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substitute for a fireplace, ought also be taken, together with a set of
tin cooking-utensils.
Fireplaces in Boats.--In boating excursions, daub a lump of clay on the
bottom of the boat, beneath the fireplace--it will secure the timbers
from fire. "Our primitive kitchen was a square wooden box, lined with
clay and filled with sand, upon which three or four large stones were
placed to form a hearth." (Burton's 'Medinah.')
Fireplaces on Snow.--On very deep snow, a hearth has to be made of a
number of green logs, upon which the fire may be made. (See "Esquimaux
Cooking Lamp.")
Cooking-fires.--See chapter on "Cooking."
Fires in the early Morning.--Should your stock of fuel consist of large
logs and but little brushwood, keep all you can spare of the latter to
make a blaze, when you get up to catch and pack the cattle in the dark
and early morning. As you travel on, if it be bitter cold, carry a
firebrand in your hand, near your mouth, as a respirator--it is very
comforting; then, when the fire of it burns dull, thrust the brand for a
few moments in any tuft of dry grass you may happen to pass by, which
will blaze up and give a new life to the brand.
FOOD.
The nutritive Elements of Food.--Many chemists have applied themselves in
recent years, to discover the exact percentage of nutriment contained in
different substances, and to determine the minimum nutriment on which
human life can be supported. The results are not very accordant, but
nevertheless a considerable approximation to truth has been arrived at.
It is now possible to tell whether a proposed diet has any great faults
of excess or deficiency, and how to remedy those faults. But it also must
be recollected that the stomach is an assimilating machine of limited
performance, and must be fed with food that it can digest; it is not
enough that the food should contain nutritious matter, if that matter
should be in an indigestible form. Burke and Wills perished from sheer
inability to digest the seeds upon which the Australian savages lived;
and Gardiner's party died of starvation in Tierra del Fuego, because they
could not digest the shell-fish which form a common article of diet of
the natives of that country. The question of diet must then be limited to
food that is perfectly digestible by the traveller. It remains to learn
how much nourishment is contained in different kinds of digestible food.
Dr. Smith has recently written an elaborate essay on this subject,
applying his inquiries chiefly to the food of the poor in England; but
for my more general purpose, as it is impossible to do justice to a large
and imperfectly understood subject, in the small space I can give to it,
it will be better that I should reprint the results given in my previous
edition. These are principally extracted from a remarkable paper by Dr.
Christison, inserted in the Bluebook Report of the Commission of Inquiry
on Crimean matters, in which the then faulty dietary of our soldiers was
discussed. It appears 1st, that a man of sedentary life can exist in
health on seventeen ounces per day of real nutriment; that a man engaged
in active life requires fully twenty-eight ounces per day; and, during
severe labour, he requires thirty ounces, or even more. 2ndly, that this
nutriment must consist of three-quarters, by weight, of one class of
nutritive principles, (C), and one quarter of another class of nutritive
principles, (N); 3rdly, that all the articles of common food admit of
being placed, as below, in a Table, by which we see at a glance how much
nutriment of class C, and how much of class N, is found in 100 parts,
gross weight of any of them. Thus, by a simple computation, the effective
value of a dietary may be ascertained. Class C, are the carboniferous
principles, that maintain respiration; Class N, are the nitrogenous
principles, that repair waste of tissue. N will partly replace C, but at
a great waste: C will not replace N.
A large number of diets such as those of various armies and navies, of
prisons and infirmaries, and of the ordinary diets of different classes
of people, have been examined by aid of this Table, with surprisingly
uniform results. But these diets chiefly refer to temperate climates; it
would therefore be a matter of great interest if travellers in distant
lands would accurately observe and note down the weight of their own
rations and those of the natives. It is a great desideratum to know the
lightest portable food suitable to different countries. Any such reports,
if carefully made and extending over a period of not less than two
months, would be very acceptable to me. To make them of any use, it is
necessary that every article consumed should be noted down; and that the
weight and state of health, at the beginning and at the end of the
period, should be compared.
__________________________________________________
Table showing the quantity of Nutriment contained
in different articles of Diet.
__________________________________________________________________
Articles of Diet .. C. N.
Total real
....................................................Nutri-
(Carboniferous.) (Nitrogenous) ment per cent.
of gross weight.
