AMONG THE GHILZAIS by Thomas Stevens

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jun 10, 1889

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 15, No. 22.

AMONG THE GHILZAIS.

By Thomas Stevens

BEFORE a good many of the tents there stood a rude tripod, consisting of three poles tied together near the top. Suspended to these were goat-skin churns, which were operated by two women jerking them smartly back and forth. The art of making such butter as we are accustomed to seems to be unknown among these people; but they obtain from their goat milk a tasteless substitute, called mus-cal, which represents the fatty properties of the milk. Another production obtained from it is mast, a thick, tartish preparation, which, with bread, forms the staple food of the Ghilzais; in taste and consistency this mast somewhat resembles clabbered milk. A very palatable and sustaining article of food for using on the march is prepared by making mast up into dumpling-like balls and drying them in the sun. Bushels of these portable articles of food were spread out to dry on the drooping roofs of the tents and on cloths on the ground.

By another process is made a very wholesome and refreshing drink called doke. In taste and appearance doke is closely allied to buttermilk, but by some peculiar process is endowed with properties that keep it fresh and wholesome for an indefinite period of time. A Ghilzais starting for a long journey across the desert takes on his camel a goat-skin full of this doke and a liberal quantity of the sun-dried mast balls. Half a bushel of the latter and a skinful of the former provide him with wholesome and appetizing food and drink for a week’s journey.—Thomas Stevens, in New York World.