Chapter XIV: Camp Cookery (1)

After the obtainment of food, the art of preparing it in its most nutritious, wholesome, and palatable form ranks next in importance. It is well, when travelling with a large party, to ascertain the qualifications of a couple of steady men, and regularly appoint them to the cooking department, taking care that exemption from guards, with a few other privileges, may make the office of cook one to be rather envied; and, in order that his operations may be successfully conducted, he should fully understand the art of fire-making.

{Fire, to make.}

The natives of Australia, the Bushmen of South Africa, and the tribes along the whole course of the Zambesi, as well as many other wild nations, kindle fire by the friction of two pieces of wood against each other; there are of course varieties of method, but the principle, that of whirling the point of a moderately hard stick in a hollow, cut in one of a somewhat softer character, is very generally the same. The Bushmen carry these fire-sticks in the quiver with their arrows; and when they need fire, two men sit opposite each other, and one, laying his sandal on the ground, places on it the fire-stick, perhaps as thick as the little finger, and holds it between the soles of his feet, or between his toes, which for many purposes can be used by the natives with little less effect than the fingers. In the end of this stick a small notch is cut, and in this is placed the pointed end of another stick, about the thickness and nearly the length of a common ramrod. One man, taking this between the palms of his hands, rubs them so as to communicate to it a rapid whirling motion, keeping at the same time a gentle, steady, downward pressure. In a few seconds, this causes his hands to reach the bottom, and his companion therefore sits ready to clap his hands to the top and continue the motion till they also come down, and he in turn is relieved by the first. Very shortly fine wood dust is produced, and soon after the end of the whirling stick and the hollow in which it turns become charred, and smoke rises from the little heap of dust.

A small nest of very carefully prepared dry grass or fibrous bark, rubbed very fine, has already been provided, and in our illustration a third man is applying this to the smouldering wood-dust, some ignited particles of which he will try to catch on the nest of fibre, the whole will then be enveloped in coarser material, and whirled rapidly round, at arm's length, until it bursts into a blaze.

Where two or three men assist each other in this manner, a couple of minutes suffices to obtain fire; but if one man attempts it alone, he cannot keep up a continuous friction, for he loses speed and heat every time he has to shift his hand from the bottom to the top of the whirling rod, and, even when he has produced the first ignition, he is more liable to lose the spark than a third man who would watch his opportunity for catching it while the other two were keeping up the heat by the vigorous motion of the whirling rod. Among many tribes the producing of fire in this manner is a thing of daily occurrence.

The inhabitants of some of the Pacific Islands obtain fire by placing a piece of bamboo, which has been previously split in half, convex side upwards, on the ground; a small cut is then made in it as a sort of holding-point for the end of a flat piece of bamboo, held somewhat after the manner of a chisel, to work on. The flat piece, on being driven by the hands rapidly forward and back on the surface, or back of the long hollow piece of cane joint, rapidly works a hole through it; the wood dust, formed by the friction, falling through the orifice soon begins to smoke, smoulder, and burn, when it is placed in a tuft of dry fibre, like an egg in a nest. A small creeper or vine is now fastened to the nest, which is then rapidly whirled round the head until it flames.

There is a very convenient and portable means of carrying fire, sold under the name of a "strike-a-light," or "chucknuck;" it is formed from a brass tube of 1in. calibre and 3in. in length, which has a cap and a sliding bottom to it; it is filled with tinder, made as usual by setting fire to a piece of rag and extinguishing it as soon as it has ceased to blaze; it contains also a gun flint or bit of agate, and its chain passes through an oval of steel or case-hardened iron. When fire is required, the cap is taken off, and the box held in the left hand, with the flint so held against its edge that any sparks struck from it by the steel, which is taken in the right, must fall upon the tinder. When it is done with, the flint is put in again, the cap put on, and the movable bottom is pushed up so as to leave no vacant space, but to exclude all the air, and to extinguish the burning timber. These tinder-boxes are highly prized; and one of them, value one shilling or so, is by no means a despicable present to a native in the remote interior. The shank bone of any small animal is easily converted into a chucknuck tube.

Slow match and tinder are important matters to the explorer. Loose cotton, or almost any other vegetable fibre twisted into a cord, and then soaked in water in which a little saltpetre or gunpowder has been dissolved, will serve for a slow match. The large puff-balls, or devil's snuff-boxes as they are called by hunters, found growing about the borders of the forest, form excellent punk or tinder. After being gathered they should be hung on a string to dry, then cut into thin slices, and beaten on a board with a stick until all the powder or snuff is driven off, when it will be fit for use, either as tinder or to smoke wild bees from their holes. The soft, partially-decayed wood found in dry dead logs or hollow trees makes a very good description of tinder.

In default of a tinder-box, most persons carry a pocket-knife and a gun-flint. If a bit of rag, with a little dry gunpowder bruised into it, is rolled up tightly, and held with the flint in the left hand so that the sparks may fall on the end of the roll, it is very likely to take fire.

