The Grains Which Are Chiefly Cultivated Are Indian Corn, (_Zea Mays;_)
Two Kinds Of _Holcus Spicatus_, Called By The Natives _Soono_ And
_Sanio_; _Holcus Niger_, And _Holcus Bicolor_; The Former Of Which They
Have Named _Bassi Woolima_, And The Latter _Bassiqui_.
These, together
with rice, are raised in considerable quantities; besides which, the
inhabitants in the vicinity of the towns and villages have gardens which
produce onions, calavances, yams, cassavi, ground-nuts, pompions, gourds,
water melons, and some other esculent plants.
I observed, likewise, near the towns, small patches of cotton and indigo.
The former of these articles supplies them with clothing, and with the
latter, they dye their cloth of an excellent blue colour, in a manner
that will hereafter be described.
In preparing their corn for food, the natives use a large wooden mortar
called a _paloon_, in which they bruise the seed until it parts with the
outer covering, or husk, which is then separated from the clean corn, by
exposing it to the wind; nearly in the same manner as wheat is cleared
from the chaff in England. The corn, thus freed from the husk, is
returned to the mortar, and beaten into meal; which is dressed variously
in different countries; but the most common preparation of it among the
nations of the Gambia is a sort of pudding, which they call _kouskous_.
It is made by first moistening the flour with water, and then stirring
and shaking it about in a large calabash, or gourd, till it adheres
together in small granules, resembling sago.
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