5o6 A SPORTING TRIP THROUGH ABYSSINIA 



Many sportsmen now rely entirely on napthaline crystals in place of 

 turpentine. 



II. General Hints and Notes ox Probable Expenses of Trip. 



Inspect your baggage animals yourself every now and then, especially 

 their backs, and see that the tail-ropes are padded, so as not to cut them. 

 All loads should be as equal as possible in size, shape, and weight, and 

 where an article is so large that it has to be put across the animal's back, 

 make it as light as may be, and put soft bundles on either side to support 

 it, and prevent it swaying from side to side. 



Arrange the loads so that each belongs to one place ; for instance, the 

 cook's two boxes and his sack of potatoes, etc., will form one, while your 

 tent, bedding, table and chair make another, and so on. Of course, the 

 fewer that have to be undone every halt the better. 



While you have camel transport, the thick mats are used in camp to 

 shelter the loads, which are themselves arranged so as to form shelters for 

 the men. When mules take the place of camels you should have one or 

 two spare tents made, which are pitched near your own, and in which all 

 the loads are stored. 



Always have a trench dug round your own and the store tents, and if the 

 soil is loose and sandy, the four main pegs at least should be weighted 

 with stones or a bag of sand. 



Settle all disputes yourself, and if any one"s head has to be punched do 

 it yourself. Never give an order you do not intend to be obeyed, and 

 inflexibly carry out what you have said you will do, and you should have 

 no trouble with your Abyssinian servants. 



The probable cost of a trip is often one of the most important points, 

 and at the same time by far the most difficult to determine, since no two 

 men agree as to what are and what are not necessary expenses. At the 

 present time I should expect a sportsman to do a trip similar to the one I 

 have described for from £700 to .2^800, which would include everything 

 (kit, passage out and home, etc.) except the battery. 



The rate of wages and prices of beasts, etc., \ary so quickly that those 

 quoted in books of travel are often most misleading. The following are 

 the rates I should expect to pay per month : — 



{a) Somalis. 



Headman, Rs.70 to Rs. 100; cook, Rs.50 to Rs.70 ; head 

 shikari, Rs.50; second do., Rs.40 : skin-man, Rs.25 ; camel- 

 men, Rs.2 0. 