Many stones, as quartz, agate, jasper, iron pyrites, &c., will give forth a spark, so that if the traveller has a knife, a bit of steel, or case-hardened iron about him, he need not despair if he can only find a stone.

The Malays not unfrequently obtain a spark by striking a piece of broken chinaware sharply against the hard flinty surface of a well-developed bamboo joint.

Lucifer, congreve, or vesta matches are now so common, that few travellers think of carrying anything else; yet it is not safe to trust to them alone, as a little accidental damp may spoil the whole stock. If they ignite by simple friction there is danger of accident; if they "ignite only on the box," a supply of friction tablets should be carried, for the box will soon go to pieces with rough usage.

The trappers of North-West America make use of the German matches, such as are packed in round wooden boxes being preferred. The composition ends of these are dipped in a varnish composed of shellac and a little methylated spirit, which, when dry, as it will be in about half-an-hour, renders them perfectly damp-proof.

In countries where the sun shines continuously, a burning glass, such as the lens of a telescope or a Stanhope microscope, will obtain fire at any time during the day.

The Parsees, when serving on board European ships, carry their own fire; and we have seen a boat's crew with 3ft. of good stout rope, used as a slow match to retain it.

A man armed with a gun or pistol has always the means of obtaining fire. If it be a flint lock, he need not even draw the charge, but, throwing out the priming on some dry surface, he may plug up the touch-hole with a bit of wet clay, wet or greasy rag, string, or wood; in fact any of these materials, even though dry, if rammed in tightly, become incombustible. The end of a bit of packthread wetted, or of raw hide reimpjie, is better than any, because the remainder can be used to pull it out with. The priming can then be rubbed on a bit of rag--dry or slightly moistened--a corner of it stuck into the pan, the gun full cocked and the trigger pulled, when most likely the sparks will be found to have ignited the tinder. With a percussion gun the charge, if it be loaded, must be drawn or fired away so as to leave the barrel empty, then a little powder must be put in, and a bit of dry rag, with powder rubbed upon it, rammed loosely into the barrel; the gun should be fired with its muzzle downwards or towards a rock or stump, that the rag may not be blown too far away.

The fire being obtained by any of these means, and secured by being communicated to a small collection of inflammable material, the next process is to build up and ignite the fuel that is to serve the traveller for warmth or culinary purposes. This will, of course, have been already collected. Prudent cooks generally tie a dry thorn branch behind their waggon on leaving their outspan, so as to have it ready as soon as they again halt; or, if fuel be scarce, they keep a bright lookout upon the way for dry sticks or the dung of tame or wild animals. Such fuel should be broken up, and the sticks roughly assorted into sizes. A small elevation will be chosen or made on a dry patch of ground, and the fire being laid on a little faggot of small sticks, others are carefully piled round it pointing upward, at an angle of 45° or more towards the centre--just as if a conical roof or a church steeple were to be built--and round these the larger ones are arranged in the same manner, and in successive sizes. (See Fig. 2, p. 551.) Thus, the property of heated air being to ascend, the flame is led naturally up along the twigs, and through the interstices, and when sticks as thick as the thumb are well kindled, others may be piled on with less attention to regularity. If the intention is to make a transient blaze as large as possible, perhaps for a night signal, dry thorn branches of the mimosa, with their large thorns and loose twigs, thrown on as lightly as possible, will answer excellently. We have seen in the Karroo veldt of South Africa a bush or shrub of which the leaves blaze up with almost a resinous flash, but of which the stem is almost incombustible. This would serve well for such a signal; but when wanted for the purposes of cooking, the fire requires constant replenishing, and from the repeated calls for fresh supplies, the shrub has acquired the expressive name of the "Bring on bush."

A species of "prolea," locally called "Waggon bush," is also highly in request, as its resinous blossoms maintain a more steady heat.

If the fire is required as a day signal, large quantities of green wood, leaves, &c., should be heaped on to make as much smoke as possible; and _vice versâ_ if concealment is desired--green wood should be avoided, and only small quantities of dry wood used.

We have often, during a night halt among the date-palm jungles, selected a tree at a convenient distance from its fellows, to form a sort of gigantic torch. The dry fronds give off in burning sufficient heat to make the whole crown of the tree inflammable; this, in turn, ignites the trunk, which burns for some time, and gives a most brilliant light.

