A native woman will be probably be found without
difficulty, who will attend night and day to the pot-boiling for a small
payment. Inferior soap may be made by simply putting some grease into a
tub of very strong lye, and letting it remain for two or three weeks,
without any boiling, but stirring it every day.
Marine Soap is made of soda lye (the lye of seaweeds) and cocoa-nut oil;
it makes a lather with salt water, but it has the defect of being very
bulky.
To wash Flannels.--Make a lather of soap on a small piece of flannel, and
rub with it those parts that require the most cleansing, such as the neck
and wristbands of a shirt; then plunge the shirt in water as hot as you
can bear it, rinsing it and wringing it out very thoroughly, and hang it
up to dry as quickly as possible. Soda should not be used with coloured
flannels.
Washing Oneself.--Warmth of Dirt.--There is no denying the fact, though
it be not agreeable to confess it, that dirt and grease are great
protectors of the skin against inclement weather, and that therefore the
leader of a party should not be too exacting about the appearance of his
less warmly-clad followers. Daily washing, if not followed by oiling,
must be compensated by wearing clothes. Take the instance of a dog. He
will sleep out under any bush, and thrive there, so long as he is not
washed, groomed, and kept clean; but if he be, he must have a kennel to
lie in, the same is the case with a horse; he catches cold if he is
groomed in the day, and turned out at nights; but he never catches cold
when left wholly to himself.
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