TENTMAKING AND TAILORING. 



201 



tains, most useful against glare and stare. Its lightness, 

 combined with impenetrability, made it the model of a 

 tent for rapid marching. It was not, however, pegged 

 down close to the ground, as some explorers advise, 

 without the intervention of ropes ; in these lands, a tent 

 so pitched would rot in a week. The three tents were 

 fitted with solid male bamboos, and were provided 

 with skin-bags for their pegs, which, unless carefully 

 looked after, disappear almost daily. The only furni- 

 ture was a kitanda or cartel : some contrivance of the 

 kind, a " Biddulph," or an iron bed-frame, without 

 joints, nuts, or screws, which are sure to break or to be 

 lost, is absolutely necessary in these lands, where from 

 Kaole to Uvira every man instinctively attempts to sit 

 and to sleep upon something that raises him above the 

 ground. Moreover, I have ever found the cartel answer 

 the threefold purpose of bed, chair, and table ; besides 

 saving weight by diminishing the quantity of bedding 

 required. 



To the task of tent- making succeeded tailoring. We 

 had neglected to provide ourselves with the loose 

 blanket suits, served out to sailors on board men-of-war 

 in the tropics : they are most useful in passing through 

 countries where changes of climate are sudden and 

 marked. Besides these, the traveller should carry with 

 him an ample store of flannels : the material must be 

 shrunk before making up shirts, otherwise it will behave 

 as did the Little Boy's mantle when tried by the frail fair 

 Guinever. A red colour should moreover be avoided, 

 the dye soon turns dark, and the appearance excites too 

 much attention. Besides shirt and trousers, the only 

 necessary is a large " stomach-warmer " waistcoat, with 

 sleeves and back of similar material, without collar — 

 which renders sleeping in it uneasy — and provided with 

 four flapped pockets, to contain a compass and thermo- 



