As all the boilers had been well tinned, I showed the men how to make tea on a large scale. Their plan was to tie the tea in a piece of cloth, and throw it into the boiling water. In a few minutes the cloth had shrunk so much, that the aroma of the tea, instead of being diffused, was retained in the centre, the inside of the bag being scarcely soaked. This I proposed to remedy by having fine nets made for the purpose. Miss Nightingale immediately had this done, and they were a great improvement. This, after all, was not quite satisfactory, as the tea had to be made in the same boilers as the soup and meat. The coppers were fixtures, and of such large dimensions, that it was almost impossible to clean them properly. I therefore invented my Scutari Teapot, with its valuable and economical improvement upon the old system, the model of which is given at the end of the book. (See Addenda.) DESCRIPTION OF TEAPOT. I had a large kettle made, holding eight quarts, and put a coffee filter to it. I then placed the rations of tea for about twenty men in the filter, poured in the boiling water, and, to my astonishment, made about one-fourth more tea, perfectly clear, and without the least sediment. Four of these kettles made enough tea for all the hospital, and this at once induced me to order some upon a smaller scale for the various wards, where at night it is often of the greatest importance that tea should be prepared quickly, in large quantities. I cannot too strongly recommend it to large families, institutions, and other establishments, for its economy of time, and a saving of at least twenty-five per cent, upon the quantity of tea required. I tried it in Miss Nightingale’s room at Scutari, before several persons; and the Reverend Mr. Blackwood, the chaplain, persuaded me to bring them out for the benefit of the poorer classes, as much for its cleanliness as its economy. This, reader, I claim more as a happy thought than an invention; but I always had an idea that tea should be suspended in the water, instead of being allowed to fall to the bottom, as is generally the case. Coffee may be made in these vessels, as the construction is the same as that of a coffee-pot. By this time my kiosque, or, as it was afterwards named, Soyer House, was ready. It was situated in Cambridge-street, near the Scutari Grand Champ des Morts. Thanks to this, my daily trip across the Bosphorus was at an end, and as the March winds had a great influence upon its current, I preferred _terra firma_, to rolling about in its whimsical stream of daily pearls, evening diamonds, and shoals of immense porpoises, which towards sunset commence to accompany you with their nautical summersaults. These at first terrified the uninitiated, who could not help fearing the sudden appearance of an unexpected passenger on board the caique.