The Sherbro and its hinterland . it then hasan acrid flavour. A considerable quantity must howeverbe taken before it makes any appreciable effect upon thenative. Personally I have found one tumbler of new wineamply sufficient for me. Great quantities are consumedby the chiefs, who delight in it and who seem capable ofdrinking it whenever they can get it. Up country it did not appear to me to be at all acommon drink, and although brought in several times aday to the chiefs in small wooden bowls or calabashes Idid not observe the ordinary people taking it; doubtlessbecause they could not get it.


The Sherbro and its hinterland . it then hasan acrid flavour. A considerable quantity must howeverbe taken before it makes any appreciable effect upon thenative. Personally I have found one tumbler of new wineamply sufficient for me. Great quantities are consumedby the chiefs, who delight in it and who seem capable ofdrinking it whenever they can get it. Up country it did not appear to me to be at all acommon drink, and although brought in several times aday to the chiefs in small wooden bowls or calabashes Idid not observe the ordinary people taking it; doubtlessbecause they could not get it. The wine exudes slowly from the trees that have beentapped into whatever is put to catch it, probably a largehollow gourd affixed to the tree stem ; and, as thereceptacle is left unattended, robberies often occur. I remember being once in an up-country place, whenupon going to look for his wine the owner discoveredthat some one had been there before him and had carefullyemptied the calabash and replaced it; his excitement as he. Fir. iQ.—The from THK On. Shi,ki;k( VII INDIGENOUS PRODUCTS 69 perambulated the town was too great for words. Instentorian tones he cursed the thief for all he was worth,promising to swear him country fashion if it was notput back. I must admit that, whatever may be theintoxicating effect, I have never to my recollectionwitnessed any person being in a state of inebriation fromit. In the Lower Sherbro, at the large town of Bontheespecially, it is regularly hawked about by the nativewomen, who bring it from some miles inland, and dole itout at a halfpenny a tin cup—which is generally an oldcondensed milk tin containing about half a pint. The palm is none the worse for yielding man its oiland its wine ; but the cutting of its cabbage kills it. The cabbage is the core within the head of the illustration (Figure 19) shows the stems of the newleaves shooting out from the centre, and it is the bulbouspart that is known as the cabb


Size: 1374px × 1818px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookpublishernewyo, bookyear1901