CLOTHING. 345 



proof sheet about nine feet by six, and large enough to cover 

 the howdah, its occupants, and the guns, will be found most 

 useful and comfortable. 



The alternations of temperature within a few hours 

 being often very great, suitable clothing for both heat and 

 cold must always be provided. I have known the thermo- 

 meter in the cold season to stand at 34 at daybreak, and at 

 80 nine hours afterwards in a tent ; and in the hot season it 

 will fall from 100 to 68 in the course of an hour or two 

 after a nor'-wester and a hailstorm. It is to be observed that 

 the air at 40 or 50 in Bengal seems colder than the same 

 would do in England at 30 ; firstly because the cold is damp 

 and raw, and the skin, from the tenderness arising from ex- 

 cessive perspiration for long periods, becomes acutely suscep- 

 tible to cold and chilly air; and, secondly, because the sur- 

 roundings and clothing are all better adapted to meet heat 

 rather than cold. At all times, then, a merino undervest 

 should be worn, and over it such upper clothing as the varia- 

 tions of temperature naturally suggest. 



When the air is very dry in the hottest season of the 

 year, one may sleep under an outer fly of a tent without 

 much risk to health, but even then prudence will suggest a 

 mosquito-net over the bed to intercept the moisture of the 

 air just before and after dawn. In Eastern and Northern 

 Bengal the night air is always more or less loaded with damp, 

 and in the southern tracts, not far from the coast, it is so in 

 an excessive degree. When lying out in malarious localities 

 a great wood fire kept up all night will insure immunity 

 within a circle of heated air, say ten yards from the centre. 



Given a fairly sound constitution, the key-note for health 

 is moderation in all things. Whether journeying by land or 

 by water, the traveller who relies " upon the resources of the 

 country " will run little risk of endangering his health by an 

 over rich diet, and his drink will be poor thin milk and 

 indifferent water, filtered once or oftener. Unless he provides 

 himself with a store of tinned meats, soups, jams, fish, pates, 

 and biscuits, in addition to tea, coffee, wine, beer, liqueurs, 



