906 REPORT OF THE HARVARD AFRICAN EXPEDITION 
CONTAINERS 
The Lyster bag, which is provided for the United States Army, could not be 
obtained on the market, but, through the courtesy of the War Department, two 
bags were assigned to the Expedition for experimental use. The bags had a cap- 
acity of about thirty gallons (120 liters each). ‘They were made of khaki-colored 
rubber cloth, and were provided with spigots. Each bag had a device for hanging 
it up and a canvas cover which was held in place by snap-buttons. One of the 
bags was in constant use by our party while in Monrovia, where it hung upon the 
veranda of the house in which we lived, and at base camps in the interior the 
bags proved invaluable. We figured on one gallon (4 liters) per day per man. 
At this rate one bag holding thirty gallons (120 litres) would easily provide water 
for eight men for three days. 
When the party was split into sections, and when camp was being moved 
daily, the Lyster bags were not used because unnecessarily large. Under these 
circumstances a four-gallon (16 liters) desert water bag was filled and chlorinated 
daily while camp was being made. This sufficed for camp needs in the afternoon 
and evening and for filling the canteens on the following morning. Chlorination 
in the canteen was also possible, so that each member of the party could provide 
himself at all times with potable water. 
When travelling on a river steamer on the Congo, and while staying in a hotel 
at Stanleyville, water was chlorinated in a desert bag and in carafes for table 
and bedroom use as well. i 
For two or three on safari it was then comparatively easy to boil water enough 
for drinking by devoting to this purpose a large water kettle. An iron bucket 
provided with a cover and a lip for pouring would have been preferable, because 
a kettleful of water was only enough to fill two canteens. 
A number of small covered pots and some tins of ‘“‘solid aleohol’’ were avail- 
able for boiling water, but we did not use them because chlorination in the carafe 
proved easy and satisfactory. 
CHLORINATING SUBSTANCES 
Chlorinating substances were provided for the Expedition in four forms, as 
follows: — 
I. Calcium hypochlorite powder in amber glass ampoules, prepared for the 
United States Army. 
II. Calcium hypochlorite in the form of ‘‘water sterilizer tabloids” (each 
equivalent to 1 gr. or 0.065 grm. of chlorine), of Burroughs Wellcome & Co. 
III. Calcium hypochlorite powder in small vials having rubber stoppers and 
sealed with paraffin. 
IV. Halazone tablets — Abbott Laboratories, Chicago. 
(I) Directions for use of the Army equipment are given in a printed notice 
which is attached to the inside of the carrying case of the Lyster bag. The direc- 
tions read as follows: — 
