78 HABITS AND CUSTOMS.

time; and thus they proceed, taking one handful after the other, until the dish is emptied of the last morsel. If a stranger cease to eat first, the master of the house invites him to continue, not as a matter of ceremonious courtesy, but in true kindness.

During dinner little is spoken, for each individual endeavours above all things to satisfy hunger. In the villages, curds and bread are served up in the dish at meals. The poorer class have not always assida, but the woika alone, and bread and milk. When the contents of a dish are coming to an end, one man rises after the other. The master of the house receives no thanks, nor does he, indeed, expect them ; for it is regarded as an understood thing, that every one must be satisfied who happens to be present at the time of the meals. They wash their hands before, and after eating, and the same ablution is performed in the evening at sun-set.

During the dinner, water is only handed round in gourds to drink ; when the meal is over the merissa is served up. This description of beer is met with in all the villages of Kordofan with but few exceptions ; and even among the nomadic tribes, it is seldom missing, except, indeed, when the harvest has been particularly unsuccessful. Merissa is brewed in the following manner :—the dokn forms the chief basis : it is allowed to germinate first, as the barley in Germany, dried in the sun, and then bruised between stones. Cakes of bread are now made, placed in a pot and covered with water, and