In most countries there will be some vegetable product or other available for food. In Australia we have cut out what may be called the cabbage from the roots of the pandanus leaves, and found it, when boiled, almost as good as a very inferior turnip. The seeds from the large globular fruit were also worth looking for, because in the pencil of fibre, by which they are attached to the base, is contained a quantity of sweet and farinaceous matter; this we found also was highly relished by the small fish and fresh-water tortoises in the rivulets, and we frequently baited our hooks with them.
In Africa, if we were accompanied by a Damara on a shooting trip, and were unsuccessful, we returned hungry, but if we took a Makalaka, he would be sure to dig up roots or gather wild fruit, or vegetables of some kind or other; and perhaps catch a lizard or other small creature, or occasionally discover a bees’ nest in a hollow tree. Once when we were much exhausted with long-continued want of food, the man who accompanied us saw a few of the small African bees around the branch of a tree, he forthwith climbed it, and chopping off a piece of bark, bruised up the ends with the head of his axe, till he had formed a kind of trough, which he set his assistants to hold, and chopped away till he had sufficiently enlarged the hole to allow him to extract the honeycomb.
The roots of the lotus or blue water-lily are very good, and have a taste, when roasted, something between that of a chesnut and a potatoe.
Lotus roots are obtained from the bottoms of some of the Eastern lakes and rivers by making use of a very long and soft leather sack. Into this the lotus gatherer gets until the top of the sack is on a level with his neck. He then walks, or rather hobbles, into the water, wades by short steps out to the lotus beds; and, when he feels the roots beneath his feet, he digs and works with his toes and heels until they are detached from their hold on the bottom, and float on the surface, from which they are readily raked and collected for use.
The Bushmen wade in the shallow pools and pluck them up by hand, but in the deeper rivers the canoe men have long poles with a hook at the end for detaching the roots. In these pools, also, they frequently capture the “matamaetlie” or edible frog, which is sometimes nearly as large as a chicken. The Bushmen grip them by the nape of the neck, strike them across the thighs and across the spine to disable them, and then, placing their lips to the vent, blow till they force the stomach and all the entrails out at the mouth. The flesh of these frogs is exceedingly good, more like chicken than anything else, and we often found a good-sized one make us a very satisfying meal.
Lotus seed.
The seed of the lotus is extensively used as food throughout the East; the Chinese esteem it highly, and prepare it in a great number of ways. Sir Samuel Baker, in speaking of lotus seed, says: “All the tribes of the White Nile have their harvest of lotus seed; there are two species of water-lily, the large white flower, and the small variety. The seed pod of the white lotus is like an unblown artichoke, containing a number of light red grains, equal in size to mustard seed, but shaped like those of the poppy, and similar to them in flavour, being sweet and nutty. The ripe pods are collected, and strung upon sharp pointed reeds, about 4ft. in length. When thus threaded they are formed into large bundles, and carried from the river to the villages, where they are dried in the sun and stored for use. The seed is ground into flour, and made into a kind of porridge.”
Rice, to boil.
Rice is so well known as a food grain that little need be said of it further than that a wild kind is found growing in many of the swamps of America; the grain from this is beaten off with sticks into canoes which are propelled through the shallow water in which the rice stalks grow. Some skill is required in cooking rice, in order that each grain may be separate. Our native Indian cook used to proceed as follows: The rice was first thoroughly washed in a large jar of clean cold water, two washings being generally required to remove all stain. The water was then strained off, and the clean rice drained quite dry. A cooking pot full of water was then placed on a brisk fire, and allowed to boil actively; when in full ebullition the rice was cast in, the fire stirred, and the boiling continued actively for about sixteen minutes, when the pot was lifted off, placed on one side, and a pint lota pot of cold water thrown suddenly into it; the sudden chill thus communicated divides every grain from its fellow, and, when strained dry, rice prepared in this manner is truly excellent and attractive.