When one is not going into a game country, it is worth while to carry Worcestershire sauce and pure tomato catchup, to relieve the monotony of cured and canned meats or of too much fish.

Mustard is useful not only at table but for medicinal purposes; cloves, not only for its more obvious purposes, but to stick in an onion for a stew, and perchance for a toothache.

Celery and parsley can now be had in dehydrated form. Some sage may be needed for stuffing.

If you aim at cake-making and puddings, ginger and cinnamon may be required. Curry powder is relished by many; its harshness may be tempered with sweet fruits or sugar.

Finally, a half-pint of brandy is worth its weight, for brandy-sauce — but keep it where it can't be filched, or somebody will invent a bellyache instanter.

On short trips, salt and pepper will meet all requirements.

Ration Lists

A ration list showing how much food of each kind is required, per man and per week, cannot be figured out satisfactorily unless one knows where the party is going, at what season of the year, how the stuff is to be carried, whether there is to be good chance of game or fish, and something about the men's personal tastes. Still, I may offer some suggestions.

Our army garrison ration often is used as a guide. Introducing the permissible substitutions in ratios given below, it works out as follows: —

This is a very liberal ration, but would be so monotonous, if strictly adhered to, that much of it would be unused. Accordingly the soldier's mess is allowed to commute its surplus of staples for luxuries in which the ration is deficient.

For some years it was my practice to weigh personally, and note down at the time, the amount of provisions taken on my Camping tours, and often I recorded the quantities left over at the end of the trip. I have also collected many ration lists compiled by practical woodsmen, and have spent considerable time in studying and comparing them. These varied remarkably, not so much in aggregate weights as in the proportions of this and that.

Still, a few general principles have been worked out:

1. When going as light as practicable, and taking the most concentrated (water-free) foods that will digest properly and sustain a man at hard work in the open air, the ration should not be cut down below 2 1/4 pounds (a ration being one man's food for one day). This is the minimum for mountaineering, arctic exploration, and wherever equipment must be " pared to the bone." This sort of provisioning will be considered in Volume II.

2. People leading an easy life in summer camp do not require so much actual nutriment as those engaged in hard travel, big game hunting, and the like; but they should have plenty of fruits and vegetables, and these things are heavy and bulky.

3. Men working hard in the open, and exposed to the vicissitudes of wilderness life, need a diet rich in protein, fats (especially in cold weather), and sweets. This may not agree with theories of dieticians, but it is the experience of millions of campaigners who know what their work demands. A low-proteid diet may be good for men leading soft lives, and for an occasional freak outdoorsman, but try it on an army in the field, or on a crew of lumberjacks, and you will face stark mutiny.

As a basis upon which the supplies for a party may be calculated, I offer, in the following table, two ration lists, called " light " and " heavy," for one man, one week. The first figures out about 4,900 calories, and the second about 5,300 calories, per man, per dajr. Either of these is sufficient for a man engaged in hard outdoor work; so the terms " light " and " heavy " do not refer to food values but to actual weights, the first being 3 pounds, and the second a bit over 5 pounds, per man, per day. The difference is due chiefly to canned goods and fresh vegetables.

Observe that both of these lists include fresh meat. It is assumed that the travelers will go either where they can supply this with game killed or where they can buy fresh meat as it is needed. Otherwise, substitute two-thirds its weight in cured meat.

For men not undergoing great strain, the " light M ration may be reduced, say to 2j/2 pounds a day for one man one week light. heavy.

(Weights are net, not including tins, bags, wrappers).

If butter is not carried, its weight in bacon should be added to the list; similarly other substitutions can be made to suit taste and circumstances.

The second list provides enough eggs and milk to allow their use liberally in cooking. Its ration is of about the same weight as that of the U. S. Navy.

* Not allowing for preparing skins and salting horses.

Packing Food

Meat of any kind will quickly mould or spoil if packed in tins from which air is not exhausted. Wrap your bacon, pork, etc., in parchment paper, which is grease-proof (you can buy it from a mail-order house — for small quantities get parchment paper ice blankets and cut to suit), then enclose the meat in loose cheesecloth bags that can be hung up in camp, secure from insects.

Flour should not be carried in the original sacks: they wet through or absorb moisture from the air, snag easily, and burst under the strain of a lash-rope. Pack your flower, cereals, vegetables, dried fruits, etc., in the round-bottomed paraffined bags sold by outfitters (various sizes, from 10 lbs. down), which are damp-proof and have the further merit of standing up on their bottoms instead of always falling over. Put a tag on each bag and label it in ink. These small bags may then be stowed in 9-inch waterproof canvas provision bags (see outfitter's catalogues), but in that case the thing you want is generally at the bottom. A much handier pack for horse or canoe is the side-opening one shown in Fig. 101.