All The Tribes Of The White Nile Have Their Harvest Of The Lotus Seed.
There Are Two Species Of Water-Lily - The Large White Flower, And A
Small Variety.
The seed-pod of the white lotus is like an unblown
artichoke, containing a number of light red grains equal in size to
mustard-seed, but shaped like those of the poppy, and similar to them in
flavour, being sweet and nutty.
The ripe pods are collected and strung
upon sharp-pointed reeds about four feet in length. When thus threaded
they are formed into large bundles, and carried from the river to the
villages, where they are dried in the sun, and stored for use. The seed
is ground into flour, and made into a kind of porridge. The women of the
Shir tribe are very clever at manufacturing baskets and mats from the
leaf of the dome palm. They also make girdles and necklaces of minute
pieces of river mussel shells threaded upon the hair of the giraffe's
tail. This is a work of great time, and the effect is about equal to a
string of mother-of-pearl buttons.
Jan. 31st. - At 1.15 P.M. sighted Gebel Lardo, bearing S. 30 degrees
west. This is the first mountain we have seen, and we are at last near
our destination, Gondokoro. I observed to-day a common sand-piper
sitting on the head of a hippopotamus; when he disappeared under water
the bird skimmed over the surface, hovering near the spot until the
animal reappeared, when he again settled.
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