The lighting of a fire in a hot dry climate is a matter of comparative ease when compared with the obtainment of one in the damp woods of a cold inclement region. An experienced campaigner will generally contrive to carry with him a few pieces of dry resinous wood, known as "kindling chips," with which to start his fire. In the absence of these, look out sharply for a dead tree or hollow log, and from the lee side of it, if rain is falling, chop out a good supply of wood as a foundation for your fire. If you cannot find a dead tree or log, select the dry side of a living one; chop off the bark with your axe, and then from the exposed timber remove some long thin chips. Now, under the shelter formed by spreading your blanket or coat, proceed with your hunting knife to cut these chips into long, thin, narrow shavings, much like those used in making the Bavarian toy brooms. When a good quantity of these has been prepared gather a bundle of the very finest and most slender brushwood you can find. The largest sticks should not be stouter than wheat straws; cut these up into foot lengths; place your bunch of shavings on as dry a spot as you can find. If there are stones to be obtained, place one on each side of it. Now, with your small sticks, build a sort of cone loosely over the shavings, each stick being arranged end upwards, just as hop poles are stored for the winter; lay over and outside these a few stouter sticks and bits of bark. When your cone is complete introduce your fire to the centre of the cone's base. A tube of bark or hollow reed, a piece of curled up dry hide, or a gun-barrel with the nipple taken out, serves for a blowpipe to gently urge on the fire with. We--as stated in the early portion of this work--endeavour, if possible, to have a small pair of bellows as part of our travelling kit. It is well, however, to know how to manage without them. Small quantities of gunpowder cautiously sprinkled in will aid considerably in setting up the first flame of a sluggish fire. The greatest care must, however, be exercised in order to guard against accidents from explosion.

We in our early days narrowly escaped the loss of a hand by strewing a little powder from the flask on some damp moss, which we were endeavouring to coax into a fire. The instant the grains of powder reached the fire they ignited, communicated with the contents of the flask, and, fortunately, blew the brass top from the copper body, without bursting the metal. On another occasion, nearly a half-charge of powder exploded in the left hand, whilst we were strewing in the powder with the right finger and thumb in a manner which we are to this day utterly at a loss to account for. When making use of gunpowder as a fire stimulant, we now invariably pour the quantity about to be used on a leaf or a piece of bark, and place the flask in a place of perfect safety, some distance from the fire, which, when once fairly established, may be treated with more boldness, and supplied with sticks of larger size. If you intend camping down for the night with your party, the first thing to do, after seeing that your fire is burning strongly, is to collect a good and sufficient store of fuel to last through the night and well up into the morning. One of the elements of fitness in the locality for camping purposes will be the close vicinity of proper firewood; and here we must caution the inexperienced against the choice of soft wood trees for a true camp fire. Pines, and other members of the coniferæ, are very ill adapted to the purpose. Ash, maple, beech, birch, and other hard woods are the sorts to be sought for. Trees of about 1ft. to 14in. in diameter are the best for the purpose. When felled with the axe, they should be cut into logs of about 12ft. in length, and all the branches chopped up short to feed the fire with. Prepare two strong heavy stakes of about 5ft. in length, sharpen the points and drive them into the earth just behind your fire, in such a way that they may stand at about 6ft. apart. Cut a notch in the rear of each near the top for the support or back stake to key into. Now place three of your fire logs one on the other, as if you were building a log wall. This forms your fire-back; now take two shorter logs and fix them at the ends as log rests, and on these lay another long fire log, when the arrangement will be complete. A fire of this kind, when once thoroughly established, will burn during the longest night, form a perfect wall of fire, and cause little trouble, as all the feeding fuel is cast in between the front log on the log rests and the fire-back. A pot, to be boiled on a fire of this kind, is conveniently suspended from a stout green pole, so placed as to rest above the fire-back, whilst its point is forced into the ground behind.

To keep a small fire steadily burning, let three logs as large as possible be laid end to end, diverging at an angle of 60° from each other (as in Fig. 1, p. 551), push their burning ends occasionally together, and they will last many hours, with but little attention. The natives of Australia take dry logs, 6ft. or more in length, and laying them down 3ft. or 4ft. apart, set them on fire in several places. Letting shorter logs meet them from the outside, and laying good-sized pebbles around them, they then stretch themselves on the ground and sleep between the two lines of fire, and when the wood is consumed the stones continue for some time to radiate the heat they have previously absorbed. Many tribes of American Indians have their own especial fashion of fire-building, so that a deserted camp fire will not unfrequently reveal the identity of the tribe by whom it was made.

In South Africa, when the flats are swamped with heavy showers, and it would seem almost impossible to kindle the scanty fuel that can be obtained, the ant-hills with which the plain is covered prove the greatest imaginable boon to the traveller. One of these hills, 3ft. or 4ft. high, is selected, its top cut flat off, and a hole dug like an oven in its side. In this the fire is kindled, the flame rushes up through the galleries, the clay becomes red hot, and the kettle or frying-pan soon begins to feel its influence. But this is not all, for the galleries are most likely full of vegetable matter as well as of ants' eggs, and larvæ, and these help to increase the flame. Of course it is cruel, but the traveller and his followers must have food. By the exercise of a little ingenuity, hollows can be cut in it for convenience of baking bread, &c. Most farmers build a clay oven at some little distance from their houses to avoid the necessity of having a fire actually under their roof. In the Zuur veldt, in Tartary and Central India, where fuel is scarce, we have seen the cattle-dung collected and piled along the tops of all the walls and other enclosures to dry.

