••2 
* 
It is a fwmy thing,— we never go afield these dajrs wittout antl-biotics, 
yet before they were current I made seven trips to South America, from 
the rain forests of the west coast of Coloibia to the pampas of Patagonia, 
and the Straits of Magellan without having need for them at any time, 
I believe I wrote you scwjewhat of the weather in Ifeirpt and the 
Sudan where it can really get hot, up to 116 degrees, but to tell tl» 
truth I do not believe that I was as uncomfortable as I am here today 
at 8it degrees on the front porch, (Tes, this was penned on Sunday at 
hane but typed at the office to give you a rest ftrcsn my chirography, 
but not on Monday as I had planned! the first chance we got was ^fednesd^ 
forenoon, it? '^printing" is just so-so but it is much better than my 
long hand. May I venture an aside? Don’t fail to start your youngsters 
on typing. It is surprising how very young children can soon master a 
keyboard,— almost as fast as they can learn the alphabet. Typir^ is a 
wonderful accomplis’/anent and one that will stand them in good steed 
wherever they go or whatever they do. My son and daughter got their 
touch-typing during one of their hi^ school sumer vacations and 
became fairly proficient. Even today ray daughter does an occasional 
important letter for her Imsband, now a Lt. Commander with the 6th 
Fleet in the Mediterranean, though he is a fair typist frcra hfs under- 
graduate days at Northwestern. I wish that I could type raySelf. It 
would have been better for your eyes and ray notes,) 
To get back to the weather on the trip. The nights for Ihr most 
part were relativtdy cooler than they are here in Washington. |iev«r- 
theless in Egypt and the Sudan air conditioners are fast beccsiing 
popular with those who can afford them. Our hottest spell in Africa 
we ejQjerienced on the trains from Cost! to ^^&idi Haifa and from Khartoum 
to Cairo. On those nights the cooler air, and it wasn’t veiy cool, 
didn’t help because we had to batten down the “hatches”, so to speak, 
to keep out the desert dust raised by the train, ftit what there ia to 
see in more than compensates one for any discomforts experienced. 
It is surprising how many people visit the land of the Pharo^s, summer 
weather or not. It is true the winter months are most highly recommended 
and that tiie really dry season in the Congo is more productive of shrimps 
but I have no regrets and no complaints about the time that we spent in 
the field. As I have said before, you certainly picked a very favorable 
time, weather and living conditions considered. 
A few of the guest houses in the National Parks were rather 
primitive and sorae of the hotels not so “hot,” but if one knows about 
them in advance they could be skipped by traveling that much farther 
on any given day. feughing it for a night or two in the National Park 
guest houses is but part of aiy good expedition. ¥e have to do that 
in sorae of the wilderness areas in this country also. 
