III. —­ DMr. Austin’s Allowances in Western Australia.

Gross weight Real Nutriment.
in ounces.  C. N. Total. 
Flour ............... 18.0 ...... 12.8 ... 2.9 ....... 15.7 Boned salt pork (say
a little more lean
than fat) ......... 8.0 ...... 1.9 ... 2.1 ...... 15.7
Tea ................. 0.75 ...... - ... - ........ - Sugar ................ 3.0 .... .. 3.0 .. - ........ 3.0 ______________________________________________________
______
........ .... 29.75 ..... 17.7 ... 5.0 ....... 22.7

IV. —­ A Sepoy’s Full Rations are:  —.

Gross weight Real Nutriment.
in ounces.  C. N. Total. 
Wheaten Flour ....... 32 ...... 22.8 ... 5.2 ...... 29.0
Pulse ................ 4 ...... 2.2 ..1.0 ....... 3.2
Butter ................1 ...... 1.0 .. 0.0 ........1.0
____________________________________________________________

........ .... 37 ..... 26.0... 6.2 .......33.3

Game was occasionally shot, by which the serious deficiency in Class N must have been supplied.  At the same time, I must say that Australian explorers seem to travel exceedingly well on unusually scanty diets.

Food Suitable for the Stores of Travellers.—­The most portable kind of food is, unquestionably, the flesh of cattle; for the beasts carry themselves.  The draught oxen used in African and Australian explorations serve as a last resource, when all other food is wanting.

It has been truly remarked with reference to Australian exploring expeditions, that if an exploring party would make up their minds to eat horseflesh, stores of provisions might be largely dispensed with.  A few extra horses could be taken; and one shot occasionally, and its flesh dried and slightly salted, sufficiently to preserve it from becoming tainted before the men could consume it.

Portable Food.—­The kinds of food that are the most portable in the ordinary sense of the term are:—­Pemmican; meat-biscuit; fried meat; dried fish; wheat flour; biscuit; oatmeal; barley; peas; cheese; sugar; preserved potatoes; and Chollet’s compressed vegetables.  Extract of meat, as I am assured by the highest physiological authors, is not a portable food but a portable savour.  It is quite impossible that life should be maintained on any minute amount of material, because so many grains of carbon and so many of nitrogen are daily consumed, and an equivalent weight of those elements must, of course, be replaced.  Salt meat is not to be depended upon, for it is liable to become hard and worthless, by long keeping.

Pemmican; general remarks.—­Of all food usually carried on expeditions, none is so complete in itself, nor contains so large a proportion of nutriment as pemmican.  It is especially useful to those who undergo severe work, in cold and rainy climates.  It is the mainstay of Arctic expeditions, whether on water, by sledge, or on foot.  But, though excellent to men who are working laboriously, it is distasteful to others.