When camping down for any length of time a stack of logs and split hard wood should be formed. Straight logs are easily split by wedges, but stump ends, which form excellent fuel, are so tough that they require blowing open with gunpowder. To do this, we bore an auger hole into the substance of the stump, pour in our charge of powder, and then screw into the hole a tapered iron plug, on which a very deep rough screw thread has been cut. This plug has a ring made in its upper end to admit of the passage of an iron pin used in screwing it in, and the ring of a bit of old ox chain, the other end of which is secured to the log under treatment by a large staple, or a screw bolt, in order to prevent the plug from being blown away and lost. The annexed illustration represents a section of the stump; and it will be seen, on examination, that the plug has a hole running longitudinally through it for a slow-match to go through. The inside end of this match is allowed to remain long enough to reach the powder in the bottom of the hole, and that at the outside of sufficient length to enable you, after lighting it, to get behind a tree, or in some other safe place, until the explosion takes place, and the flying splinters and fragments settle. In the absence of one of these iron blasting plugs, a hard wood treenail may be used to stop the auger hole, and the vent may be bored with a gimlet.

{Makeshift mills.}

In dealing with many of the food, drink, and oil yielding products with which we shall have to deal, mills or crushing contrivances, more or less complicated, will be required. The most simple and primitive of these is formed by placing the substance to be treated between two stones, and grinding it by working them forward and back with the hands. The tortillas or thin pancakes of Spanish America are made from flour prepared by the aid of a contrivance of this kind. The maize or Indian corn used in their manufacture is first steeped in water to soften it. Handfuls of the prepared grain are then thinly scattered over the surface of the lower or bed stone. The top stone is then brought into play until the whole is reduced to a species of paste. This, when flattened out between the palms of the hands, and rapidly baked over the fire, forms a description of bread in general use throughout Mexico and other countries where the Spanish races have formed settlements. Most of the Eastern races and tribes make use of the ancient quern or hand-mill to crush their grain. This primitive mill, the subject of the annexed illustration, is, with trifling modifications of arrangement, almost world wide. A bed stone, slightly convex, is capped by a running stone somewhat concave. A hole in the centre admits of the grain being poured in with the left hand, whilst a second hole out of centre receives the end of the handle used in causing the upper stone to revolve on the lower. As the grain is reduced to powder it falls out on a cloth placed to receive it, and by repeatedly passing between the stones a meal of sufficient fineness for practical purposes is soon formed. When two or more persons work at a mill of this description, supplementary handles are attached to the upright turning stick by strips of raw hide. The "chupatees" or "aps" of India are usually made from meal ground in mills of this description. Chupatees, like tortillas, are not unlike pancakes, and form a most important element of an Indian hunter's diet. Our native followers always contrived to bear with them in some way or another the pair of stones necessary to form a quern, and a piece of sheet iron to bake the aps on, so that, wherever grain of any kind was procurable, we were at least sure of bread. When a sufficient quantity of meal has been ground out, it is, by the aid of a little water and much manipulation, converted into dough or "attar." This is divided into balls, each ball being sufficient to form one chupatee. The balls are then one by one taken between the palms of the hands and dexterously slapped and patted until quite round and as thin as an ordinary pancake, and then adroitly transferred to the piece of sheet iron which rested on a small fire close at hand. A little ghee, or native butter, was then added. The aps, when baked brown, are taken off the plate, and eaten hot or stored away for future use.

When attached to the expedition sent into the jungles for the capture of the Nahwab of Banda, we saw our native hunters and followers, when particularly short of grain, gather the seed of a thin wiry grass called "nardoo" for meal-making purposes. This nardoo must not, however, be confounded with the Australian seed of the same name, as that grows on a plant not unlike our English wood sorrel, the "hare-bell," or a long-stemmed clover; whilst that of India is a true cereal, with a head furnished with many grains, like very diminutive barley.

In Africa and many other countries the pestle and mortar are extensively made use of for grain and seed crushing. A hard wood log is easily hollowed out by the aid of fire and cutting tools, and a pestle is extemporised from any suitable piece of heavy wood.

A powerful and simple description of mill is made by making a round and somewhat tapering hole in a large slab of sandstone or grit. In this a conical block of stone is fitted in such a manner as to admit of its being turned round by a cross-handle, as shown in the annexed illustration. The corn or other grain to be crushed is thrown into a groove which surrounds the hole in the bed stone.

