Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1891-10-30
IN THE COOKS GALLEY.
BHIPS' COOKS AND THEIR
VARIOUS HABITS.
Vow the Principle OF Caste Makes Trou
BILE steamer Manned by
Coolies-Death Prefer
red to Porkers.

The Kitchen side TO seafaring life
has many phaser. Nothing Is of uni
versal application. There is much di-'
versity 10 the provisions of ships as
/ in the capability OF the men who pre-
/ pare the food.
! On English vessels, manned by for
eign crews-such for example. as tho
Peninsular and Oriental or the British
India line-cooking, SO far as the
sailors are concerned would appear to
be a very simple matter, says the Sat
urday Evening Post Lascars and
| Coolies, it is well known. live princi-
pally on curry and rice. etc. Beef
and mutton they rarely eat and as for
! pork in any form, they are forbidden
to touch that by their religion.
Their adherence of this particular
sort OF 'unclean meat was curiously
| illustrated when the Indus broke
down in the Gulf Of Lyons. Moham-
medan fatalism had the Lascar sailors
so firmly in its grip that they could
not be induced to come on deck.
Nothing, indeed, would make them
even move.
At last bright idea occurred to one
OF the officers. The gentlemen in
question threw four little pigs down
into the forecastle among the Lascara
! Thinking it better TO face death than
lose their souls, the sailors rushed
upon deck, and began work in down
right earnest, and so the ship was
saved.
Feeding Asiatics, then, seems very
easy. But, as Buttercup sings. things
are seldom what they seem. Such
men refuse to eat or even touch, any
thing killed or cooked by person not
OF their particular caste. The Lascar
sailors on vessel are always OF a diff
! ferent caste from the stokers and
these again from the coal trimmers
and consequently cooks have TO be
allotted to each.
One fair-sized steamer the writer
has in mind is engaged in the regular
China and India traffic, and carries
| quite polyglot complement OF cooks
one "colorei gentleman two Chi
nese and one for the coolies. OF
course the officers always try to get
the particular kind of sailors all of
one caste; but this is not always prac-
ticable and then there is "a good deal
of trouble and expense in consequence.
] Asiatics are, however badly paid
only at the rate OF about f2 a month.
and often less.
In the case of nominally English
manned ships, Chinese and negroes
are often preferred as cooks. They
take pride in keeping their gallcys
spick and span. and some OF them
promptly resent any intrusion on thor
domains. They are, too excellent
cooks. To the two races cooking
seems TO come naturally as Dogberry
saws of reading and writing. Certainly.
such Chinese and negro cooks as the
sailor meets with are adopts at making
nautical dishes.
They often shine in tho preparation
OF spotted dog" or mixture OF rice
and currants, plum duff" or pudding
! sometimes saurically called 'pips
and putty, " and pease pudding, while
in the making Of 'wet scouse' (com-
posed of pounded biscuits salt beef,
dried apples, etc, stewed together)
|
baked) they are not easily beaten.
1t goes without saying, then, that
they can bake good bread, make pea
soup, prepare the salt beef and salt
pork and So forth.
On some vessels the cook is only
expected to ring the changes on two
dishes One day dinner consists Of
pea soup and salt horse" or beef; the
next salt horse and pea soup. For
variety's sake, the order Is reversed.
And so the thing goes on from week
end to week end. with the possible
exception of Sunday Other cooks
those on large sailing ships and steam
ers-have in capability more thor
oughly tes.-I.
1t Is interesting TO note, by the way.
that the articles of many vessels con-
tain schedule OF the amount OF food
each seaman will receive per day, and
that when the articles are signed tho
crew can demand the allowance. As
matter of fact captains often allow
the sailors all they want and insist
upon the scale being followed only
when they find there is waste. The
cost OF such food per man is from Is.
Cd. to Is. Cd. per day.
''Darkey" cooks are often great
characters. One spent the greater
par: OF his time in reading the Bible.
Seated on his galley doorstep OF an
evening, with spotless trousers and
white apron, and with enormous sih-
ver-rimmed spectacles on nose he
looked peace and calm personified and
liked nothing better than to expound
the Gospel to such as would listen to
him. But underneath that quiet exte-
rior was a sleeping volcano. An Or
binary seaman one Sunday morning
came to the galley and began to irri-
tate the pious cook. In a second tho
darkey seized him, and. throwing him
on the hot stove, held him there until
the shrieks Of the writhing victim
brought some OF the officers TO the
rescue.