' iiai'T. xix Boott, s Lteches. 



where you put youi foot, and you are watching your By, etc., 

 ami have to feel the bottom with the foot, and you are some- 

 times in a little hurry, for life is nol long enough for dawdling, 

 and then you bring your unprotected foot against a rock, and 

 generally right on the top of your pet corn. " I never knew a 

 oVar gazelle," etc But what is worst of all is when you get youi 

 unprotected foot jammed by the weight of your body between two 

 lurks — that will decide yon in favour of thick bo 



Have good heavy hoots, then, with the sole a trifle broader 

 than the foot, and of a good thickness. I mean the boots com- 

 monly made with a sort of open verandah all round the foot. 

 Ankle-boots are a protection to the ankle from being bruised, 

 and also from being turned and sprained ; laced hoots best pro- 

 tect the ankle. In short "the Alpine boot" is ahout the most 

 comfortable you can have. 



Walking amongst the rocks in, and on the edge of, a river is 

 .1 galloping consumption of boots. Nails are an antidote. Bnt 

 too many nails make the sole slippery, make it almost as bad 

 as one without any at all. Have the sole studded all over with 

 large nails an inch apart. These will improve your foot-hold. 



After being so soaked your boots will get uncomfortably hard 

 if not greased. If you dry them first and then grease them they 

 will shrink, but if you grease them when wet and put them in 

 the sim the grease will take the place of the moisture, and the 

 boots will remain comfortably soft and unshrunk. Jones' ( Homes- 



is much used for shootdng-1 ts in England, but 



in India my servants used common mutton fat, and my 1 be 



were always comfortable. 



Braces are a mistake, for when exerting the arms by making 

 alonu: Btretch in clambering round a rock, for instance, they give 

 or. more likely, a button flies. The trousers should be supported 

 from the wa 



<; 1 thick socks are not only a wise precaution for health's 



Mike, but a comfortable protection more or less against the sand, 

 which, however, will get in when stirred up from the bottom in 

 Wading, and which proves a nuisance when walking home again. 



The forest-clad riversides often swarm with leeches, which 



bite better than the fish. Tuck the trouser into the sock, and 

 tie round tightly with a string in lien of leech gaiters. 



