Food. 189
in between them ; the stones prevent the embers from- flying about and doing mischief, and also, after the fires have quite burnt out, they continue to radiate heat.
Charcoal.-If charcoal be carried, a small chafing-dish, or other substitute for a fireplace, ought also to 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-fares.-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.-illany 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
