They Display Great
Skill In The Management Of Their Cattle, Making Them Extremely Gentle By
Kindness And Familiarity.
On the approach of night, they are collected
from the woods, and secured in folds, called korrees, which are
constructed in the neighbourhood of the different villages.
In the middle
of each korree is erected a small hut, wherein one or two of the herdsmen
keep watch during the night, to prevent the cattle from being stolen, and
to keep up the fires which are kindled round the korree to frighten away
the wild beasts.
The cattle are milked in the mornings and evenings; the milk is
excellent, but the quantity obtained from any one cow is by no means so
great as in Europe. The Foulahs use the milk chiefly as an article of
diet, and that not until it is quite sour. The cream which it affords is
very thick, and is converted into butter by stirring it violently in a
large calabash. This butter, when melted over a gentle fire, and freed
from impurities, is preserved in small earthen pots, and forms a part in
most of their dishes; it serves likewise to anoint their heads, and is
bestowed very liberally on their faces and arms.
But although milk is plentiful, it is somewhat remarkable that the
Foulahs, and indeed all the inhabitants of this part of Africa, are
totally unacquainted with the art of making cheese. A firm attachment to
the customs of their ancestors makes them view with an eye of prejudice
every thing that looks like innovation.
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