I Now Made A Draught-Hole
From The Outside Base, At Right Angles With The Bottom Of The
Hollow Cone.
My kiln was perfect.
I loaded it with wood, upon
which I piled about six bushels of oyster-shells, which I then
covered with fuel, and kept it burning for twenty-four hours.
This produced excellent lime, and I commenced my soap-boiling. We
possessed an immense copper pot of Egyptian manufacture, in
addition to a large and deep copper basin called a "teshti."
These would contain about ten gallons. The ley having been boiled
down to great strength, I added a quantity of lime, and the
necessary fat. It required ten hours' boiling, combined with
careful management of the fire, as it would frequently ascend
like foam, and overflow the edge of the utensils. However, at
length, having been constantly stirred, it turned to soap. Before
it became cold, I formed it into cakes and balls with my hands,
and the result of the manufacture was a weight of about forty
pounds of most excellent soap, of a very sporting description,
"Savon a la bete feroce." We thus washed with rhinoceros soap;
our lamp was trimmed with oil of lions; our butter for cooking
purposes was the fat of hippopotami, while our pomade was made
from the marrow of buffaloes and antelopes, scented with the
blossoms of mimosas. We were entirely independent, as our whole
party had subsisted upon the produce of the rod and the rifle.
We were now destined to be deprived of two members of the party.
Mahomet had become simply unbearable, and he was so impertinent
that I was obliged to take a thin cane from one of the Arabs and
administer a little physical advice.
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