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Chapter Eight. The Harvest |
| caption: |
preparations for end of weeding feast |
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All morning the household of the host was busy with preparations, the girls indefatigably pounding rice and the men mixing the meat of a newly-slaughtered pig with millet and wrapping it firmly in strong leaves, so that it could be boiled in earthen pots and served in little packets. lt was eight o'clock in the evening when I arrived at the party. I was apparently the first guest, for only the people of the house sat round the hearth in the living-room. A thick brown liquid steamed in a large pot over the fire. It was a kind of warm "beer" that the Konyaks prepare from the fermented rice left over from the brewing of the clear rice-beer. I never succeeded in swallowing more than a few gulps. |
