Olympus
Luminary
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Milk foods, millet in the form of porridge and beer, a little maize, fish, and meat, are the main items of Nuer diet. Milkis a staple food all the year round, though cows probably tendto give a smaller yield towards the end of the rains owing toinsufficiency of pasturage, and it is said that there is a tendencyfor them to calve in numbers after the first harvest and therefore to cease lactating a few weeks earlier—if this is correct it is possibly due to the hot weather in February and Marchbringing the cows on heat. This seasonal tendency and therespective contributions of cattle and millet to Nuer foodsupply are brought out in a story in which Cow and Millethave a dispute. Cow says that Millet is a person of no importance and that it is her milk that keeps people alive throughoutthe year, while in time of famine they can eat her flesh and live. Millet replies that Cow's claims are doubtless just, but thatwhen she is ripe the children are glad, for they chew the sweetstems and rub out the grain between their hands and eat it, and there is plenty of porridge and beer. Cow argues thatanyhow porridge without milk is unpalatable and that her milkwill be finished by the time Millet is ripe. It is difficult to confirm these variations in the yield of milk or to estimate theirimportance, but the tendency for it to rise slightly in the dryseason is indicated in the chart opposite.
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