POTASSIUM:

 We just call it ‘Potasse’, but of course it must have a Bambara name. This is quite a mysterious and exciting substance- it is an element of course with the  denomination ‘ K’.  This element is quite important in Mali. It is derived from vegetation ashes, and one of its uses is in cooking. But another form is used in the dyeing of fabric, and that form is quite dangerous and poisonous. When it is added to indigo it froths up and boils before the dye is ready to use.

The pleasure steamer has long since passed. A large full moon is rising above the mirror surface of the Swedish lake. Mali is far, far away in space but never far from me...