SCIENCE is life

Nudation   This is the development of a bare area without any form of life. Exposure of new surfaces may occur due to several causes such as landslides, erosion, deposition or other catastrophic aging.

Mash This is a low flat land completely or partiallycovered by shallow water. The water is about knee deep in most parts while it is less in many parts. The clay soil holds the water while the grass and lilies help to reduce evapouration. There are two types of mash:  Temporal and permanent mash. Temporal mashes are seasonal occurring during the raining season and drying up during the dry season. Permanent mashes contain water throughout the year. They are close to the rivers or seas. Plants that live there include lilies, floating ferns, duckweeds, water lettuce, algae while animals include water birds, leeches, frogs, tadpoles, larvae of insects

Buoyancy The density of fresh water is considerably less than that of the sea and such floatation is a greater problem for fresh water plankton. There is occasional flooding which submerges the plants.  The water lilies, water lettuce, water hyacinth are able to stay afloat because of the air spaces in the lower part of the leaves as well as in the skins and roots.

The fish is slit and eviscerated and steeped in brine composed of 70-80% saturated salt solution. This reduces the water content of the fish and causes also the surface layer proteins to coagulate.  After treatment with brine, the fish is hung on racks in a kiln and exposed to smoke from burning wood. The tar and phenols from the smoke produce a desirable colour, flavour and odour while methanol provided preservatives effect.

The meat is hung on racks or shackle line in a smoke house in the presence of smoke for 4-8hours at a temperature of 35oC-40oC or by holding for several hours in a room to which smoke is ducted from a smoke generator consisting of a grinding wheel and a length of wo od. The smoke is generated from cured hardwood in order to avoid gums ass ociated with softwood.  The smoke contains an array of chemicals which impart their characteristic flavor and preservative effect on the meat. The high tem perature reduces the moisture in the meat.