It Was The Intention Of
Ibrahim To Break Through The Rules Accepted By The White Nile Traders,
And To Establish Himself At Shooa, Which, Although Claimed By Debono's
People, Would Form An Excellent Point D'appui For Operations Towards The
Unknown South.
Shooa was "flowing with milk and honey;" fowls, butter, goats, were in
abundance and ridiculously cheap; beads were of great value, as few had
ever reached that country.
The women flocked to see Mrs. Baker, bringing
presents of milk and flour, and receiving beads and bracelets in return.
The people were precisely the same as those of Obbo and Farajoke in
language and appearance, exceedingly mild in their manner, and anxious
to be on good terms.
The cultivation in this country was superior to anything that I had seen
farther north; large quantities of sesame were grown and carefully
harvested, the crop being gathered and arranged in oblong frames about
twenty feet long by twelve high. These were inclined at an angle of
about sixty - the pods of the sesame plants on one face, so that the
frames resembled enormous brushes. In this manner the crop was dried
previous to being stored in the granaries. Of the latter there were two
kinds - -the wicker-work smeared with cow dung, supported on four posts,
with a thatched roof; and a simple contrivance by fixing a stout pole
about twenty feet long perpendicularly in the earth. About four feet
from the ground a bundle of strong and long reeds are tied tightly round
the pole; hoops of wicker-work are then bound round them at intervals
until they assume the form of an inverted umbrella half expanded; this
being filled with grain, fresh reeds are added, until the work has
extended to within a few feet of the top of the pole; the whole is then
capped with reeds securely strapped:
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