60 AFRICA SPEAKS 



keep his kitchen out in the open, so selecting a place 

 beneath one of the trees about thirty feet from the 

 dining shack, he set up his estabUshment, hanging his 

 pots and pans from convenient hmbs. Afterwards he 

 took some empty cases and had a regular system of 

 shelves. With a can opener he evolved from an empty 

 five-gallon gasohne tin a very good oven. From this 

 kitchen, spread beneath the Tanganyika skies, Ali 

 Ramazan produced as occasion required, not only 

 breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but banquets. This 

 was really and truly a house of mystery, for no matter 

 what the form of the suppHes turned over to pishi, 

 it was impossible to foretell the finished product. 



I do distinctly remember, however, that the most 

 important commission given to Bud when he went 

 for the first load of supplies was to bring back a meat 

 grinder. We obtained enough physical exertion ram- 

 bhng over this tremendous country without wasting a 

 lot of energy chewing up shoe-leather steaks. I doubt 

 if the animals were really that tough, but when Ali 

 got through with them, they not only all tasted ahke 

 but had the same rubberhke consistency. After the 

 arrival of this important item, we had a deluge of 

 hash, lasting over an extended period of time, until 

 one day while Mike and I were in a boma photograph- 

 ing six hons, he suddenly gave a httle start and said, 

 *' Wonder if we're going to have hash again tonight!" 

 This brought on a discussion which ended in an agree- 

 ment to take forcible means, if necessary, to bring 

 about a change of diet. The pishi was so enamored 

 with this marvelous machine that we had to liide it 

 away until such time as we were able to withstand 

 another epidemic of ground meat. 



