CHAPTER III. 



CARAVAN LIFE. 



CARAVAN life in Africa is a healthy Hfe, owing to the 

 constant outdoor exercise and the necessarily frugal 

 fare. It is an ideal life for a man able to rough it, 

 satisfied with leading a more or less solitary existence, 

 fond of sport, and capable of culling pleasure from the gifts of 

 Nature which a bountiful Providence strews along his path. If, 

 in addition, the traveller has a good outfit and a well-arranged 

 transport service, he will find the few troubles he is likely to 

 encounter reduced to a minimum. With each journey one 

 gains some new experience, and in proportion learns to adapt 

 oneself better to the altered circumstances of such a life. Of 

 course, what suits one man does not suit everybody. As a 

 simple illustration take the routine of meals. Some travellers 

 can stow away a very hearty breakfast in the earlv morning just 

 before they march. I, for one, am unable to partake of a heavy 

 meal at a very early hour ; a plate of porridge is all I require, 

 and it suits me best. I do not hold that a caravan should be 

 driven, as if it were an express train or a slave gang, with 

 scarcely a pause on to the next camping-ground. I prefer to 

 treat them as human beings carrying heavy loads and doing 

 hard work ; I therefore always give them half-an-hour's rest 

 during the march, if possible near some running water where 

 they can refresh themselves. The break in the march I utilise 

 by having a sort of breakfast and lunch combined. This mid- 

 day meal consists of the cold remains of last night's dinner, a 

 saving of labour to the cook who has to march along with the 

 caravan like the rest of us. 



Sometimes the halt occurs at a spot like a shady bower in 

 a leafy avenue. Then, again, there are some men who cannot 

 stand either sun or heat, and who require a mid-dav siesta on 



