158 TRIBES BORDERING ON KORDOFAN, for warding off sabre-cuts, and throw it also at the feet of the enemy in an attack.

Their favourite occupation is tobacco smoking : they are, ind*eed, never to be met during the whole day without a pipe in their mouths. The young girls seldom smoke, but the old women never put their pipes aside for one moment ; and when several of them squat down together, and form, as in other places, a clique for scandal, you might imagine yourself to be in a chimney. The bowls of the tobaccopipes of these Nuba negroes are made of clay or wood, and they give them a very pleasing appearance. The pipe is manufactured of wood, and is of about the thickness of a finger—into this they insert a thin iron tube, three inches in length, which serves the purpose of a mouth-piece. They grow their own tobacco—it resembles that of Kordofan, has a small leaf, and thick stalk. It is very probable that the negroes have smoked from time immemorial, and that tobacco, therefore, does not come originally from America alone.

The food of the Nuba negroes is far better than that of the natives of Kordofan, for on many of the hills there is an abundance of oxen, goats, sheep, pigs, fowls, butter, and honey. Amongst their favourite dishes rats must be classed, which are considered a great delicacy on several of the hills. The species eaten is the field rat, and has not the same disgusting appearance as that of Europe. It is roasted here on a spit in its skin, and is subsequently flayed.