Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1893-11-11
sDRlNk IN DARKEST AFRICA.
Natives Brew Banana Beer and Are Fond
of Palm Wine.


To the natives of Africa of the pres
ent time beer prepared from malt and
hops is unknown, although bottled Ia
ger beer has reached Gerhard Rolls.
the well-llnOwn German traveller in
Africa, even at the oasis of Kufra, in
the Sahara.
Yet there exists, says the Philadel-
phia Press, no lack of Intoxicating bev-
erageS among the sons of the dark
continent. They are not required to
wait for the firewater of the Europeans
to be sent them. They understand
how to prepare spirituous beverages of
their own, and they also become intox-
icated by the latter. This is only too
frequently the case, as may be seen
from the account of foreign travellers
in Africa.
The Africans make wine and beer,
but neither grape juice is used for the
former nor malt extract for the latter.
Palm trees of different kinds, bananas
and millet furnish the raw materials
Palm wine is made from the sap ooZ-
ing from the cutoff blossom stems of
the oily palm tree and of the cocoa
tree. 1t is pleasant, refreshing bever
age and sufficiently known. From the
fruit of the banana tree a beverage is
being made in Africa which they drink
there as wine or beer
Banana beer is chiefly used by the
natives of Uganda, a country border
ing on Lake Victoria. The people there
are very fond of such beer, and when
Emin PaSha went to Rubaga to meet
King MteSa he wrote in his diary:
This is real beer trip; from village
to village, or rather from beer pot to
beer pot, we are marching on" In that
country the manufacture of the banana
beverage is extensively going on
DIR. Felkin, an English physician, who
formerly lived there, describes the diff
ferent kinds of the banana beverage
He makes a distinction between ba-
mana beer and banana wine.
According to his description "mu-
biSi,' a cooling banana wine, is manu-
featured in the following manner: A
big hole is dug in the ground, lined
with banana leaves, filled with unriDc
bananas and kept covered by mats and
earth until the fruit has become COM
pletely ripe. Then the bananas are
slit, mixed with fine hay and placed in
large bOat-like woollen trough which
ut one end has an emptying pipe. After
the addition of some water the whole
Is thoroughly mixed by the hand or by
short wooden sticks. Thereupon the
trough is covered with banana leaves
and the mixture is left standing for
about one or two hours
After the expiration of that time it
is taken out and through glass sieves
poured into large calabasheS. 1t is
then ready for use and represents a
sweet, agreeable and not intoxicating
beverage. The fact that just this kind
of the banana beverage is drunk in
large quantities by the natives explains
why Emin Pasha did not see many
drunken men in Uganda and Unjoro
But if the mubisi is left standing for
three days it undergoes a fermentation
and becomes slightly acid. refresh
ing beverage which is strongly intoXi-
eating. This wine or beverage is called
'muenge." If it is filled into bottles
and they are kept well corked in
cool place for several months one OBJ
tains sparkling wine strongly resem-
bling champagne. NIubisi, the princi-
pal beverage made from bananas, can
be changed yet in another way.
If larger or small quantity of boiled
millet is added to it and the mixture is
left standing in a large earthen pot for
two or three days and stirred from
time to time, it becomes beer which,
according to the quantity of millet
added, is more or less intoxicating. The
beverages made from bananas are not
stored away for a long time They
are mostly consumed soon after manu-.
facture. When being sold they COM
monty are comparatively dear This
wine or beer is either drunk from
gourd cups or sucked from gourd bot
ties, by means of long, nicely made
tubules, the lower ends of which are
serving at the same time for tiltering
the turbid fluid