THE LAND OF FOOTPRINTS 



sought, near or far. Then, if he is wise, he begins 

 to do a little figuring on his own account. 



My experience was very much as above. Three 

 of us went out for eleven weeks with what was con- 

 sidered a very "modest" safari indeed. It com- 

 prised one hundred and eighteen men. My fifth and 

 last trip, also with two companions, was for three 

 months. Our personnel consisted, all told, of forty 

 men. 



In essentials the Englishman is absolutely right. 

 One cannot camp in Africa as one would at home. 

 The experimenter would be dead in a month. In 

 his application of that principle, however, he seems 

 to the American point of view to overshoot. Let 

 us examine his proposition in terms of the basic 

 essentials — food, clothing, shelter. There is no 

 doubt but that a man must keep in top condition 

 as far as possible; and that, to do so, he must have 

 plenty of good food. He can never do as we do on 

 very hard trips at home: take a little tea, sugar, cof- 

 fee, flour, salt, oatmeal. But on the other hand, he 

 certainly does not need a five-course dinner every 

 night, nor a complete battery of cutlery, napery and 

 table ware to eat it from. Flour, sugar, oatmeal, tea 

 and coifee, rice, beans, onions, curry, dried fruits, 

 a little bacon, and some dehydrated vegetables will 

 do him very well indeed — with what he can shoot, 



4^3 