__________________________________________________________________
Wheat Flour............. 71.25 .......... 16.25 ....... 87.5
Bread................... 51.5 .......... 10.5 ....... 62.0
Oatmeal................. 65.75 .......... 16.25 ........82.0
Pearl Barley............ 67.0 ........... 15.0 ........ 82.0
Peas.................... 55.5 ........... 24.5 ........ 80.0
Potatoes (preserved
potatoes are thor-
oughly dry)........ .. 24.5 ........... 2.5 ..........27.0
Carrots................ 8.5 ........... 1.5 ......... 10.0
Turnips.................. 5.7 ........... 0.3 ......... 6.0
Cabbage.................. 6.7 ........... 0.3 .......... 7.0
Lean of Beef and Mutton . - .......... 27.0 ......... 27.0
Fat of meat.............100.0 .......... - ....... 100.0
Average Beef and Mutton 15.0 ...........20.25 ........ 35.25
Bacon....................62.5 .......... 8.36 ........ 70.86
Skimmed-milk Cheese ..... 0.4 .......... 64.6 ......... 65.0
White Fish ............. - ........... 21.0 ......... 21.0
New Milk ............... 8.0 .......... 4.5 ......... 12.5
Skimmed Milk ........... 8.0 .......... 4.5 ......... 10.0
Butter-milk............. 1.0 .......... 6.0 ......... 7.0
Beef Tea, strong ........ - .......... 1.44 ......... 1.44
Beef Tea and Meat de-
coction of Broth ...... - .......... 0.72 ......... 0.72
Sugar...................100.0 ........... - ....... 100.0
Butter................. 100.0 ............ - ........ 100.0
Total (in Seden-
(tary life... 12.57 .......... 4.25 ........ 17 ounces.
Nutriment (in Active
(life......... 21.00 ......... 7.00 ........ 28 "
Required. (In Severe
(labour........22.50 ......... 7.50 ....... 30 "
As examples of the way in which the above Tables should be applied, I
will now give three dietaries, in which the quantity of real nutriment
has been calculated.
I. -- British Navy Allowances. (Admiralty Order, 1824.)
Gross weight Real Nutriment.
in ounces. C. N. Total.
Bread ............20.0 - 10.3 ...2.1 ....... 12.4
or Biscuit - 16.0 .. 11.4 .. 2.6 ....... 14.0
Oatmeal ........ 1.5 .. 1.5 .. 1.96 . 0.48 ...... 2.44
Cocoa ............ 1.0 - ... 0.5 ... - ....... 0.55
or Cheese ........- ... 2.0 ... - ...1.33 ...... 1.33
Sugar ............ 1.5 .. - ....1.5 ... - ......... 1.5
or Butter ...... - .. 1.5 ...1.5 .... - ......... 1.5
Meat ........... 16.0 .. - ... 2.4 ... 3.24 ...... 5.64
or Salt Meat .. - ...12.0 .. 2.4 ... 3.24 ...... 5.64
Vegetables ...... 8.0 .. - ... 0.9 ... 0.15 ....... 1.05
or Flour ...... - .. 12.0 .. 8.95 .. 1.95 ...... 10.9
Tea .............. 0.25 .. - ... - ... - ....... -
or Coffee ...... - ...1.0 ... - .... - ......... -
__________________________________________________
Total ........ - .... - .. 41.81 . 15.09 ..... 57.0
N.B.--Besides this, is beer (in harbour only) sixteen ounces, or spirits
four ounces.
Table II. shows the daily food actually consumed by probably the most
energetic travelling and exploring party on record. It was during Dr.
Rae's spring journey to the Arctic shores of America. He issued, in
addition, four ounces of grease or alcohol a day, as fuel for cooking. He
found that it required nearly as much fuel to melt the snow, as it did to
boil it afterwards. This allowance was found quite sufficient, but there
was nothing to spare.
II. -- Dr. Rae's Allowances in Arctic America.
Gross weight Real Nutriment.
in ounces. C. N. Total.
Pemmican (1/3 dry
meat, 2/3 fat) . 20.0 ......13.3 ... 6.6 ...... 19.9
Biscuit ............ 4.0 ..... 2.9 ... 0.6 ...... 3.5
Edwards's preserved
potatoes .......... 1.6 ..... 1.4 ... 0.1 ...... 1.5
Flour ............... 5.3 ...... 3.8 ... 0.8 ....... 4.6
Tea ................. 0.6 ...... ? ... ? ........ ?
Sugar ................ 2.3 ...... 2.3 .. - ......... 2.3
____________________________________________________________
........ .... 33.8 ..... 23.7 ... 8.1 ....... 31.8
III. -- DMr. Austin's Allowances in Western Australia.
Gross weight Real Nutriment.
in ounces. C. N. Total.
