APPENDIX F 305 



with the sun beating down on your back, and on the 

 too frequent occasions when the heavens are opened, 

 an umbrella will keep part of you dry, at all events for 

 a time. This becomes increasingly important towards 

 the end of a long journey, when your clothes, like 

 everything else, have begun to rot. I should like to 

 take also a long and light zvaterproof cape, if such a 

 thing can be made to withstand the ill effects, of a hot 

 and damp climate. 



Boots : Twice as many boots should be taken as are 

 at first thought to be sufficient. I have a preference 

 for long boots which reach almost up to the knee. 

 They are invaluable in soft country, and save the 

 trouble of leggings or puttees. 



Mosquito-boots: Soft leather slippers with long 

 * tops ' reaching well up the legs are a luxury, which 

 conduce largely to the comfort of evenings in camp- 

 Mosquitoes have an evil habit of searching out 

 unguarded ankles under the shadow of the table, and 

 the result is either (very possibly) malaria, or the dis- 

 comfort of putting boots again on to your weary feet. 

 A very good pattern of mosquito-boot is made in 

 Madeira. 



Basin : An aluminium washing-basin in a leathern 

 or canvas cover, which holds all the other washing 

 apparatus, is strongly to be recommended. 



Mosquito-nets are made in various patterns, and most 

 of them are unhandy. Perhaps the best is the square 

 type, which is attached to a framework of sticks or 

 canes jointed like a fishing-rod. A simpler pattern, 

 which I always use, is like a large wide petticoat, 

 which can be tied to the roof of the tent, or the branch 

 of a tree, or any suitable fixed object, and the free edge 

 tucked underneath the bedding. It should be remem- 

 bered that the mosquito-net must never trail upon the 

 ground. If it does, it affords an easy means of access 



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