Curious as it may
appear, although we were in a land of plantains, the ripe fruit was in
the greatest scarcity. The natives invariably eat them unripe, the green
fruit when boiled being a fair substitute for potatoes--the ripe
plantains were used for brewing plantain cider, but they were never
eaten. The method of cider-making was simple. The fruit was buried in a
deep hole and covered with straw and earth;--at the expiration of about
eight days the green plantains thus interred had become ripe;--they were
then peeled and pulped within a large wooden trough resembling a canoe;
this was filled with water, and the pulp being well mashed and stirred,
it was left to ferment for two days, after which time it was fit to
drink.
Throughout the country of Unyoro, plantains in various forms were the
staple article of food, upon which the inhabitants placed more
dependence than upon all other crops. The green plantains were not only
used as potatoes, but when peeled they were cut in thin slices and dried
in the sun until crisp; in this state they were stored in the granaries,
and when required for use they were boiled into a pulp and made into a
most palatable soup or stew. Flour of plantains was remarkably good;
this was made by grinding the fruit when dried as described; it was
then, as usual with all other articles in that country, most beautifully
packed in long narrow parcels, either formed of plantain bark or of the
white interior of rushes worked into mats.
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