Flour ............... 18.0 ...... 12.8 ... 2.9 ....... 15.7
Boned salt pork (say
a little more lean
than fat) ......... 8.0 ...... 1.9 ... 2.1 ...... 15.7
Tea ................. 0.75 ...... - ... - ........ -
Sugar ................ 3.0 .... .. 3.0 .. - ........ 3.0
____________________________________________________________
........ .... 29.75 ..... 17.7 ... 5.0 ....... 22.7
IV. -- A Sepoy's Full Rations are: --.
Gross weight Real Nutriment.
in ounces. C. N. Total.
Wheaten Flour ....... 32 ...... 22.8 ... 5.2 ...... 29.0
Pulse ................ 4 ...... 2.2 ..1.0 ....... 3.2
Butter ................1 ...... 1.0 .. 0.0 ........1.0
____________________________________________________________
........ .... 37 ..... 26.0... 6.2 .......33.3
Game was occasionally shot, by which the serious deficiency in Class N
must have been supplied. At the same time, I must say that Australian
explorers seem to travel exceedingly well on unusually scanty diets.
Food Suitable for the Stores of Travellers.--The most portable kind of
food is, unquestionably, the flesh of cattle; for the beasts carry
themselves. The draught oxen used in African and Australian explorations
serve as a last resource, when all other food is wanting.
It has been truly remarked with reference to Australian exploring
expeditions, that if an exploring party would make up their minds to eat
horseflesh, stores of provisions might be largely dispensed with. A few
extra horses could be taken; and one shot occasionally, and its flesh
dried and slightly salted, sufficiently to preserve it from becoming
tainted before the men could consume it.
Portable Food.--The kinds of food that are the most portable in the
ordinary sense of the term are:--Pemmican; meat-biscuit; fried meat;
dried fish; wheat flour; biscuit; oatmeal; barley; peas; cheese; sugar;
preserved potatoes; and Chollet's compressed vegetables. Extract of meat,
as I am assured by the highest physiological authors, is not a portable
food but a portable savour. It is quite impossible that life should be
maintained on any minute amount of material, because so many grains of
carbon and so many of nitrogen are daily consumed, and an equivalent
weight of those elements must, of course, be replaced. Salt meat is not
to be depended upon, for it is liable to become hard and worthless, by
long keeping.
Pemmican; general remarks.--Of all food usually carried on expeditions,
none is so complete in itself, nor contains so large a proportion of
nutriment as pemmican. It is especially useful to those who undergo
severe work, in cold and rainy climates. It is the mainstay of Arctic
expeditions, whether on water, by sledge, or on foot. But, though
excellent to men who are working laboriously, it is distasteful to
others.
Pemmican is a mixture of about five-ninths of pounded dry meat to
four-ninths of melted or boiled grease; it is put into a skin bag or tin
can whilst warm and soft. The grease ought not to be very warm, when
poured on the dry meat. Wild berries are sometimes added. The skin bags
for the pemmican should be shaped like pillow (not bolster) cases, for
the convenience of packing on horseback. The pemmican is chopped out with
an axe, when required.
I do not know if it can be bought anywhere in England. It was usually
prepared in the government yards at Deptford, when made for the Arctic
Expeditions. It is largely used in the Hudson's Bay territory. A
traveller who desired to furnish himself with pemmican might procure his
supplies from thence.
Pemmican, as made in England.--Sir John Richardson describes, in his
Narrative, the preparation of the pemmican that he took with him in his
last journey. The following is a resume of what he says:--The meat used
was round of beef; the fat and membranous parts were pared away; it was
then cut into thin slices, which were dried in a malt-kiln, over an
oak-wood fire, till they were quite dry and friable. Then they were
ground in a malt mill; after this process the powder resembled
finely-grated meal. It was next mixed with nearly an equal weight of
melted beef, suet, or lard; and the plain pemmican was made. Part of the
pemmican was mixed with Zante currants, and another part with sugar. Both
of these mixtures were much liked, especially the latter. The pemmican,
when complete, cost at the rate of 1x. u 1/2 d. per pound, but then the
meat was only 6 3/4 d. per pound; it is dearer now. The meat lost more
than three-quarters of its weight in drying. He had 17,424 lbs. of
pemmican in all; it was made from--fresh beef, 35,641 lbs; lard9
lbs.; currants3 lbs.; and sugar lbs.
