Dress during Rainy Season 5 i 



When it rains during my hunting expeditions or 

 marches in the bush, I undress myself completely, 

 putting my trousers and shirt into a small waterproof 

 bag and wearing a loin-cloth like the blacks. I retain 

 only my helmet and shoes. Not that I can say I 

 have a very elegant appearance in this dress, but I 

 have found it is the most practicable during the 

 rainy season. Immediately the rain stops the skin 

 dries, and you have not the inconvenience of keeping 

 on your wet clothes, which brings on fever and 

 rheumatism. Should the weather clear up, I put 

 my dry things on again and continue on my way. 

 It is by walking about naked in the rain that the 

 blacks do not suffer from it : the best waterproof 

 ever invented is, without doubt, the human skin. As 

 to grass and thorns, it is especially the arms and legs 

 which feel them, and I am accustomed to that. I 

 should like very much to be able to walk, like the 

 blacks, with naked feet, which would have been a 

 great advantage for a hunter ; but unfortunately that 

 was impossible. Insensibility of the sole of the foot 

 only comes from walking barefoot, like the natives, 

 from your tenderest years. Formerly I tried it, but 

 had to give it up. 



I do not say that one can walk about with a 

 helmet and a pair of shoes for your only dress on 

 the fashionable promenades of colonial towns ; but it 

 is different in the African bush, especially at a time 

 of the year when in these very colonial towns honest 

 colonists keep themselves well under shelter and 

 postpone open-air excursions and expeditions in 



