To obtain molotes I must sell my clothes and shoes to the
traders' men. The ox is then driven to a distant village, and is there
slaughtered, and the flesh being divided into about a hundred small
portions, my men sit upon the ground with three large baskets, into
which are emptied minute baskets of flour as the natives produce them,
one in exchange for each parcel of meat. This tedious process is a
specimen of Central African difficulties in the simple act of purchasing
flour. The Obbo natives are similar to the Bari in some of their habits.
I have had great difficulty in breaking my cowkeeper of his disgusting
custom of washing the milk bowl with cow's urine, and even mixing some
with the milk; he declares that unless he washes his hands with such
water before milking, the cow will lose her milk. This filthy custom is
unaccountable. The Obbo natives wash out their mouths with their own
urine. This habit may have originated in the total absence of salt in
their country. The Latookas, on the contrary, are very clean, and milk
could be purchased in their own vessels without fear."
"Aug. 8th - Having killed a fat ox, the men are busily engaged in
boiling down the fat. Care should be taken to sprinkle a few drops of
water in the pot when the fat is supposed to be sufficiently boiled;
should it hiss, as though poured upon melted lead, it is ready; but if
it be silent, the fat is not sufficiently boiled, and it will not keep.
"Three runaway female slaves were captured by Koorshid's people this
morning, two of whom were brutally treated. On the whole the female
slaves are well kept when very young, but well thrashed when the black
bloom of youth has passed."
"Aug. 11th. - At this season immense beetles are at work in vast
numbers, walking off with every species of dung, by forming it into
balls as large as small apples, and rolling them away with their hind
legs, while they walk backwards by means of the forelegs. Should a ball
of dung roll into a deep rut, I have frequently seen another beetle come
to the assistance of the proprietor of the ball, and quarrel for its
possession after their joint labours have raised it to the level.
"This species was the holy scarabaeus of the ancient Egyptians; it
appears shortly after the commencement of the wet season, its labours
continuing until the cessation of the rains, at which time it
disappears. Was it not worshipped by the ancients as the harbinger of
the high Nile? The existence of Lower Egypt depending upon the annual
inundation, the rise of the river was observed with general anxiety. The
beetle appears at the commencement of the rise in the river level, and
from its great size and extraordinary activity in clearing the earth
from all kinds of ordure, its presence is remarkable.