A generally useful oil or sugar-cane mill is in general use throughout India and Ceylon. Its main bed or cylinder is formed from a solid block of hard stone, which is hewn out until of the form of an upturned mortar; in the bore or barrel is fixed, at an angle, a piece of hard, heavy, and massive baubul thorn tree, which acts as a pestle or crusher; to this is attached, by lashings of raw hide, a head bar, which serves to guide its movements and direction. This head bar is in turn connected with the travelling bar, which runs round the cylinder much as the jaws of a boom might be made to run round a mast. The illustration below will serve to show the manner in which the arrangements are made. One or more bullocks are made use of to turn the pestle of the mill; and such liquid as may be forced out of the substance under treatment runs through an orifice, like the vent of a cannon, into a cane tube, which conducts it into a pot sunk in the earth. The greater portion of the native cane sugar made in the East is manufactured by the aid of this description of mill.

Whilst at Tette, in Africa, we had an opportunity of seeing the process of cane sugar making carried out by the native cultivators, which is conducted as follows: Early in the morning a quantity of canes, minus their tops, were brought in, and a couple of men, armed with thin double-edged soft iron knives, 2ft. long and 3in. wide, caught up the canes in their left hands and chopped off pieces about 2ft. long, letting them fall in heaps, whence they were taken by others, who dressed off any knots or young shoots that might impede their progress through the mill. As soon as this was completed, the parts of the machine, which are always taken asunder and cleaned after a day's work, were set up, the whole consisting of eight pieces of wood--first, the trough, or canoe as the natives call it (an oblong block 5ft. long, 2ft. 6in. wide, with a hollow 3in. deep to catch the juice, and three circular holes or sockets in the centre, cut not quite through, to receive the lower ends of the rollers); secondly, two posts, one at either end of the trough, with their upper ends tenoned to carry another log with corresponding sockets for the upper end of the rollers; thirdly, three vertical rollers, 4ft. long and 8in. diameter, their upper parts being cut into the form of a long screw, the worm of the centre one running in the usual direction, and those of the two others in the opposite. The head of the central roller projects above the framework, and is squared so as to fit into a mortice in the middle of a long beam, the two ends of which are used as levers, and, when turned, the deep-cut worm, acting on those of the other rollers, causes them to revolve in the opposite direction. A heap of cane was laid by the mill; and, while eight or ten men ran round with the lever bar, a native, squatting on the receiving side, fed the canes by handfuls between the centre and the right-hand roller; while another, catching them as they came out (as shown in the above illustration), sent them back again between the centre and the opposite roller on his own right. This was repeated till the canes were crushed dry and the trough filled.

The juice was baled out with a calabash; and when it became shallow was scooped up by the hand, strained through a basket into two large copper pans 30in. wide and 8in. deep, and boiled on open wood fires, a couple of women stirring it till sufficiently evaporated. The pans were then placed on small heaps of soft earth, and the stirring continued till the whole mass assumed the consistency of dough or toffy, and eventually crystallised into a fine bright yellowish brown sugar, leaving no treacle, molasses, or refuse of any kind.

The green cane chewed to express the juice is pleasant and nutritious; the fresh sap is a most luxurious draught; the syrup, thickened by boiling, but not yet crystallised, is of a bright golden colour, and better in taste than what we call treacle; the pap or toffy is by no means bad.

Next morning, as the friction of the rollers had worn the outer side of the sockets and thus increased the space between them, a native carpenter let in pieces of hard wood across the grain of the beam, and in them cut hollows to the proper outline of the sockets. This is frequently necessary; and, if it is too long delayed, the rollers separate so much that the thread of the centre screw catches the edge instead of the hollow of the others, and is liable to break both. A set of rollers will last from one to three seasons, according to the amount of work required. The panellas, or earthen sugar jars, are made by women.

{Sugar pots, to make.}

A shallow wooden dish, of about 14in. internal diameter, is chosen, and in this the clay, previously kneaded into a long roll, is so coiled as to make a circular wall; this is next pressed and patted into a compact mass, with a smooth surface; it is then built upon, tapering into a kind of pear shape towards the top, which is 4in. in diameter, and is finished in a smooth edge (a woman will do this in about ten minutes); it is then gently lifted from the dish and set aside to dry. Next day it is turned up, and the wide part, which had previously been the base, is gradually built upon with fresh clay, till it arches over so as to leave a very small aperture; the fingers of the left hand are introduced to support the work, while the hole is being diminished by applications of fresh clay until it becomes so small that the last finger has to be withdrawn, and it is finally closed by the dexterous application of a small piece, quite moist, dabbed on with correct aim, and slightly smoothed off at the edges by gentle application of the fingers. A hemispherical cap is then made for the finished panella, which appears beside it. The jars are then baked to a dull red. From 15lb. to 20lb. of sugar is put in each, making the gross weight from 27lb. to 29lb., a pad of grass to give a flattened base is laced to each jar with strips of palm leaf, a couple of loops or beckets are left to lift it by, and each jar is sold for about three fathoms of calico.

