After cleaning his mortar and
pestle carefully he placed some corn in the hollow and soon had some
fine yellow meal or flour without any grit or sand in it.
His next care was to separate the coarse outer husk or covering of
the kernel from the finer parts that make the meal. He had no sieve.
His net was too coarse. It let both bran and meal go through. "I must
make a net or cloth fine enough to sift or bolt my flour," said he.
Such was now his skill in spinning and weaving that this was not hard
to do. He had soon woven in his loom a piece of fine netting which
allowed the meal to shake through, but held back the coarse bran or
outer husk of the kernel. Out of the dry corn that he had stored up
he now made quite a quantity of flour. This he kept tightly covered
in a large earthen pot or jar that he had made for this purpose. "I
must keep all my food clean and protect it from the ants and other
insects as well as dust and damp," he thought.
His preparations were now nearly made. He had already his stove of
flat stones. On this he could set his pots to boil water, cook rice,
and meat, but it would not do for baking a loaf of bread of any
thickness. He must have an oven or enclosed place into which he could
put the loaf to bake it. By the use of flat stones he soon rebuilt
his stove so as to have an oven that did fine service. Now it was mixing
the dough that claimed his attention. He had of course no yeast to
make raised or light bread.
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