With Flashlight and Rifle -* 



simple and more natural a state of life which gives freer 

 play to the native forces of individuality. 



The thousandfold dangers and hardships draw us after 

 a time with an irresistible magic. May they draw many 

 and many another proved and tried man back to them, that 

 we may labour on the one hand at the development of the 

 country which, despite many errors, is slowly but surely 

 progressing ; on the other, at the saving of many of those 

 treasures out of all the kingdoms of nature which are fast 

 disappearing beneath the. wave of civilisation ! 



But to accomplish all this one needs an iron will and 

 a body steeled for every emergency. How quickly, alas! 

 can both be disabled by the recurrent attacks of malaria ! 

 The consequences of malaria are evident, above all, in 

 the great diminution of the red corpuscles of the blood. 

 Hand in hand with that goes a rapid decrease in bodily 

 strength. 



Hans Meyer depicts most admirably the immense 

 bodily exertions which are demanded by the climbing of 

 tropical mountains, and supports his graphic descriptions 

 by a series of exact calculations of the number of heart- 

 beats and respirations. Both of these symptoms the almost 

 innumerable heart-beats and the fleeting breath' I have 

 observed hundreds and hundreds of times in myself and my 

 companions ; but then, again, I have always noted with 

 amazement what extraordinary feats of endurance one is 

 capable of. Exacting claims upon bodily strength are inad- 

 visable at the beginning of a stay in the tropics. It is 

 only slowly and gradually that the organism can submit to 

 such requirements ; and even then, it will all too easily 



666 



