Page:A pilgrimage to my motherland.djvu/54

Rh ogiri and several esculent herbs. Leaving out the ogiri, which stinks dreadfully, obé is certainly very fine, but the natives greatly prefer it with ogiri, just as certain Epicureans do tainted venison. Ground beans and pepper, fried in oil, called acras, cooked yams, beaten with water in a wooden mortar, fufu; with certain other preparations of corn, rice, etc., also form part of their diet. Native beer or oti is plentiful, cheap and sometimes good. It is made either from maize or Guinea corn. As with the brewing of beer in civilized countries, the grain is suffered to germinate in order to develop saccharine matter. They have, however, no means of arresting fermentation, and hence the beer can not keep. Another very fine drink is made from the sap which flows from incisions made in the palm-tree.

The people are not nude, as many suppose Africans to be generally. Of course we except children, and even they are not always so. The apparel of a man consists of a shocoto, cloth and cap. The shocoto is a sort of loose trowsers, fastened with a string directly above the hips. He dispenses with the cloth when at labor. Instead of this cloth the wealthy wear a tobe, a loose large garment, worn over the shoulders, and falling below the knees: they are generally handsomely embroidered. Sometimes, however, a cloth of