APPENDIX B 359 



sailor of the old school to relay the coils before you go into the field 

 so that the rope will be ready for use. Five eighths to seven eighths 

 inch diameter is large enough. A few balls of marline come in con- 

 veniently as also does heavy linen fish-line. 



A small-sized dufFel-bag should be provided for each of the men as 

 a container for hammock and net, spare clothing, and mess-kit. A 

 very small waterproof pouch or bag should be furnished also for 

 matches, tobacco, etc. 



The men should be limited to one duffel-bag each. These bags 

 should be numbered consecutively. In fact, every piece in the entire 

 equipment should be thus numbered and a list kept in detail in a book. 



The explorer should personally see that each of his men has a ham- 

 mock, net, and poncho; for the native, if left unsupervised, will go into 

 the field with only the clothing he has on. 



Food. — Though South America is rich in food and food possibilities, 

 she has not solved the problem of living economically on her frontiers. 

 The prices asked for food in the rubber districts we passed through 

 were amazing. Five milreis (one dollar and fifty cents) was cheap for 

 a chicken, and eggs at five hundred reis (fifteen cents) apiece were a 

 rarity. Sugar was bought at the rate of one to two milreis a kilo — in 

 a country where sugar-cane grows luxuriantly. The main dependence 

 is the mandioc, or farina, as it is called. It is the bread of the coun- 

 try and is served at every meal. The native puts it on his meat and 

 in his soup and mixes it with his rice and beans. When he has nothmg 

 else he eats the farina, as it is called, by the handful. It is seldom 

 cooked. The small mandioc tubers when boiled are very good and 

 are used instead of potatoes. Native beans are nutritious and form 

 one of the chief foods. 



In the field the native cook wastes much time. Generally provided 

 with an inadequate cooking equipment, hours are spent cooking beans 

 after the day's work, and then, of course, they are often only partially 

 cooked. A kettle or aluminum Dutch oven should be taken along, large 

 enough to cook enough beans for both breakfast and dinner. The beans 

 should be cooked all night, a fire kept burning for the purpose. It 

 would only be necessary then to warm the beans for breakfast and 

 dinner, the two South American meals. 



For meat the rubber hunter and explorer depends upon his rifle and 

 fish-hook. The rivers are full of fish which can readily be caught, and. 



