SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA. 53 



equipment unless properly looked after, as they collect filth and 

 germs and cases of enteric fever have frequently been traced to 

 them. They should, therefore, be frequently washed out with boiling 

 water or actually boiled. For camp use the sack type with an open 

 top is generally used, but when travelling the closed type, where 

 the only entry is the neck of a bottle sewn into the canvas or some 

 similar divide, is necessary. 



THE TSAMMA MELON. 



In parts of Southern and Central Kalahari the traveller has to 

 rely for drink on the Tsamma, a peculiar melon, while in so far 

 as oxen, donkeys and camels are concerned the Tsamma affords 

 both food and drink, and animals can subsist for months upon it. 



There are two species of tsamma, namely, the ordinary (Citrullus 

 vulgaris) and the bitter (Citrullus colocynthus). The latter, while 

 practically identical in appearance with the former, is intensely 

 bitter to the taste and cannot be used. The two varietes can only 

 be discriminated by tasting. The usual method of extracting water 

 from tsamma is to cut them in small pieces and boil them in a 

 suitable vessel, skimming off solids and scum. Another way is to 

 roast them in sand in a hole dug in the ground and then squeeze 

 out the juice. Tsamma water is not very pleasant to the taste, but 

 quenches the thirst better than ordinary water. Ir can be used for 

 all ordinary cooking purposes but makes abominable tea. When 

 boiled the tsamma is also food for man. 



FOOD. 



Game. Nowhere, speaking generally, can game be regarded as a 

 reliable and constant form of food; sometimes weeks and months 

 will be spent when nothing is seen. In the occupied territories the 

 game laws also interfere and there are closed seasons, so that 

 game must now be regarded as entirely an auxiliary to the food 

 supplies. 



In the occupied territories foodstuffs can be bought from local 

 stores but these ure usually so inferior that is is always advisable 

 to order one's supplies from the nearest large town. 



Though fowls, eggs, milk and mealie meal can often be obtained 

 from farms and native locations this can never be relied upon at 

 the present time, and it is absolutely necessary for any expedition, 

 even into the occupied districts of the country, to carry all the 

 ordinary necessities with them, unless they are prepared to put up 



