On Wed, 13 Aug 2014 02:36:56 -0400, Travis McGee >
wrote:

>Reminds me of a passage in T. E. Lawrence's "Seven Pillars of Wisdom",
>where he participates in an Arab sheep feast. It's repellant and
>gustatory at the same time.
Speaking of "repellant and gustatory", I came across this gem in the
1872 report:

<powell>
Now we reach the stinking water pocket; our ponies have had no water
for thirty hours, and are eager even for this foul fluid. We carefully
strain a kettleful for ourselves, then divide what is left between
them-two or three gallons for each; but this does not satisfy them,
and they rage around, refusing to eat the scanty grass. We boil our
kettle of water, and skim it; straining, boiling, and skimming makes
it a little better, for it was full of loathsome, wriggling larvae,
with huge black heads. but plenty of coffee takes away the bad smell,
and so modifies the taste that most of us can drink, though our little
Indian seems to prefer the original mixture.

- J. W. Powell, Exploration of the Colorado River of the West and its
Tributaries (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1875), 126.
</powell>

I suppose camp coffee in the 1870s wasn't exactly Starbucks-quality.

Note: The "little Indian" is their new guide, "a blear eyed, weazen
faced, quiet old man, with his bow and arrows in one hand, and a small
cane in the other." (122-3)

--
Bob
www.kanyak.com