THE CANTEEN 



of a wooden box (size 2 feet 6 inches x i foot x i foot) 

 with a well-fitting lid. . . . This box should be re- 

 garded as a travelling larder and should contain 

 several jars with fixed covers and a few screw-top 

 wide-mouthed bottles. . . . Condensed milk, after 

 opening a tin, butter and jam should be kept in 

 bottles, as also sardines when removed from the tin, 

 . . . It has been suggested that aluminium utensils 

 should be employed instead of jars, and we think they 

 are well worthy of a trial, as they are lighter, will not 

 break and do not act on the food. The greatest care 

 should be taken as to the arrangement of this box. 

 No food should be allowed to remain in it from day 

 to day, and it need hardly be said that the box and 

 every receptacle in it should be kept scrupulously 

 clean. Slovenliness in this respect is unpardonable. 

 There are quite sufficient risks to life in Central 

 Africa without running the risk of poisoning by 

 putrefying food." 



Another box should also be taken and kept 

 separate from the other " chop " boxes. In it a small 

 selection of invalid foods should be placed, to be used 

 only in case of illness. I would suggest that cocoa, 

 Bovril, Eggo (a powdered and highly nutritious form 

 of eggs) and Brand's Essence of Chicken should be 

 amongst its contents. 



I do not propose to give a list of food stuffs. This 

 must depend on the personal likes and dislikes of the 

 traveller. But whatever is taken should be simple 

 and nourishing. Tin foods, as also fruits in syrup, 

 should be avoided as much as possible, owing to 

 their weight. On my last journey across Jubaland, 

 one box weighing 60 lb. contained sufficient food for 

 myself for one month, supplemented, of course, by what 



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