Pemmican, as made in the Prairie.--Mr. Ballantyne, who was in the service
of the Hudson's Bay Company, gives the following account:--"Having shot a
buffalo, the hunters cut lumps of his flesh, and slitting it up into
flakes or layers, hang it up in the sun, or before a slow fire, to dry;
and the fat can be dried as well as the lean. In this state, it is often
made into packs, and sent about the country, to be consumed as dried meat
(it is often best relished raw, for, when grilled without fat, it burns
and becomes ashy); but when pemmican is wanted, it has to go through
another process. When dry, the meat is pounded between two stones till it
is broken into small pieces: these are put into a bag made of the
animal's hide, with the hair on the outside, and well mixed with melted
grease; the top of the bag is then sewn up, and the pemmican allowed to
cool. In this state it may be eaten uncooked; but the men who subsist on
it when travelling, mix it with a little flour and water, and then boil
it--in which state it is know throughout the country by the elegant name
of robbiboo. Pemmican is good wholesome food; will keep fresh for a great
length of time; and, were it not for its unprepossessing appearance, and
a good many buffalo hairs mixed with it, through the carelessness of the
hunters, would be very palatable. After a time, however, one becomes
accustomed to these little peculiarities."
Meat-biscuit.--Meat-biscuit, which is used in American ships, is stated
to be a thick soup, evaporated down to a syrup, kneaded with flour, and
made into biscuits: these are pricked with holes, dried and baked. They
can be eaten just as they are, or made into a porridge, with from twenty
to thirty times their weight of water. They were to be bought at
Gamble's, Leadenhall Street.
Dried Meat.--When more game is shot than can be eaten before the party
travel onwards, it is usual to jerk a part of it. It is cut in long
strips, and festooned about the bushes, under the full sun, in order to
dry it. After it has been sun-dried it will keep for long, before it
becomes wholly putrid. Dried meat is a poor substitute for fresh meat; it
requires long steeping in water, to make it tender, and then it is
tasteless, and comparatively innutritious. "Four expert men slice up a
full-grown buffalo in four hours and a-half." (Leichhardt.) The American
buccaneers acquired their name from boucan--which means jerked meat, in
an Indian dialect; for they provisioned their ships with the dried flesh
of the wild cattle that they hunted down and killed.
Dried Fish.--Fish may be pounded entire, just as they come from the
river, dried in the sun in large lumps, and kept: the negroes about the
Niger do this.
Flour travels conveniently in strong canvas bags, each holding 50 lbs.,
and long enough to be lashed on to a pack-saddle. (See "Pack-gabs," p.
71.)
Chollet's preserved Vegetables relieve agreeably the monotony of a bush
diet. A single ration weighs less than an ounce, and a cubic yard
contains 16,000 of these rations. They are now to be bought at all
provision merchants'--as at Fortnum and Mason's, etc.
Salted Meat.--I have already said (see "Portable Food") that salt meat
cannot be depended upon to retain its nutritious qualities for a length
of time. When freshly made, it is sure to be good. It is well to
recollect that, for want of a salting-tub, animals can be salted in their
own hide. A hollow is scraped in the ground, the hide is laid over it and
pegged down, and the meat, salt, and water put into it. I know of an
instance where this was one on a very large scale.
Condiments.--The most portable and useful condiments for a traveller
are--salt, red pepper, Harvey's sauce, lime-juice, dried onions, and
curry-powder. They should be bought at a first-rate shop; for red pepper,
lime-juice, and curry-powder are often atrociously adulterated.
Salt..--The craving for salt (chloride of sodium) is somewhat satisfied
by the potash salts, and, perhaps, by other minerals: thus we often hear
of people reduced to the mixing of gun-powder with their food, on account
of the saltpetre that it contains. An impure salt is made widely in North
Africa, from wood-ashes. They are put into a pot, hot water is poured
over them and allowed to stand and dissolve out the salts they contain;
the ley is then decanted into another pot, where it is evaporated. The
plants in use, are those of which the wetted ashes have a saline and not
an alkaline taste, nor a soapy feel. As a general rule, trees that make
good soap (p. 122), yield little saltpetre or other good equivalent for
salt. Salt caravans are the chief sustainers of the lines of commerce in
North Africa. In countries where salt is never used, as I myself have
witnessed in South Africa, and among the Mandan North-American Indian
tribes (Catlin, vol. i, p. 124), the soil and springs are "brack." Four
Russian sailors who were wrecked on Spitzbergen, and whose well-known
adventures are to be found in Pinkerton's 'Voyages and Travels,' had
nothing whatever for six years to subsist on--save only the animals they
killed, a little moss, and melted snow-water. One of them died; the
others enjoyed robust health. People who eat nothing but meat, feel the
craving for salt far less strongly than those who live wholly on
vegetables.
