TREK AND CAMP. 211 



This is a very small matter, but one which counts for a great deal when you are trying 

 to eke out your last tin as long as possible. 



A camp fire close to your tent is a very cheering sight, especially on cold nights. 

 The direction of the wind should be observed before making your fire, so that the 

 smoke may not be driven into your tent. In the dry season, when the grass is dead, a 

 large space should be cleared around the fire or otherwise you may suddenly find the 

 whole camp in a blaze. It is also as well to see that the porters take similar 

 precautions, as they are very careless in the matter. When you go to bed 

 everything may seem to be all right, but a log when it has burnt back may catch a 

 tongue of grass which leads to a large patch of dry grass, and suddenly you will 

 awake during the night to find clouds of smoke and the crackling of fire all around. 

 All hands rush out with sticks, and, if lucky, beat down the grass before any damage 

 has been done. 



When camping in the mountains or on the very high plateaux it is often bitterly 

 cold at nights, and, with kit prepared for a tropical climate, you may feel very miserable. 

 If, too, there is a searching cold wind, it is most unpleasant. Where plenty of fire- 

 wood is obtainable, the stalwart Wanyamwezi will bring in enormous logs of wood 

 and tree-trunks, till presently blazing fires will be kept going all round. However, 

 the chief disadvantage of a big fire in the open is that if you get near it the heat is 

 so intense that the side next the fire gets scorched, whilst the side away from it 

 remains colder than ever. When you turn round and the cold air strikes 

 your scorched side, the difference is so great that the cold feels more intense 

 than ever. 



Some of the firs and junipers of the forest produce the most splendid red 

 embers, which remain glowing for an immense time. When I sit and write, or when 

 I am at meals, a spadeful or tinful of red-hot embers is brought and scattered under 

 my chair and table, and the warmth thus created is most comforting. 



At night your toes are apt to become untucked and protrude at the foot of the 

 camp bed. I suffered at nights from cold feet for some time before I thought of the 

 very simple expedients of not taking off my socks when in cold localities, or even of 

 putting on a second pair. 



Many sportsmen will, without doubt, think that my camp-tips require no great 

 ingenuity to devise, and many who have had experience will probably have thought 

 of most of them for themselves, together with many more besides. Still, it is a 

 fact that, as a rule, the simplest and most obvious things are those which escape 

 notice, and so a few of those that I have given may not have occurred to some of 

 my readers. 



