58 SHOOTING IN CHINA 



With regard to the other parts of the dress, 

 but few persons appear to know what is 

 really comfortable, and I may, therefore 

 appear singular for considering as most 

 uncomfortable that which is commonly, 

 and was till of late years universally worn : 

 I mean shoes and gaiters. To say nothing 

 with being tormented with two or three 

 dozen buttons every morning and having 

 your ankles and knees in a state of 

 confinement through a hard day's exercise, 

 it need only be observed that, if you 

 step in the least puddle, you are wet ; if 

 you tread in moist ground your shoe is 

 pulled down at the heel ; and you are often 

 liable to be annoyed by your shoes untying, 

 and thorns and little bits of stick, etc, 

 getting into them or between the bottoms 

 of your gaiters. How much more comfort- 

 able, then, is the dress here recommended? 

 With lambswool stockings and flannel 

 drawers, put on a pair of overall boots, and 

 then draw over them a pair of trousers, which 

 may be made either of fustain or leather, 

 and so strongly defended inside the knee, 

 that no thorn can penetrate. Thus you are 

 equipped without trouble or loss of time ; 

 you have your muscles perfectly at liberty 



