INTRODUCTION 13 



The bulk of our transport consisted of our tents, survey 

 instruments, boxes of provisions, bales of cloth and other 

 trade-goods and a large supply of ammunition. All these 

 were stored at the camp, which was our base for the time, 

 and the party split up into various columns, going in diif erent 

 directions for the survey, or hunting, or whatever might 

 be the aim in view, and taking with them their rations that 

 were done up in boxes to last ten days. This was in the early 

 part of the expedition. Later on we had to depend upon the 

 rifle and the food we were able to buy from the natives. 

 We each had a patrol tent of Willesden rot-proof canvas, 

 the only kind that are durable enough to be of any use on an 

 expedition of this character. The pegs were of iron to resist 

 the appetite of the white ants that will eat through wooden 

 ones in a single night. The provision boxes, 120 in number, 

 were a great success and were made up by Lazenby of a 

 carefully selected variety of foods, the result of systematic 

 experiments upon the family circle before starting. Nor 

 must I forget to record the self-sacrifice of the R.B. mess, who 

 on several occasions were called upon to put the life-sustaining 

 properties claimed for certain patent foods to the test, for- 

 tunately with no negative results ; but that does not minimise 

 their heroism, for how were they to know ? 



By far the most valuable of all the contents of the pro- 

 vision boxes were the tins of Ideal milk, which proved such 

 an inestimable boon in sickness that after a short time we 

 gave up using it for ordinary consumption, except on rare 

 occasions as a very great treat, and saved it up with our 

 medical comforts, which included Liebig's Extract, Brand's 

 Essence, Benger's Food and champagne. We chose the 



