Boiling Water in Wood
Now you are ready to proceed. First fill your container with water. Next heat six stones about the size of a hen’s egg in the camp-fire until they are red-hot. Quartz stones are the best. You will be likely to find some in the bed of any near-by stream, or in any gravel formation. Slip these hot stones into the water carefully, one at a time, and at the [[160]]end of your wooden pot. Six of these stones will bring to a boil a quart of water in less than five minutes. Of course, in winter with water ice-cold it will take a little longer. It will probably take you an hour or more to make the wooden bowl as described. However, the bowl does not wear out, and you can keep it for future use. On the other hand it may be more fun to make a new bowl at each camp.
To make coffee or tea put a pinch of tea or a small spoonful of coffee in your drinking cup, pour it full of the boiling water, let it stand for four or five minutes, and it will be ready to drink.
Soup may be made in one of these wooden bowls from prepared soup stock such as Erbswurst, or from any other of the prepared, dried soups on the market. To make soup place two teaspoonfuls of the powder in your bowl, pour in a quart of water, stir up, and then begin slowly adding your red-hot stones, one at a time, at one end of the trough. Ten stones will keep the soup boiling for ten minutes—stones, as mentioned, the size of a hen’s egg. In about fifteen minutes one-half of the soup will be boiled away and there will be left a pint of rich, satisfying soup.