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Canoe Expedients

A dugout is the perfect canoe for cooking en route, since you can go on indefinitely building fires in the bottom of it and you will only be continuing the process by which it was hollowed out in the first place. So do the Mexican Indian women keep their canoe fires going on which they make the tortillas and enchilladas they sell to enchanted tourists on the waters of Xochomilco.

Their romantic performance can be duplicated even in one of our canoes, that are sometimes so light a single lighted match will burn a hole right through them. All one needs is a "charcoal pail," sold at campers supply houses for just such purposes. It is cool on the bottom, as well as ash proof and spark proof, of all portable charcoal fire devices the best adapted to use in canoe, rowboat, or open motorboat. The "charcoal pail" is quite as useful, too, for preparing a lake shore or riverbank meal, but their weight makes them impractical on long canoe trips, especially if portages are involved.

A long trip usually means real outdoor living and campfires. But the same need frequently arises for something hot, such as tea, instant coffee, or soup, at times when it is inconvenient to land. Any kind of canned heat is good to have along, such as one of the Sterno or Meta outfits. We have had our folding pocket-size Meta burner, and "cup" with folding handles, for years, and never go on an extended outing without it and a good supply of Meta tablets in order to have quick, hot, one-dish meals in emergencies. Then there are the Kaleng Api cans that begin to heat of their own accord as soon as a hole is punched in them, furnishing hot stews and other nourishers that are lifesavers on a wet day, or under any difficult camping or tripping conditions.

A homemade expedient is the hay box or fireless cooker made out of any box well filled and insulated with paper or hay, with a hole left for the cooking pot. You start the pot boiling and have it tightly covered, then you pop it into the hole, cover it with more hay or layers of paper, tuck all in to hold the heat, and the food will go on cooking gently for hours. A heated stone in the bottom of the hole helps keep the temperature up, but is not necessary. A hay box works well in any craft big enough to furnish a place for stowing it away.