I
Found Both My Wife And My Men In An Argumentative State As To The
Propriety Of My Remaining Alone
So late in the jungle; however, I also
found dinner ready; the angareps (stretcher bedsteads) arranged by a
most comfortable
Blazing fire, and a glance at the star-lit heavens
assured me of a fine night - what more can man wish for? - wife, welcome,
food, fire, and fine weather?
The bivouac in the wilderness has many charms; there is a complete
independence - the sentries are posted, the animals picketed and fed, and
the fires arranged in a complete circle around the entire party - men,
animals, and luggage all within the fiery ring; the sentries alone being
on the outside. There is a species of ironwood that is very inflammable,
and being oily, it burns like a torch; this grew in great quantities,
and the numerous fires fed with this vigorous fuel enlivened the bivouac
with a continual blaze. My men were busy, baking their bread. On such
occasions an oven is dispensed with. A prodigious fire is made while the
dough is being prepared; this, when well moistened, is formed into a
cake about two feet in diameter, but not thicker than two inches. The
fire being in a fit state of glowing ash, a large hole is scraped in the
centre, in which the flat cake is laid, and the red-hot embers are raked
over it; thus buried it will bake in about twenty minutes, but the dough
must be exceedingly moist or it will burn to a cinder.
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