“The people of Soccatoo cry their provisions round the city; and milk, fish, &c. are daily hawked through the streets by the lower orders, whose voices are as loud and shrill as those heard in London. The cry of “_Nono de mi!_” (milk and butter) always put me in mind of bells belonging to village churches; there was something peculiarly plaintive in the rising and falling of the voice of the young female who used to vend those articles morning and evening in the immediate neighbourhood of our dwelling; and, in my opinion, it strikingly resembled them in sound. “Namah du tonkah,” mutton (literally “flesh of the sheep”); “Namah de la comma” (camel’s meat); “Namah du acquia” (beef); “Gorassa” (little cakes made of pounded wheat); are also cried every morning; as is likewise “dowah,” and every other variety of grain produced in Haussa.”
A cook of roughly the same moment, setting down the same dish.
258. INGREDIENTS.--The remains of any cold fish, 1 onion, 1 faggot of sweet herbs; salt and pepper to taste, 1 pint of water, equal quantities of bread crumbs and cold potatoes, 1/2 teaspoonful of parsley, 1 egg, bread crumbs. _Mode_.--Pick the meat from the bones of the fish, which latter put, with the head and fins, into a stewpan with the water; add pepper and salt, the onion and herbs, and stew slowly for gravy about 2 hours; chop the fish fine, and mix it well with bread crumbs and cold potatoes, adding the parsley and seasoning; make the whole into a cake with the white of an egg, brush it over with egg, cover with bread crumbs, and fry of a light brown; strain the gravy, pour it over, and stew gently for 1/4 hour, stirring it carefully once or twice. Serve hot, and garnish with slices of lemon and parsley. _Time_--1/2 hour, after the gravy is made.
Sources: The passage is from Richard Lander, Records of Captain Clapperton's last expedition to Africa, Vol. 1, free to read in full at Project Gutenberg. The recipe is from Beeton, The Book of Household Management of 1861, also free in full. Both are in the public domain in the United States. The binding above is ours — ochre cloth, sheaf stamp.