{Cakes, to bake.}

In cooking an "as-koekie," or ash cake, a fire is made upon a smooth flat piece of ground, and when this is well heated, and there are plenty of glowing embers, the fire is swept away; the cake, generally of meal or of seconds flour and water, with a pinch of salt in it, is laid upon it, the ashes are then strewed over the cake, and the embers raked over all, fresh wood being heaped over if necessary, and it is left for two or four hours according to its size and the intensity of the fire. The Australian damper is made in the same manner, except that the finest flour is used and kneaded with as little water as possible; in fact the flour is merely damped sufficiently to make it adhere, and then by dint of hard kneading is converted into a solid mass, the object being to have no moisture in it that would cause it to become mouldy if kept or carried for several days upon a journey. As this article of breadstuff is such a general favourite with old bushmen, it may not be amiss to give full directions for its preparation. The size of the damper of course depends on the numerical strength of the party for which it is about being prepared. The first thing to do is to obtain a flat, broad, dried sheepskin, or slab of bark, large enough to constitute a kneading-board; on this pour from your flour sack enough flour for use; sprinkle in some salt; work a wide basin-shaped hole in the middle of the flour, keeping the right hand moving round it whilst water is thrown in a little at a time from any convenient vessel held in the left. Continue to do this until a thick, strong, adhesive dough is formed; work this well about on the board with dry flour until a large pudding-shaped ball is formed; strew your board with fresh flour, dust over your ball with a little, and proceed to press and flatten it out until a round, even, pancake-shaped mass is formed--about 2-1/2in. in thickness will be found a convenient substance. This may be ascertained by cutting a notch in a sharp stick at 2-1/2in. from the joint, and thrusting it through here and there, working away in the meantime until the thickness is uniform. The red hot embers of your camp fire, which should be good, clear, and well-burned, must now be scooped aside with a shovel, flat-pointed stick, or a sheet of green bark, leaving a clear even surface of hearth. Now, deftly taking the damper in the palms and outspread fingers of your two hands, drop it evenly and lightly on the heated ground, making all flat and compact with your hands, and then with your shovel or makeshift spade rake back the heated embers over your damper until it is deeply buried in them, and in between one and two hours, depending on the weight of the batch, it will be cooked to a turn, be of a light rich brown, and a feast for a king. Hungry men not unfrequently satisfy their hunger by making dough nuts, or "beggars on the coals" as they are called, whilst the damper is cooking. These are merely small lumps of dough hastily twisted off and cast on the embers to grill. The dried yeast powders prepared by some good makers are well worth taking on an expedition, when very superior bread can be made by their aid. We have made good bread with and without them, by placing the loaf under an upturned copper or iron cooking pot, heaping on the ashes until the baking process was completed, and then dusting the loaf well with a bunch of fresh green twigs. We made an excellent oven in the Crimea from an old powder canister. This we buried in an horizontal direction in the bank at the back of the cook house. Clay was well rammed in round it, and after it had been sufficiently heated by a charge of vine roots and aught else we could obtain, it was swept out, the bread pies or tarts (for we even arrived at that stage of the baker's art at last) were put in, the copper cover of the canister was luted fast with wet clay, and the baking proved most satisfactory. A small iron-hooped barrel makes an excellent oven. Lay it on its bilge in a deep groove, scooped in a convenient bank, cover it with a complete and thick coating of strong clay, leaving one head, the outer one, open; then fill in the earth above the cask, and well stamp it down; now lay a few stones in the cask, and light a fire on them, letting it smoulder the whole of one day and a night, in order that the clay may dry. Now remove the stones, and light a strong fire of dry wood in it. This will burn out all the staves, and leave the clay oven fit for use. A large flat stone and some clay makes a good oven stopper.

If a light cake for present use is required, and the ashes adhering to the outer surface are thought objectionable, a frying-pan, of which the handle had been broken off, may be inverted over it, or a plate of iron may be supported upon four stones, and the fire piled over all as before. (See Fig. 3.) The three-legged iron pot, or Meg Merrilies (Fig. 4), forms an excellent oven; light bread may be baked in it, or joints may be roasted, or pastry made to suit the most fastidious taste. A fire must be made underneath it, and a sufficient quantity of clear glowing embers raked out and piled upon the iron cover, which ought not to be lifted until the moment when the contents are judged to be properly cooked.

