. Annals of the South African Museum = Annale van die Suid-Afrikaanse Museum. Natural history. ECONOMIC LIFE OF SOME NOMADIC NHARO BUSHMAN GROUPS 285 food types which are hard and inedible in their natural form, such as seeds, hard strips of dried meat and pieces of roasted skin. Mortars are made by the men from hard wood. The required length is cut off and roughly shaped with an axe. It is then hollowed out with a flat metal chisel which is tied to a length of wood ^vith thong or fibre cord. Digging sticks are often used as Fig. I. Sketch showing how grass stems are woven together in
. Annals of the South African Museum = Annale van die Suid-Afrikaanse Museum. Natural history. ECONOMIC LIFE OF SOME NOMADIC NHARO BUSHMAN GROUPS 285 food types which are hard and inedible in their natural form, such as seeds, hard strips of dried meat and pieces of roasted skin. Mortars are made by the men from hard wood. The required length is cut off and roughly shaped with an axe. It is then hollowed out with a flat metal chisel which is tied to a length of wood ^vith thong or fibre cord. Digging sticks are often used as Fig. I. Sketch showing how grass stems are woven together in manufacture of grass sieves. Mortars are from 25 to 30 cm high, with a diameter which varies from 15 to 20 cm. At the brim the walls are from 6 to 9 mm thick, becoming thicker towards the base. The base is usually from 6 to 10 cm thick. To prevent the base from being pounded out, it is reinforced by fitting a flat round stone into a cavity in the centre of the base. Sometimes these flat stones are used to block the hole when the base has already been partly pounded out. Cracks in the walls of the mortar are repaired with stoppings of wool from birds' nests or even tar obtained at dam installations. To strengthen the walls a strip of skin is sometimes put around the mortar, covering half to two-thirds of the total height. The skin is fitted when wet and shrinks tightly around the mortar. To facilitate the transport of mortars, one or two holes are made about 2 cm below the brim, through which a leather thong is tied. As mortars are cumbersome to carry, one often finds only two or three in circulation in a werft, freely used byaU. The pestle {jjamtsha) is made from hard wood and is 50-75 cm long and about 5 cm in diameter. The pounding of seeds is the task of the women, but in their absence men and children sometimes pound small quantities for themselves. When the seeds are broken fine enough, they are scooped from the mortar with the hands and eaten. Pounded seeds are often adde
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectnaturalhistory, booky