Butcher.--One man in every party should have learnt from a professed
butcher, how to cut up a carcase to the best advantage.
Store-keeping.--All stores should be packed and securely lashed, that it
may be impossible to pilfer from them. The packages of those that are in
use, should be carried in one pair of saddle-gabs, to be devoted to that
purpose. These should stand at the storekeeper's bivouac, and nobody else
should be allowed to touch them, when there. He should have every
facility for weighing and measuring. Lastly, it should be his duty to
furnish a weekly account, specifying what stores remain in hand.
Wholesome Food, procurable in the Bush.--Game and Fish.--See sections
upon "Hints on Shooting;" "Other means of capturing Game;" and upon
"Fishing;" and note the paragraph on "Nocturnal Animals."
Milk, to keep.--Put it in a bottle, and place it in a pot of water, over
a slow fire, till the water boils; let the bottle remain half an hour in
the boiling water, and then cork it tightly. Milk with one's tea is a
great luxury; it is worth taking some pains to keep it fresh. A traveller
is generally glutted with milk when near native encampments, and at other
times has none at all. Milk dried into cakes, intended to be grated into
boiling water for use, was formerly procurable: it was very good; but I
cannot hear of it now in the shops. Milk preserved in tins is excellent,
but it is too bulky for the convenience of most travellers. Dried
bread-crumb, mixed with fresh cream, issaid to make a cake that will keep
for some days. I have not succeeded, to my satisfaction with this recipe.
Butter, to preserve.--Boil it in a large vessel till the scum rises. Skim
this off as fast as it appears on the surface, until the butter remains
quite clear, like oil. It should then be carefully poured off, that the
impurities which settle at the bottom of the vessel may be separated. The
clarified butter is to be put aside to be kept, the settlings must be
used for common and immediate purposes. Butter is churned, in many
countries, by twirling a forked stick, held between the two hands, in a
vessel full of cream; or even by shaking the cream in a bottle. It is
said that the temperature of the milk, while it is being churned, should
be between 50 degrees and 60 degrees Fahr., and that this is
all-important to success.
Cheese.--"The separation of the whey from the cheese may be effected by
rennet, or by bitartrate of potash, or tamarinds, or alum, or various
acids and acid wines and fruit juices." (Dr. Weber.)
Eggs may be dried at a gentle heat; then pounded and preserved. This is a
convenient plan of making a store of portable food out of the eggs of
sea-birds, or those of ostriches.
Fish-roe is another kind of portable food. The chemists declare its
composition to be nearly identical with that of ordinary eggs. (Pereira.)
Caviare is made out of any kind of fish-roe; but the recherche sort, only
from that of the sturgeon. Long narrow bags of strong linen, and a strong
brine, are prepared. The bags are half-filled with the roe, and are then
quite filled with the brine, which is allowed to ooze through slowly.
This being done, the men wring the bags strongly with their hands, and
the roe is allowed to dry. Roe-broth is a good dish.
Honey, to find, when Bees are seen.--Dredge as many bees as you can, with
flour from a pepper-box; or else catch one of them, tie a feather or a
straw to his leg, which can easily be done (natives thrust it up into his
body), throw him into the air, and follow him as he flies slowly to his
hive; or catch two bees, and turning them loose at some distance apart,
search the place towards which their flights converge. But if bees are
too scarce for either of these methods, choose an open place, and lay in
it a plate of syrup as a bait for the bees; after one has fed and flown
away again, remove the plate 200 yards in the direction in which he flew;
and proceed in the same sort of way, until the nest is found.
Honey-bird.--The instinct of the honey-bird is well-known, which induces
him to lead men to hives, that he may share in the plunder. The stories
that are told of the apparent malice of the bird, in sometimes tricking a
man, and leading him to the lair of wild animals, instead of to the bees'
nest, are well authenticated.
Revolting Food, that may save the Lives of Starving Men.--Suspicion of
Poison.--If any meat that you may find, or if the water of any pool at
which you encamp, is under suspicion of being poisoned, let one of your
dogs eat or drink before you do, and wait an hour to watch the effect of
it upon him.
Carrion is not noxious to Starving Men.--In reading the accounts of
travellers who have suffered severely from want of food, a striking fact
is common to all, namely, that, under those circumstances, carrion and
garbage of every kind can be eaten without the stomach rejecting it. Life
can certainly be maintained on a revolting diet, that would cause a
dangerous illness to a man who was not compelled to adopt it by the pangs
of hunger. There is, moreover, a great difference in the power that
different people possess of eating rank food without being made ill by
it. It appears that no flesh, and very few fish, are poisonous to man;
but vegetables are frequently poisonous.
