308 FOOTWEAR 



lions and leopards. Great care should be taken 

 to provide suitable footwear for marching. I 

 have in my possession a pair of ankle boots in 

 which I have traversed on foot nearly 2000 

 miles of the African continent, and they are quite 

 capable of carrying me another 500. They were 

 made by Messrs. M. Wildsmith & Sons of 17 

 Jermyn Street, and are, I think, the most perfect 

 marching boots it would be possible to devise. 

 For circumstances in which exceptional quietness 

 is indispensable, the hunter can provide him- 

 self at any place on the East African coast for 

 the sum of two shillings with a pair of Indian 

 rope-soled calico shoes of great lightness and 

 strength, which will be found of great use. 

 Socks should always be worn with suspenders 

 to prevent them from working down and chafing 

 the feet. I have found the most satisfactory 

 socks for African travel to be those of seamless 

 natural grey wool, which are not liable to irritate 

 the skin, and are very absorbent and good. Their 

 tendency to shrink renders it desirable to supply 

 more than would usually be necessary; thus, 

 for a two months' expedition, I should recommend 

 not less than two dozen pairs. 



An important question is the supply of proper 

 and well-fitting head-gear. As Zambezia is, on 

 the whole, a forested country, let no inducement 

 prevail upon the intending visitor to provide him- 

 self for travelling or hunting with anything in 

 the nature of a helmet, in which it is impossible to 

 stalk properly, to penetrate jungle, or to run. 

 For these purposes his best, safest, and most 



