder At
The Tartar Idea Of Mare's-Milk, Like The Arabs Hold The Name Labban [50] A
Disgrace, And Make It A Point Of Honor Not To Draw Supplies From Their
Cattle During The Day.
The life led by these wild people is necessarily monotonous.
They rest but
little--from 11 P.M. till dawn--and never sleep in the bush, for fear of
plundering parties, Few begin the day with prayer as Moslems should: for
the most part they apply themselves to counting and milking their cattle.
The animals, all of which have names [51], come when called to the pail,
and supply the family with a morning meal. Then the warriors, grasping
their spears, and sometimes the young women armed only with staves, drive
their herds to pasture: the matrons and children, spinning or rope-making,
tend the flocks, and the kraal is abandoned to the very young, the old,
and the sick. The herdsmen wander about, watching the cattle and tasting
nothing but the pure element or a pinch of coarse tobacco. Sometimes they
play at Shahh, Shantarah, and other games, of which they are passionately
fond: with a board formed of lines traced in the sand, and bits of dry
wood or camel's earth acting pieces, they spend hour after hour, every
looker-on vociferating his opinion, and catching at the men, till
apparently the two players are those least interested in the game. Or, to
drive off sleep, they sit whistling to their flocks, or they perform upon
the Forimo, a reed pipe generally made at Harar, which has a plaintive
sound uncommonly pleasing.
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