A Good Wood Fire That Has Been Burning Several Days, And
Has Gained A Quantity Of Ashes, Is The Best;
But wood is plentiful enough
in the bush, and if you only know the right kind to use, you find
No
difficulty in soon providing yourself with a glorious heap of glowing
embers. Scraping away a hole in the centre of the fire a little larger
than the disc, you gently drop it in with your hands, strew it over with
enough powdery white ash to prevent the embers coming into actual contact
with the dough, and then cover the whole with the glowing coals. Only
practice can enable the bushman to judge the exact depth of this layer,
which, of course, differs in every case, according to the size of the
damper. It is left in this fiery bed until small cracks appear on the
covering caused by the steam forcing its way out. This is a sign that it
is nearly done, confirmation of which is sought by introducing a
knife-blade through the ashes, and sounding the crust. If this gives back
a hard sound, the damper may be considered cooked, and is then withdrawn,
stood carefully 'on its edge' - never forget this - and is ready to eat
when cool.
As there was nothing very particular to do that afternoon, we watched the
troopers spearing fish, in which they were most skilful. There is in some
of the Australian rivers a splendid fish, called the 'Barrimundi', which
not only much resembles the salmon in appearance, but, like it, requires
running water and access to the sea.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 102 of 115
Words from 27801 to 28069
of 31542
