SANITARY PRECAUTIONS. 349 



a few days, attributed commonly to a shock to the nervous 

 system, but due more probably to blood-poisoning caused by 

 a particle of putrid matter not reached by the remedies 

 applied. 



In camping out for any length of time tents should not 

 be allowed to remain standing many days on the same spot ; 

 and it is an open question whether it be better to pitch them 

 in a " tope " or grove of trees for the advantages of shade, or 

 in the open. The air in groves is warmer and more un- 

 wholesome at night than on the plain. If, therefore, the 

 shade of two or three trees can be obtained, it is preferable 

 to that of many standing close together ; and the tent should 

 be pitched on the east or west of them for the sake of shade 

 in the morning or afternoon, the south being left clear and 

 open for the breeze, which blows from that quarter during 

 seven or eight months of the year in Bengal. 



When travelling in boats care should be taken to moor 

 as far off the bank as is possible ; or, better still, is an 

 anchorage in the stream. Whether travelling by land or in 

 boats, the purity of the drinking water is a matter of the 

 utmost importance ; for I feel assured that more danger to 

 the health is to be apprehended from bad water than from 

 bad air. Having procured the best to be got, boil and filter 

 it, and then drink as little of it as you can, except as tea 

 or coffee. A bottle of beer can do no one harm at dinner, and 

 soda-water is easily obtainable in any quantity with a little 

 forethought and arrangement. 



The proverb that " a stitch in time saves nine " is never 

 truer than in the preservation of health, and it deserves to 

 be kept in the memory of those who must encounter some 

 evil influences in malarious air and impure water, in addition 

 to exposure to great heat, and sometimes to over-fatigue. 

 Due precautions, and fasting for a day or two, even to the 

 verge of semi-starvation, may do much without medicines; 

 but there are times when they cannot be dispensed with 

 altogether, and then the above proverb fits in most aptly. 



If you desire to get your hand and eye in for quick and 



