EQUIPMENT FOR SOUTH AFRICA 227 



quarters are handy he may especially if he fears 

 rheumatism wade for a brief spell and be able 

 then to have a speedy change of clothing. In 

 the Cape Province it is urged that on the Eerste 

 (Stellenbosch) and the Buffalo River (King 

 William's Town district) wading is necessary ; but, 

 generally, waders are proportionately much less 

 used in South Africa than in the United Kingdom. 

 Whatever you do, do not imitate my supreme 

 folly. Once for one day only I attired my- 

 self in football shorts. It was on the Umgeni, 

 when I was staying with hospitable friends, 

 the Ross family. Sentiment alone was the 

 cause of my turning out in those football shorts. 

 They were those in which I last played foot- 

 ball for Shrewsbury Town. I had kept them as 

 a kind of trophy. It pleased me to wear them 

 again, and as I walked down to the riverside, 

 knowing sport was practically sure, 1 had happy 

 memories of matches at Copthorne (now the site 

 of many buildings). But to fish in shorts was 

 foolish, because there was no precaution against 

 snake-bites. You will be on the safe side if you 

 include in the equipment a proper remedy for the 

 unfortunate chance of a snake-bite. A Natal friend 

 who was bitten by a snake and had no preparation 

 handy, as a rough-and-ready form of treatment, 

 instantly applied a small quantity of gunpowder 

 to the wound in order to cauterize it, with 

 beneficial results.* Wearing shorts was also 



' The snakes of South Africa, "their venom anil the treatment 

 of snake-bites," form the subject of a fully illustrated book by F. W, 

 Fitz Simmons. (Published by T. Maskew Miller, Cape Town.) 