{Flesh meat.}

But it is when the larger animals of the wilderness fall before the hunter's rifle that the resources of the African _chef de cuisine_ are really called into requisition. Suppose an elephant has been laid low, and, after an extemporised supper of steaks, or "carbonatjies," the party determine to have a foot for breakfast, the fire, which has already partially dried the ground, is swept away, or perhaps a new spot is chosen, and a hole 30in. in width and depth is made, a fire is lighted in this, and a quantity of dry wood thrown on and allowed to burn until the sides of the hole and the earth immediately surrounding it are thoroughly heated; the fire is then raked out, the foot, generally a fore one, which has been amputated at what may be called the wrist-joint, and answering to the knee of the horse, is placed in its natural position in it (Fig. 5), the ashes are shovelled in, the hot embers above them, the hot earth over all, and a roaring fire is lighted on the top and left to burn all night. In the morning this is cleared off, the foot is dug out, the upper parts soiled by the contract of the ashes are cut away, and the rich gelatine and other morsels are left to be dug out by the stout keen pointed knives of the expectant hunters, the tough skin serving all the purposes of a dish. Very frequently a piece of the trunk is put in at the same time, and this is generally left as a stand-by, to be eaten cold, when it looks and tastes almost like coarse tongue; the foot, on the contrary, being best while still warm. The hump of the white rhinoceros, treated in nearly the same manner, is in reality a most delicious morsel, the rich juices accumulating in the dish formed by the thick skin, while the upper part and adhering ashes is cut off and thrown away; but, if proper care has been taken, another flap of skin slightly larger will have been cut out and skewered, as in Fig. 6, for a dish cover, and this will not only prevent the annoyance caused by dirt and ashes, but will prevent the absorption of the juices which would otherwise take place.

A mode of cooking a dish of hippopotamus, discovered by Sir Samuel Baker, is well worth bearing in mind. Speaking of it, he says: "I tried boiling the fat flesh and skin together, the result being that the skin assumed the appearance of the green fat of the turtle, but is far superior. A piece of the head thus boiled, and then soused in vinegar, with chopped onions and cayenne pepper and salt, throws brawn completely into the shade." The rump steak from an eland is also a delicacy hardly to be surpassed. The side of the rump, skin and all, with as much flesh as can be dug out with it, is cut off; the edges of the skin are then gathered together and skewered like a pudding bag (see Fig. 7), and it is then put into the heated hole, or a fire is built around and over it upon the surface, the advantage being that the juices have no chance of escape and the meat is most deliciously cooked; in fact, if the quantity be insufficient, all the inner portions of the skin may be pared away and eaten, leaving only the scorched cuticle. The gipsies' method of rolling up a fowl in a ball of clay, putting it into the fire till it becomes red hot, and then breaking it open, with all the feathers scorched so as to be no longer recognisable, and the fowl itself deliciously cooked, is well known. Fish when dressed in this way are delicious.

In some countries the natives appear to have a taste for boiling or stewing their food, although at the same time they do not possess vessels of iron, or even of clay, that will bear the action of the fire: nevertheless their case is not hopeless. We have frequently seen the cooking holes of the Australians--generally beside some rivulet, where fish and fresh-water mussels were easily to be obtained, and even an alligator might occasionally be killed. A hole (see Fig. 8, p. 551), 2ft. in diameter and 1ft. in depth, is dug in the ground, and the inside nicely clayed; the fish or flesh, carefully wrapped in grass or in the leaves of the pandanus, is put in and the hole filled with water. In the meantime large stones have been heated at a fire not far off, and these are dropped one after another into the water, being removed by means of crooked sticks as they cool to make room for others more thoroughly hot; then, when the water boils, or is as nearly boiling as it is possible for hot stones to make it, the hole is covered with grass; earth is heaped on it, and the food is left to steam until it is considered sufficiently cooked. Should the mess be large, and require longer boiling, a fire may be lighted above the cooking hole, less for the purpose of imparting fresh heat than for that of preventing the loss of the heat already produced below it. The New Zealanders, Sandwich Islanders, and some of the Indian tribes of North West America, cook most of their food in this manner. In the Pacific Islands a pig, with the potatoes, yams, or other vegetables, is nicely wrapped in several folds of mat or native cloth and left to stew all night; and we have heard it said that flesh may be boiled by this process in a sufficiently water-tight basket. Salmon and other fish are commonly boiled by Indians in birch bark by the aid of hot stones.

{Makeshift furnace.}

While coasting along the shores of North Australia we were often at a loss for something like a warm meal; fortunately, we had as a compensation a case of gin with us, and, as long as it lasted, we thankfully availed ourselves of it as a means of restoring the animal heat after we had been chilled and wearied by a night of exposure and incessant labour. When the weather moderated a little, we took a 6lb. preserved beef tin (see the following engraving), cut out the top of it, and then, after making a number of triangular cuts in the sides about half-way down, we turned the tongues inwards so as to make at the same time supports for the piece of tin we had cut out from the top, and holes by which the air could enter freely; the upper edge we cut into van-dykes, turning alternately one point inward and one a little out, so as to make a firm rest and secure hold for another tin of the same size, which we used as a boiler. We set the whole upon the bottom of our upturned baling tub, and lighted our fire upon the false bottom with coir, or fibre of cocoa-nut husk, steeped in cocoa-nut oil, and with chips of deal cut off the trail of our little carronade. In this manner we not only made tea and coffee, but warmed up our preserved meat, and fried our salt pork.