Dead Animals, to find.--The converging flight of crows, and gorged
vultures sitting on trees, show where dead game is lying; but it is often
very difficult to find the carcase; for animals usually crawl under some
bush or other hiding-place, to die. Jackal-tracks, etc., are often the
only guide. It may be advisable, after an unsuccessful search, to remove
to some distance, and watch patiently throughout the day, until the birds
return to their food, and mark them down.
Rank Birds.--When rank birds are shot, they should be skinned, not
plucked; for much of the rankness lies in their skin; or, if unskinned,
they should be buried for some hours, because earth absorbs the oil that
makes them rank. Their breast and wings are the least objectionable
parts, and, if there be abundance of food, should alone be cooked. Rank
sea-birds, when caught, put in a coop, and fed with corn, were found by
Captain Bligh to become fat and well-tasted.
Skins.--All old hides or skins of any kind that are not tanned are fit
and good for food; they improve soup by being mixed with it; or they may
be toasted and hammered. Long boiling would make glue or gelatine of
them. Many a hungry person has cooked and eaten his sandals or skin
clothing.
Bones contain a great deal of nourishment, which is got at by boiling
them, pounding their ends between two stones, and sucking them. There is
a revolting account in French history, of a beseiged garrison of
Sancerre, in the time of Charles IX., and again subsequently at Paris,
and it may be elsewhere, digging up the graveyards for bones as
sustenance.
Blood from Live Animals.--The Aliab tribe, who have great herds of cattle
on the White Nile, "not only milk their cows, but they bleed their cattle
periodically, and boil the blood for food. Driving a lance into a vein in
the neck, they bleed the animal copiously, which operation is repeated
about once a month." (Sir S. Baker.)
Flesh from Live Animals.--The truth of Bruce's well-known tale of the
Abyssinians and others occasionally slicing out a piece of a live ox for
food is sufficiently confirmed. Thus Dr. Beke observes, "There could be
no doubt of the fact. He had questioned hundreds of natives on the
subject, and though at first they positively declared the statement to be
a lie, many, on being more closely questioned, admitted the possibility
of its truth, for they could not deny that cattle are frequently attacked
by hyaenas, whose practice is to leap on the animals from behind and at
once begin devouring the hind quarters; and yet, if driven off in time,
the cattle have still lived."--Times, Jan. 167.
It is reasonable enough that a small worn-out party should adopt this
plan, when they are travelling in a desert where the absence of water
makes it impossible to delay, and when they are sinking for want of food.
If the ox were killed outright there would be material for one meal only,
because a worn-out party would be incapable of carrying a load of flesh.
By the Abyssinian plan the wounded beast continues to travel with the
party, carrying his carcase that is destined to be turned into butcher's
meat for their use at a further stage. Of course the idea is very
revolting, for the animal must suffer as much as the average of the tens
or hundreds of wounded hares and pheasants that are always left among the
bushes after an ordinary English battue. To be sure, the Abyssinian plan
should only be adopted to save human life.
When I travelled in South-West Africa, at one part of my journey a plague
of bush-ticks attacked the roots of my oxen's tails. Their bites made
festering sores, which ended in some of the tails dropping bodily off. I
heard such accidents were not at all uncommon. The animals did not travel
the worse for it. Now ox-tail soup is proverbially nutritious.
Insects.--Most kinds of creeping things are eatable, and are used by the
Chinese. Locusts and grasshoppers are not at all bad. To prepare them,
pull off the legs and wings and roast them with a little grease in an
iron dish, like coffee. Even the gnats that swarm on the Shire River are
collected by the natives and pressed into cakes.
Wholesome and poisonous Plants.--No certain rule can be given to
distinguish wholesome plants from poisonous ones; but it has been
observed that much the same thing suits the digestion of a bird that
suits that of a man; and, therefore, that a traveller, who otherwise
would make trials at haphazard, ought to examine the contents of those
birds' crops that he may catch or shoot, to give a clue to his
experiments. The rule has notable exceptions, but in the absence of any
other guide it is a very useful one.
The only general rules that botany can give are vague and full of
exceptions: they are, that a great many wholesome plants are found among
the Cruciferae, or those whose petals are arranged like a Maltese cross,
and that many poisonous ones are found amongst the Umbelliferae.
