Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 30.djvu/333

 on land and on his narrow pirogue, and also occupying but little space. The furnace of Campong-Chnang is in the shape of a calabash, divided by a horizontal plane into two parts. The smaller end, provided with three legs, is the kettle; and the other end holds the coal, wood, and ashes. With this apparatus the native can do his cooking anywhere, on the ground or on the lightest boat, without danger of fire. Nothing could be better for its purpose. The people also have a taller kind of furnace, but it is less convenient and more fragile, and is not in general use. The vessels for cooking have nearly always the same shape, and differ only in size. Vessels of the same kind are also used for pitchers, and when designed for this purpose are furnished with a withe, which, after being wrapped around the narrow part several times, is formed into a handle. They are used in pairs, and carried by means of a bar over the shoulders. The meals are eaten sitting on the ground. Tables are used only to put things on temporarily. The countrymen have two meals—the first at ten o'clock in the morning and the other at five o'clock in the afternoon. In the towns they sometimes have three—the first at nine o'clock, the second at one, and the last at six o'clock in the evening. The one- o'clock meal is light, and consists chiefly of a pottage of rice. The others are more substantial, and include, besides rice, which takes the place of bread, fresh fish in the morning and salt fish in the evening; and when they have chicken and meat, it is at these meals. At meal-time the members of the family collect around a mat which is set in a particular part of the house, the usual place for that house, but different in different houses. They sit on the ground, with their legs thrown over to one side. Some of them, perhaps, will squat, in what is an habitual position of resting with this people. The wife in a poor family, or a slave in wealthier ones, then brings in a dish furnished with bowls containing the meats, one of which is given to each commensal. In the event of a more elaborate repast, where a variety is provided, the different dishes are brought on in succession. But this is rare; for the Cambodian, like the people of warm climates generally, is extremely sober, and it is not without considerable