DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49271#0214
152
C. G. and B. Z. Seligman
the staple foods. Merissa and coffee are taken in the early morning, but the principal
meal of the day is in the evening. When the men go to the far northwest with the camel
herds (approximately from November to February), they subsist entirely upon the milk
of their ndkas. It is said that for the first few days a diet of camel’s milk has a purging-
effect, but once they have become accustomed to it, the Kababish declare that camel’s
milk is the most nourishing diet. So highly is it esteemed that weakly lads are sent with
the herds by way of convalescence, and the Berara told us that women with delicate
children would sometimes brave the discomfort of the long waterless journey for the
sake of the camel milk for their children. The Nurab women said that though camel’s
milk was best for men, cow’s milk was better for women, as it was more fattening, and
goat’s milk was the food for children.77
The fats used by the Kababish are all of animal origin, and for these in a comprehen-
sive sense the word dihn is used. They are important not only as foods, but as forming a
vehicle for perfumes of which the Kababish are inordinately fond. Wadak is animal fat
rendered down, used specially for the hair. Samn butter is made by putting milk into a
skin vessel, adding a little sour milk, allowing it to stand for twenty four hours, and then
churning by shaking the skin vigorously. Fresh butter (zibda) is not much appreciated
or eaten. It is generally kept for ten to fifteen days, and then melted over the fire, when
it forms an oily liquid which is used as a food and for rubbing on the skin. It is this fluid
which is commonly spoken of as dihn; when perfumed it is known as karkar.
Spices are highly esteemed. Ambergris is especially appreciated, small pieces being
put in tea as a luxury. Dilka is a mixture of coarsely-ground dura, ground sandal wood,
and three other odoriferous substances called homrattya, suratiya, and berda. These
are made into a paste and kept in small masses about the size of a marble, which, when
required for use, are softened with dihn and smeared on the body. Henna is used in the
usual way, the whole of the palmar surface being stained.
We may here refer to the smoke bath which is in frequent use among the women,
especially when convalescing from illness or from childbirth. A hole about a foot deep is
dug in the ground. In this is placed a quantity of lighted kitr wood, which smoulders and
gives out a deal of smoke. A mat of the kind called hasira78 with a square aperture
about eighteen inches across cut out of its centre is placed over the hole. The woman
wraps herself in a coarse cloth called samla, and squats with a foot on each side of the
77 Doughty, op. cit., vol. 1, p. 325-326, has some interesting remarks concerning the different kinds of milk
and their uses. Mansfield Parkyns, op. cit., p. 263, records that he several times lived on an exclusive diet of camel’s
milk, once for as long as seventeen days, and that he “never was better” though taking “the most violent exercise”
all the time.
78 Vide infra, p. 178.
C. G. and B. Z. Seligman
the staple foods. Merissa and coffee are taken in the early morning, but the principal
meal of the day is in the evening. When the men go to the far northwest with the camel
herds (approximately from November to February), they subsist entirely upon the milk
of their ndkas. It is said that for the first few days a diet of camel’s milk has a purging-
effect, but once they have become accustomed to it, the Kababish declare that camel’s
milk is the most nourishing diet. So highly is it esteemed that weakly lads are sent with
the herds by way of convalescence, and the Berara told us that women with delicate
children would sometimes brave the discomfort of the long waterless journey for the
sake of the camel milk for their children. The Nurab women said that though camel’s
milk was best for men, cow’s milk was better for women, as it was more fattening, and
goat’s milk was the food for children.77
The fats used by the Kababish are all of animal origin, and for these in a comprehen-
sive sense the word dihn is used. They are important not only as foods, but as forming a
vehicle for perfumes of which the Kababish are inordinately fond. Wadak is animal fat
rendered down, used specially for the hair. Samn butter is made by putting milk into a
skin vessel, adding a little sour milk, allowing it to stand for twenty four hours, and then
churning by shaking the skin vigorously. Fresh butter (zibda) is not much appreciated
or eaten. It is generally kept for ten to fifteen days, and then melted over the fire, when
it forms an oily liquid which is used as a food and for rubbing on the skin. It is this fluid
which is commonly spoken of as dihn; when perfumed it is known as karkar.
Spices are highly esteemed. Ambergris is especially appreciated, small pieces being
put in tea as a luxury. Dilka is a mixture of coarsely-ground dura, ground sandal wood,
and three other odoriferous substances called homrattya, suratiya, and berda. These
are made into a paste and kept in small masses about the size of a marble, which, when
required for use, are softened with dihn and smeared on the body. Henna is used in the
usual way, the whole of the palmar surface being stained.
We may here refer to the smoke bath which is in frequent use among the women,
especially when convalescing from illness or from childbirth. A hole about a foot deep is
dug in the ground. In this is placed a quantity of lighted kitr wood, which smoulders and
gives out a deal of smoke. A mat of the kind called hasira78 with a square aperture
about eighteen inches across cut out of its centre is placed over the hole. The woman
wraps herself in a coarse cloth called samla, and squats with a foot on each side of the
77 Doughty, op. cit., vol. 1, p. 325-326, has some interesting remarks concerning the different kinds of milk
and their uses. Mansfield Parkyns, op. cit., p. 263, records that he several times lived on an exclusive diet of camel’s
milk, once for as long as seventeen days, and that he “never was better” though taking “the most violent exercise”
all the time.
78 Vide infra, p. 178.