DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49271#0235
The KababIsh, a Sudan Arab tribe
173
the only distinctly negro objects which played any constant part in the life of the tribe
were a number of the big wooden drums commonly called nukkaras (fig. 1). These are said
to come from Dar Hamar, where in the neighbourhood of Nahud are trees big enough to
admit of their being fashioned. There were also a small number of large oblong wooden
food bowls brought from the south by the Hamar which suggested negro influence, and
oblong shields resembling those of the Nilotes, but
few men possessed these, nor were they highly
regarded. The Hamar also bring the shallow
wooden food-bowls with carved rims called kudah,
which they make themselves, and which among the
Kababish are valued at about 10 piastres (fig. 2).
In the old days slaves were traded north by the
Hamar, the majority of Kababish slaves, as has
been said, being Dinka. Although there is now
no trade, a well-grown virgin is valued at about
£10, a well-grown male adolescent at about the
same sum, and any other female slave at about
half the price.
Apart from the preparation of food the chief
technical processes carried on by the Kababish
Fig-1-
are the following: —
1. Leather-making. The hairy side of the hide is rubbed with the ashes of the kitr
bush made into a paste with water. This removes the hair, and the skin is then washed
and scraped. The tanning agent is a watery extract of the ground pods (karaz) and
seeds of the sunt or acacia. The skin is soaked in this, being repeatedly rubbed and
worked and left in the solution for from one to ten days:
it may be necessary to renew the liquor. Finally the skin
is washed and dried in the sun. Although sunt bushes
are found in the wadys they are not abundant, and sup-
plies of karaz are bought at Dueim, El-Obeid, etc. To
make a water-skin the animal — a sheep or goat — is
killed by a blow on the head. This avoids damage to the
skin, which is removed by making an incision in the region of the rump; the cut is con-
tinued some distance down the hind legs, and the skin peeled off from behind forwards.
It is put in the tanning bath while still fresh. The mouth of the vessel is formed at the
neck where the head was cut off. The other incisions are sewn up, the remains of the legs
being often tied together to form a handle. Mansfield Parkyns mentions “large water-
173
the only distinctly negro objects which played any constant part in the life of the tribe
were a number of the big wooden drums commonly called nukkaras (fig. 1). These are said
to come from Dar Hamar, where in the neighbourhood of Nahud are trees big enough to
admit of their being fashioned. There were also a small number of large oblong wooden
food bowls brought from the south by the Hamar which suggested negro influence, and
oblong shields resembling those of the Nilotes, but
few men possessed these, nor were they highly
regarded. The Hamar also bring the shallow
wooden food-bowls with carved rims called kudah,
which they make themselves, and which among the
Kababish are valued at about 10 piastres (fig. 2).
In the old days slaves were traded north by the
Hamar, the majority of Kababish slaves, as has
been said, being Dinka. Although there is now
no trade, a well-grown virgin is valued at about
£10, a well-grown male adolescent at about the
same sum, and any other female slave at about
half the price.
Apart from the preparation of food the chief
technical processes carried on by the Kababish
Fig-1-
are the following: —
1. Leather-making. The hairy side of the hide is rubbed with the ashes of the kitr
bush made into a paste with water. This removes the hair, and the skin is then washed
and scraped. The tanning agent is a watery extract of the ground pods (karaz) and
seeds of the sunt or acacia. The skin is soaked in this, being repeatedly rubbed and
worked and left in the solution for from one to ten days:
it may be necessary to renew the liquor. Finally the skin
is washed and dried in the sun. Although sunt bushes
are found in the wadys they are not abundant, and sup-
plies of karaz are bought at Dueim, El-Obeid, etc. To
make a water-skin the animal — a sheep or goat — is
killed by a blow on the head. This avoids damage to the
skin, which is removed by making an incision in the region of the rump; the cut is con-
tinued some distance down the hind legs, and the skin peeled off from behind forwards.
It is put in the tanning bath while still fresh. The mouth of the vessel is formed at the
neck where the head was cut off. The other incisions are sewn up, the remains of the legs
being often tied together to form a handle. Mansfield Parkyns mentions “large water-