The Wonders of the Permian 191 



to the sandy beach to play in the sand and 

 Charlie too. They romped until they were tired 

 and Ethel returned to Mabel and asked her if 

 dinner was ready. We had not thought of it. But 

 had been so excited at our reunion, after so 

 many weeks, so much occupied with our talk, 

 that we forgot to be hungry. Just before the 

 family council had gone to sleep George had been 

 at work inventing some cooking utensils, and had 

 not only made diagrams of them but had secured 

 some sheets of alumnium. He had put them in 

 his collecting bag along with the usual tools he 

 carried in the field, and when he woke with the 

 rest of the family he still had them. So I told 

 him if he would make a cooking kettle I would 

 get something to put in it for dinner. Maud 

 knowing the resources of a forest better than the 

 others gathered some dry sticks and Levi by her- 

 advice cut some crotched sticks he drove in the 

 earth, and a cross stick to swing the kettle on. 

 George soon found a round water worn cobble- 

 stone on the beach to use as a mold and hammer- 

 ed a sheet of aluminum around it, and soon had 

 a pot ready. He cut oflE a narrow strip for a 

 handle and punched holes in the upper rim to 

 fasten it to. In the meantime I wove together a 

 lot of leaves and made a tray, which I took to 

 one of the cycad stumps (we had cut off the 

 trunk). Then with my pick scraped out a quan- 

 tity of the pith that fell as white powder into the 

 tray. On my return Maud had the water boiling 



