DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49270#0259
Mwana Kupona
177
ferasha = ‘mat, carpet, mattress’; from Ar. ■> Ao spread out’ (as a carpet),
whence , ‘horse-cloth’. Not in Krapf. The word was applied to an eider-
down quilt which I had, but not to my blankets. For the latter, curiously enough, only
the English term appeared to be in use. Even the poorest Swahili house contains one or
more of the locally made bedsteads {kitanda) — a framework filled in with interlaced cords
of plaited palm leaf. On this is laid a mat, sometimes rolled up at one end so as to form
a headrest, but nearly always there is at least one pillow (mto), usually a flat rectangular
bolster, stuffed with cotton or sufi, the fiber of the silk cotton tree Eriodendron. It is
usually covered with the same cotton print which is worn by the women. In some houses
there are no bedclothes: people lie down in the clothes they wear by day and add any
extra ones they may have, if necessary for warmth — perhaps a strip or two of leso may be
reserved as wrapping for the children. In better houses there are one or two four-post
bedsteads of Indian manufacture, with a light framework for supporting the mosquito
curtain (chandarua). On this is laid, first a mat and then a mattress (godoro). In the
house of the Kadhi of Pate this was white and about three inches thick (it appears to be
sometimes more like a quilt — see Krapf s. v. “Godoro”); it had a coarse cotton sheet
spread over it, and at each end two flat bolsters of the kind above referred to. These
bolsters were made of some stout brown and white striped stuff, like ticking, and had
white outer cases, removable for washing. There was no ferasha in this instance; it
is a stout quilted cotton coverlet. Nufi is preferred to cotton for stuffing cushions and
pillows, as it does not ‘bah’.
Line 39.
libari (lebari) = ‘clothes’, from Ar. , ‘to cover’. Not in Krapf, but see Madan’s
Dictionary. Cf.
Bwana Gustavu apenda upumbao;
Usiku huvua libasi za kwao,
Sikumtambua kiona uyao.
✓
kungisi = mafurungu, mitali (Abdul Alim) —i. e. ‘anklets’.
makowa = ‘armlets’, but cf. Krapf, s. v. “Koa” (2), who takes it for anklets. It also
means ‘ shells ’ — but snail shells and similar whorled sea shells, never cowries, which seem
to be the only ones used as ornaments.
Line 40.
muili: usually pronounced mwili, but here distinctly written muili, .
mwengo = scent (fharufu nguru, manukato’— Abdul Alim).
marashi (rose water) and dalia are two favorite scents: the latter is a light brown powder,
with a peculiar, somewhat sickly smell; it is usually mixed with powdered tibn.
177
ferasha = ‘mat, carpet, mattress’; from Ar. ■> Ao spread out’ (as a carpet),
whence , ‘horse-cloth’. Not in Krapf. The word was applied to an eider-
down quilt which I had, but not to my blankets. For the latter, curiously enough, only
the English term appeared to be in use. Even the poorest Swahili house contains one or
more of the locally made bedsteads {kitanda) — a framework filled in with interlaced cords
of plaited palm leaf. On this is laid a mat, sometimes rolled up at one end so as to form
a headrest, but nearly always there is at least one pillow (mto), usually a flat rectangular
bolster, stuffed with cotton or sufi, the fiber of the silk cotton tree Eriodendron. It is
usually covered with the same cotton print which is worn by the women. In some houses
there are no bedclothes: people lie down in the clothes they wear by day and add any
extra ones they may have, if necessary for warmth — perhaps a strip or two of leso may be
reserved as wrapping for the children. In better houses there are one or two four-post
bedsteads of Indian manufacture, with a light framework for supporting the mosquito
curtain (chandarua). On this is laid, first a mat and then a mattress (godoro). In the
house of the Kadhi of Pate this was white and about three inches thick (it appears to be
sometimes more like a quilt — see Krapf s. v. “Godoro”); it had a coarse cotton sheet
spread over it, and at each end two flat bolsters of the kind above referred to. These
bolsters were made of some stout brown and white striped stuff, like ticking, and had
white outer cases, removable for washing. There was no ferasha in this instance; it
is a stout quilted cotton coverlet. Nufi is preferred to cotton for stuffing cushions and
pillows, as it does not ‘bah’.
Line 39.
libari (lebari) = ‘clothes’, from Ar. , ‘to cover’. Not in Krapf, but see Madan’s
Dictionary. Cf.
Bwana Gustavu apenda upumbao;
Usiku huvua libasi za kwao,
Sikumtambua kiona uyao.
✓
kungisi = mafurungu, mitali (Abdul Alim) —i. e. ‘anklets’.
makowa = ‘armlets’, but cf. Krapf, s. v. “Koa” (2), who takes it for anklets. It also
means ‘ shells ’ — but snail shells and similar whorled sea shells, never cowries, which seem
to be the only ones used as ornaments.
Line 40.
muili: usually pronounced mwili, but here distinctly written muili, .
mwengo = scent (fharufu nguru, manukato’— Abdul Alim).
marashi (rose water) and dalia are two favorite scents: the latter is a light brown powder,
with a peculiar, somewhat sickly smell; it is usually mixed with powdered tibn.