Nettle and Fern.--There are two moderately nutritious plants--nettle and
fern--that are found wild in very many countries: and, therefore, the
following extract from Messrs. Hue and Gabet's 'Travels in Thibet' may be
of service:--"When the young stems of ferns are gathered, quite tender,
before they are covered with down, and while the first leaves are bent
and rolled up in themselves, you have only to boil them in pure water to
realise a dish of delicious asparagus. We would also recommend the
nettle, which, in our opinion, might be made an advantageous substitute
for spinach; indeed more than once we proved this by our own experience.
The nettle should be gathered quite young, when the leaves are perfectly
tender. The plant should be pulled up whole, with a portion of the root.
In order to preserve your hands from the sharp biting liquid which issues
from the points, you should wrap them in linen of close texture. When
once the nettle is boiled, it is perfectly innocuous; and this vegetable,
so rough in its exterior, becomes a very delicate dish. We were able to
enjoy this delightful variety of esculents for more than a month. Then
the little tubercles of the fern became hollow and horny, and the stems
themselves grew as hard as wood while the nettle, armed with a long white
beard, p 203 presented only a menacing and awful aspect." The roots of
many kinds of ferns, perhaps of all of them, are edible. Our poor in
England will eat neither fern nor nettle: they say the first is
innutritious, and the second acrid. I like them both.
Seaweed.--Several kinds of seaweed, such as Laver and Irish moss, are
eatable.
Cooking Utensils.--Cookery books.--A book on cooking is of no use at all
in the rougher kinds of travel, for all its recipes consist of phrases
such as "Take a pound of so-and-so, half a pound of something else, a
pinch of this, and a handful of that." Now in the bush a man has probably
none of these things--he certainly has not all of them--and, therefore,
the recipe is worthless.
Pots and Kettles.--Cooking apparatus of any degree of complexity, and of
very portable shapes, can be bought at all military outfitters'; but for
the bush, and travelling roughly, nothing is better than a light roomy
iron pot and a large strong tin kettle. It is disagreeable to make tea in
the same pot that meat is boiled in; besides, if you have only one
vessel, it takes a longer time to prepare meals. If possible, take a
second small tin kettle, both as a reserve against accidents and for the
convenience of the thing. An iron pot, whose lid is the size of the crown
of a hat, cooks amply enough for three persons at a time, and can,
without much inconvenience, be made to do double duty; and, therefore,
the above articles would do for six men. An iron pot should have very
short legs, or some blow will break one of them off and leave a hole.
Iron kettles far outwear tin ones, but the comparative difficulty of
making them boil, and their great weight, are very objectionable. A good
tin kettle, carefully cherished (and it is the interest of the whole
party to watch over its safety), lasts many months in the bush. Copper is
dangerous; but the recipe is given, further on, for tinning copper
vessels when they require it. Have the handle of the kettle notched or
bored near the place where it joins the body of the kettle, so as to give
a holding by which the lid may be tied tightly down; then, if you stuff a
wisp of grass into the spout, the kettle will carry water for a journey.
Damaged Pots.--A pot or kettle with a large hole in its bottom, filled up
with a piece of wood, has been made to boil water by burying it a little
way in the earth and making the fire round it. A hole in the side of a
pot can be botched up with clay or wood, so as not to leave it altogether
useless.
Substitutes for Pots and Kettles.--It is possible to boil water over a
slow fire in many kinds of vessels that would be destroyed by a greater
degree of heat. In bark, wooden, skin, and even paper vessels, it is
quite possible to boil water. The ruder tribes of the Indian Archipelago
use a bamboo to boil their rice: "The green cane resisting the fire
sufficiently long for the cooking of one mass of rice." (Crawfurd.) If,
however, you have no vessel that you choose to expose to the risk of
burning, you must heat stones and drop them into the water it contains;
but sandstones, especially are apt to shiver and make grit. The Dacota
Indians, and very probably other tribes also, used to boil animals in
their own hide. The description runs thus: "They stuck four stakes in the
ground, and tied the four corners of the hide up to them, leaving a
hollow in the middle; three or four gallons of water, and the meat cut up
very fine, were then put in; three or four hot stones, each the size of a
6-lb. cannon-shot, cooked the whole into a good soup." To a fastidious
palate, the soot, dirt, and ashes that are usually mixed up with the
soup, are objectionable; but these may be avoided by a careful cook, who
dusts and wipes the stones before dropping them in. The specific heat of
stone is much less than that of water, so that the heating power of a
measure of stone is only about one-half of that of an equal measure of
equally hot water.
