The complete Indian housekeeper & cook

Whether these are sujDplied by Government or not, it is equally necessary to make them comfortable. The ordinary single pole tent is twice as convenient if it is divided down the centre with a pole and curtains so as to screen off the beds ; while, if the inner kunnat on the side used as a draw- ing-room is divided just at the central door and thrown back to the outer kunnat (like a bow window), the stove can be placed in the tent, and will thoroughly warm it, whilst in the daytime the bow makes a charming, light place for writing or working. All that is wanted to make it perfect, beyond un- picking the join at the door, is a small durri to fit the bow, and a roof to match the inner fly of the tent. This is made to lace on with eyelet holes. By having two strips of kunnat with perpendicular bamboos, the two bits of verandah on either side can be turned into safe places for the khitmutgdr’ s table, as by a simple arrangement of tapes and ties no dog can get in. In the same way capital bathrooms can be made on the other side, by closing the verandah in with permanent tight- fitting kmmdts on the side nearest the sitting-room, and having cui tains on poles and rings at the other. How some people can go on for years and years with the makeshift purdah hung by a string— that jams its horizontal bamboo into the The Complete Indian sides of the tent when you desire to pass, and invariably refuses to fill up the space when you desire it to do so, is a mystei’y. In fact, the first axiom for camp is not to do without comfort, if it does not entail discomfort by increasing the trouble. A comfortable tent is no heavier than an uncom- fortable one, and furniture suited to camp life is generally lighter than ordinary furniture. Charming folding tables of bamboo and deodar can be made for Rs. 2 each, and folding scissors or lazy-jane clothes-racks are to be bought apywhere for a rupee. Add two iron hooks to hang them over the IcKinidl, and you are possessed of hat or clothes pegs. A plain wooden cover for the bath, with three screw-legs to jiack inside, gives you an excellent hold-all for boots, &c., and a far better washhand-stand than the usual di-eadful gallows con- struction, which leaves you in doubt Avhether to put your soap in your j)ocket or allow it to melt in the basin. It is another camp axiom that not a single box should be carried that has not a use even when empty. For instance, if thin deal boxes divided into two or three partitions are given to the khilmiitgdrs to jiack inside the ktijawahs or camel panniers, the china will travel far more safel}', and the boxes can be set upon end and used as cupboards.