14 FROM THE NIGER TO THE NILE 



smallest sized tins of Ideal milk, and very luckily ; other- 

 wise much, would have been wasted by going bad after 

 being opened in the heat. The powder milk was also very 

 good for a certain time, but afterwards the dampness of the 

 climate affected it, and it congealed and would not mix 

 properly. However, I was most grateful for its aid during 

 my attack of blackwater fever. Next to milk, the most 

 important of our foods was jam, for which we all developed 

 a strong craving, for under the exhausting climatic condi- 

 tions our systems demanded the nourishment of sugar, and 

 we found jam to be the most wholesome form. Other 

 " rational " successes were tinned lunch tongues, sardines, 

 potted meats, Bath Oliver biscuits and various tinned 

 vegetables ; these last were most important, as was also Ume- 

 juice. But all the contents of the provision boxes were most 

 satisfactory, with the one exception of tinned butter. 



We were our own doctors, and took out with us two 

 Livingstone medicine chests, the contents of which 

 appear in the appendix. Old experience of the African 

 climate, had given me a rough practical knowledge of the 

 most useful drugs. Of the whole Ust the medicines that were 

 in most frequent use were quinine, calomel, Epsom salts, 

 ipecacuanha, iodoform, and corrosive sublimate. Quinine 

 as a precaution against fever was, of course, in constant use 

 among ourselves ; but the drugs that we found ourselves 

 most often administering to the " boys " and carriers were 

 calomel on the morning after a meat debauch, and iodoform 

 and corrosive subHmate for sores and injuries to the legs and 

 feet, the last was particularly efficacious in killing guinea- 

 worm, which was very prevalent among them in the wet 



