OF PREPARING FOOD. 
109 
and when travelling, they seldom stop to cook in 
any other way, till they have ended their journey 
for the day. They take but two meals a day ; one 
at about eleven o’clock in the forenoon, the other 
at night. They are, however, constantly nibbling ; 
and have mostly a little cold food in reserve, hung 
upon a small stick by their side, in case they 
should feel hungry before the hour arrives for 
the next stated meal. They are not gluttonous : 
it is but rarely that they eat animal food of any 
description : and it must take a large quantity of 
vegetables to satisfy a hungry lad or man, whose 
appetite has been whetted by long fasting, who 
is continually out in the open air, and who, six 
nights out of seven, sleeps with no other covering 
than his garment and the starry sky. 
They have a method of drying eels, which 
makes them very delicious, and causes them to 
keep good for many months. When dried, they 
require no further cooking, but are ready to be 
eaten upon the removal of the skin. They tie 
them in rows, between six small sticks ; and place 
them over a very slow and smoking fire, where 
they remain for several days ; by which means 
the fat does not ooze through, nor any of the rich 
juices escape, and the full flavour of the eel is 
preserved for a length of time, as good as though 
just taken out of the water. Their method of 
preparing the mackarel is different from this : 
when taken, it is gutted, thoroughly w^ashed with 
sea- water, and hung up to drain ; it is after- 