During this voyage we fell in with one of the very few so-called "edible" things we have been unable to eat, and this was the "trepang" (_beche le mer_, or sea-slug); this, with the scanty boiling or roasting we could afford it, was about as tender and well tasted as the sole of a shoe well saturated with sea-water; but, after having been parboiled and dried by the Malay collectors, sold by them for 15_l._ per ton to the Chinese, and subjected to the elaborate culinary operations of that people, we have no doubt that, with sufficient condiment, it produces a soup quite worthy of the praises they bestow upon it.

When we were left with a couple of Krooboys in the pinnace of H.M.S. _Hermes_, on the Zambesi, we took an empty preserved potatoe box, composed of sheet iron, between 16in. and 18in. square, and, cutting out the top as in the case before described, we made half-way up the sides a series of triangular cuts, turned the points inward as supports, and let the top sheet previously punched full of holes down upon them; above this we cut a good-sized hole for the admission of fresh fuel, and another below for access to the ashes accumulating there. This proved a first-rate portable furnace; it was large enough to accommodate the coffee kettle and a moderate-sized stew pot or frying-pan. The bottom being made with a flange riveted to the sides, as shown by the rivet heads in the sketch, was sunk nearly 1 in. within the edges, and therefore left just that amount of vacant space between it and the boat's thwarts or other plank that it might be set upon, thus preventing any danger of burning the plank should even the falling embers heat the iron before they died out. For additional security, we put a couple of chocks under to raise it; but there was no necessity for securing it by cleats or lashings; still we have drawn them to show how they might be applied, if requisite. A piece of the iron wire netting, now commonly sold for fencing, if neatly turned up at the sides, would make a very efficient fire-basket; and, if the meshes prove too large, a couple of pieces so cut or folded that they cover each other unequally would reduce the size of the apertures to something less than half. This might be slung by wires (as in Fig. 1), set upon legs, or supported according to convenience. The form of the old cresset, which may be well enough imitated with a few bits of iron hoop (Fig. 2), with or without rivets, is worth bearing in mind. Light may be obtained by sticking a pole into the ground, splitting the top of it, and sticking in the cleft a slip of red pine or other resinous wood; the burning may be accelerated by depressing the lighted end (as in Fig. 3), or retarded by raising it.

{Fuel.}

When wood is scarce, almost any animal substance may be used as fuel; the dung of all graminivorous animals, the dried flesh, cartilage, fat and bones, will all burn. Dr. Livingstone once burnt the dried bones of an elephant in the furnace of the little steamer _Ma Robert_; and in trying down the blubber of a whale, the scraps from which no more oil can be extracted are used as fuel to melt the rest. Arctic explorers constantly burn bones to obtain heat. Parties away from a vessel on boat service frequently have blue lights or rockets with them. A blue light is usually provided with a percussion cap, so that it bears its own means of ignition; but, if there should be no need to burn it, the sulphur may be removed and used in small quantities to tip the ends of bits of paper, wood, or any light combustible matter to serve as matches.

A candle may be saved from guttering by being placed in a tube large enough to contain it with a small aperture to let the wick come through; if a spiral spring is at hand to force the candle gradually up, so much the better; if not, have the tube long enough to allow a stick of the same size to be inserted under the butt of the candle, then weight the tube heavily (see Fig. 4, p. 555), and it will of itself press downwards as the candle burns away.

Fig. 5 is a clay mould used by the natives of some of the islands of the Eastern Archipelago for cooking sago; it is heated nearly red hot, the sago paste is ladled into the hollows shown in it, and, when cooked, taken out in the form of very palatable biscuits. In South Africa we make very excellent fritters by mixing a stout batter of meal or flour with a little sugar; then setting a pot of sheep's-tail fat upon the fire, we keep it boiling, and taking up a spoonful of the batter drop it into the boiling fat. When a South Sea whaler is trying out blubber, the men take biscuits, saturate them thoroughly with water, tie them in a cloth to which a line is made fast, and throw them into the boiling oil. They also tie up fish in a cloth and throw them into the pot, secured in the same manner.

{Hints on food.}

Commander E. Belcher says that farmers throw a bag of flour into the water to keep it cool; the outer layer only forms paste half an inch in thickness. The American whalers put their flour casks into salt water to prevent weevils getting in; the outer paste dries as hard as flint, and resists their attacks. And lastly, speaking from his own experience, he says the flour balls washed ashore from a wreck, dirty-looking and studded with sand, gravel, and pebbles till they seemed almost like plum puddings, were most carefully gathered up and preserved; they were broken when required, and the dry flour inside made into cakes; this, with a little rum from the wreck and a scanty supply of salmon purchased from the natives, supported him and his crew for ten days; even the flour which had been reached by salt water was not quite spoiled, if the gravel and sand could be extracted.