Graters are wanted to grate jerked meat. A piece of tin, punched through
with holes, then bent a little, and nailed to a piece of wood, makes a
good one.
Sieves.--Stretch parchment (which see) on a wooden hoop, exactly as on a
drum-head; let it dry, and prick it with a red-hot iron, else punch it
full of small holes.
Plates, to carry.--I have travelled much with plates, knives, forks,
etc., for three persons, carried in a flat leather case like a portfolio,
which hung from the side of the cook's saddle, and I found it very
convenient. It was simply a square piece of leather, with a large pocket
for the metal plates, and other smaller ones for the rest of the things;
it had a flap to tie over it, which was kept down with a button.
Cups.--Each of the men, on a riding expedition, should carry his own tin
mug, either tied to his waist or to his saddle. A wooden bowl is the best
vessel for tea, and even for soup, if you have means of frequently
washing it: tin mugs burn the lips too much. Wooden bowls are always used
in Thibet; they are cut out of the knots that are found in timber.
Spoons.--It is easy to replace a lost spoon by cutting a new one out of
hard wood, or by making one of horn. (See "Horn.")
Fireplaces for Cooking.--The most elementary fireplace consists of three
stones in a triangle, to support the pot. If stones are not procurable,
three piles of mud, or three stakes or green-wood driven into the earth,
are an equivalent. Small recesses neatly cut in a bank, one for each
fireplace, are much used, when the fuel is dry and well prepared. A more
elaborate plan is to excavate a shallow saucer-like hole in the ground, a
foot or eighteen inches in diameter, and kneading the soil so excavated
into a circular wall, with a doorway in the windward side: the upper
surface is curved, so as to leave three pointed turrets, upon which the
cooking-vessel rests, as in the sketch. Thus the wind enters at the
doorway, and the flames issue through the curved depressions at the top,
and lick round the cooking-vessel placed above. The wall is sometimes
built of stones.
Trenches and Holes.--In cooking for a large party with a small supply of
fuel, either dig a narrow trench, above which all the pots and kettles
may stand in a row, and in which the fire is made--the mouth being open
to the wind, and a small chimney built at the other end;--or else dig a
round hole, one foot deep, and place the pots in a ring on its edge, half
resting on the earth, and half overlapping the hole. A space will remain
in the middle of them, and through this the fire must be fed.
Esquimaux Lamp.--The cooking of the Esquimaux is wholly effected by stone
lamps, with wicks made of moss, which are so carefully arranged that the
flame gives little or no smoke. Their lamps vary in size from one foot
and a half long to six inches. Each of the bits of moss gives a small but
very bright flame. The lamp is all in all to the Esquimaux; it dries
their clothes, and melts the snow for their drinking-water; its
construction is very ingenious; without it they could not have inhabited
the arctic regions.
Ovens.--Bedouin Oven.--Dig a hole in the ground; wall and roof it with
stones, leaving small apertures in the top. They make a roaring fire in
and about the oven (the roof having been temporarily removed for the
purpose), and when the stones (including those of the roof) have become
very hot, sweep away the ashes and strew the inside of the oven with
grass, or leaves, taking care that whatever is used, has no disagreeable
taste, else it would be communicated to the flesh. Then put in the meat:
it is a common plan to sew it up in its own skin, which shields it from
dust and at the same time retains its juices from evaporating. Now
replace the roof, a matter of some difficulty, on account of the stones
being hot, and therefore requiring previous rehearsal. Lastly, make the
fire again over the oven and let the baking continue for some hours. An
entire sheep can be baked easily in this way. The same process is used
for baking vegetables, except with the addition of pouring occasionally
boiling water upon them, through the roof.
Gold-digger's Oven.--The figure represents a section of the oven. A hole
or deep notch is dug into the side of a bank, and two flat stones are
slid horizontally, like shelves, into grooves made in the sides of the
hole, as shown in the figure; where it will be observed that the
uppermost stone does not quite reach to the face of the bank, and that
the lower-most stone does not quite reach to the back of the hole. A fire
of red-hot embers is placed on the floor of the hole; and the bread about
to be baked is laid upon the lowermost stone. Lastly, another flat stone
is used to close the mouth of the oven: it is set with its edge on the
floor of the hole: it leans forward with the middle of its face resting
against the front edge of the lowermost stone, a narrow interval being
left between its top and the edge of the uppermost stone. This interval
serves as a vent to the hot air from the embers, which takes the course
shown in the figure. The oven should be thoroughly heated before the
bread is put in.
Baking between two stones.--For baking slices of meat or thin cakes, it
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