This Cloth Is Cut Into Various Pieces, And Sewed Into
Garments, With Needles Of The Natives' Own Making.
As the arts of weaving, dyeing, sewing, &c. may easily be acquired, those
who exercise them are not considered in Africa as following any
particular profession; for almost every slave can weave, and every boy
can sew.
The only artists which are distinctly acknowledged as such by
the Negroes, and who value themselves on exercising appropriate and
peculiar trades, are the manufacturers of _leather_ and of _iron_. The
first of these are called _Karrankea_, (or, as the word is sometimes
pronounced, _Gaungay_.) They are to be found in almost every town, and
they frequently travel through the country in the exercise of their
calling. They tan and dress leather with very great expedition, by
steeping the hide first in a mixture of wood-ashes and water, until it
parts with the hair; and afterwards by using the pounded leaves of a tree
called _goo_, as an astringent. They are at great pains to render the
hide as soft and pliant as possible, by rubbing it frequently between
their hands, and beating it upon a stone. The hides of bullocks are
converted chiefly into sandals, and therefore require less care in
dressing than the skins of sheep and goats, which are used for covering
quivers and saphies, and in making sheaths for swords and knives, belts,
pockets, and a variety of ornaments. These skins are commonly dyed of a
red or yellow colour; the red, by means of millet stalks reduced to
powder; and the yellow, by the root of a plant, the name of which I have
forgotten.
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