DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49271#0241
The Kababish, a Sudan Arab tribe
179
4. Rope-making. Rope is made from the bast of the sayal, the la'ut (Acacia nubica'),
and to a lesser extent from that of the tebaldi (Adansonia digitata'). The bast is soaked in
water, and if necessary scraped and allowed to dry. Before use it is soaked. Rope-
making is regarded as men’s work.
5. Woodwork. Kababish woodwork is of the simplest, and for the most part consists
of the making and the mending of camel saddles. The
best riding saddles, which are covered with dyed and
embossed leather, are bought at Omdurman and other
towns, and we believe that those made by the Kababish
themselves are for the most part pack-saddles, many of
them extremely rough. No nails are used, the parts of
the saddle being fitted together and securely tied. The
framework of the tonkoh, the most elaborate form of
camel saddle, is shown in fig. 3.
6. The manufacture of tar (katrurij. The process of
distillatio per decensum by which tar is obtained from the
seeds of the water-melon is especially interesting. It is
clearly of foreign origin, though no memory of its intro-
duction now exists. Two pottery vessels are used, one a
Fig- 3.
squat wide-mouthed pot, the other larger and more or less globular, with a short neck
having an internal diameter of about two inches. The smaller pot is buried in sand so
Fig. 4.
that only its rim projects above the surface. The larger pot is
charged, being rather more than half filled with melon seeds.
The neck is lightly stuffed with a loosely compacted mass of
grass stalks, and the vessel is inverted so that its neck projects,
into the smaller, wider pot as in fig. 4. A small fire is made
around the larger pot, the melon seeds carbonize, and the easily
condensable products of combustion diffuse through the grass
plug and condense in the lower vessel as a watery fluid, darker
than golden syrup but showing a bronze-gold tint in a thin
layer. The melon seeds are commonly brought from Kaja, where a charge is worth three
or four piastres.
179
4. Rope-making. Rope is made from the bast of the sayal, the la'ut (Acacia nubica'),
and to a lesser extent from that of the tebaldi (Adansonia digitata'). The bast is soaked in
water, and if necessary scraped and allowed to dry. Before use it is soaked. Rope-
making is regarded as men’s work.
5. Woodwork. Kababish woodwork is of the simplest, and for the most part consists
of the making and the mending of camel saddles. The
best riding saddles, which are covered with dyed and
embossed leather, are bought at Omdurman and other
towns, and we believe that those made by the Kababish
themselves are for the most part pack-saddles, many of
them extremely rough. No nails are used, the parts of
the saddle being fitted together and securely tied. The
framework of the tonkoh, the most elaborate form of
camel saddle, is shown in fig. 3.
6. The manufacture of tar (katrurij. The process of
distillatio per decensum by which tar is obtained from the
seeds of the water-melon is especially interesting. It is
clearly of foreign origin, though no memory of its intro-
duction now exists. Two pottery vessels are used, one a
Fig- 3.
squat wide-mouthed pot, the other larger and more or less globular, with a short neck
having an internal diameter of about two inches. The smaller pot is buried in sand so
Fig. 4.
that only its rim projects above the surface. The larger pot is
charged, being rather more than half filled with melon seeds.
The neck is lightly stuffed with a loosely compacted mass of
grass stalks, and the vessel is inverted so that its neck projects,
into the smaller, wider pot as in fig. 4. A small fire is made
around the larger pot, the melon seeds carbonize, and the easily
condensable products of combustion diffuse through the grass
plug and condense in the lower vessel as a watery fluid, darker
than golden syrup but showing a bronze-gold tint in a thin
layer. The melon seeds are commonly brought from Kaja, where a charge is worth three
or four piastres.