You Will Sweat Enough
Anyway, Even If You Get Down To A Brass Wire Costume Like The
Natives.
It is when you stop in the shade, or the breeze, or the
dusk of evening, that the trouble comes.
A chill means trouble,
SURE. Two extra suits are all you want. There is no earthly sense
in bringing more. Your tent boy washes them out whenever he can
lay hands on them-it is one of his harmless manias.
Your shirt should be of the thinnest brown flannel. Leather the
shoulders, and part way down the upper arm, with chamois. This is
to protect your precious garment against the thorns when you dive
through them. On the back you have buttons sewed wherewith to
attach a spine pad. Before I went to Africa I searched eagerly
for information or illustration of a spine pad. I guessed what it
must be for, and to an extent what it must be like, but all
writers maintained a conservative reticence as to the thing
itself. Here is the first authorized description. A spine pad is
a quilted affair in consistency like the things you are supposed
to lift hot flat-irons with. On the outside it is brown flannel,
like the shirt; on the inside it is a gaudy orange colour. The
latter is not for aesthetic effect, but to intercept actinic
rays. It is eight or ten inches wide, is shaped to button close
up under your collar, and extends halfway down your back. In
addition it is well to wear a silk handkerchief around the neck;
as the spine and back of the head seem to be the most vulnerable
to the sun.
For breeches, suit yourself as to material. It will have to be
very tough, and of fast colour. The best cut is the
"semi-riding," loose at the knees, which should be well faced
with soft leather, both for crawling, and to save the cloth in
grass and low brush. One pair ought to last four months, roughly
speaking. You will find a thin pair of ordinary khaki trousers
very comfortable as a change for wear about camp. In passing I
would call your attention to "shorts." Shorts are loose, bobbed
off khaki breeches, like knee drawers. With them are worn puttees
or leather leggings, and low boots. The knees are bare. They are
much affected by young Englishmen. I observed them carefully at
every opportunity, and my private opinion is that man has rarely
managed to invent as idiotically unfitted a contraption for the
purpose in hand. In a country teeming with poisonous insects,
ticks, fever-bearing mosquitoes; in a country where vegetation is
unusually well armed with thorns, spines and hooks, mostly
poisonous; in a country where, oftener than in any other a man is
called upon to get down on his hands and knees and crawl a few
assorted abrading miles, it would seem an obvious necessity to
protect one's bare skin as much as possible. The only reason
given for these astonishing garments is that they are cooler and
freer to walk in. That I can believe. But they allow ticks and
other insects to crawl up, mosquitoes to bite, thorns to tear,
and assorted troubles to enter. And I can vouch by experience
that ordinary breeches are not uncomfortably hot or tight.
Indeed, one does not get especially hot in the legs anyway. I
noticed that none of the old-time hunters like Cuninghame or Judd
wore shorts. The real reason is not that they are cool, but that
they are picturesque. Common belief to the contrary, your average
practical, matter-of-fact Englishman loves to dress up. I knew
one engaged in farming-picturesque farming-in our own West, who
used to appear at afternoon tea in a clean suit of blue overalls!
It is a harmless amusement. Our own youths do it, also,
substituting chaps for shorts, perhaps. I am not criticising the
spirit in them; but merely trying to keep mistaken shorts off
you.
For leg gear I found that nothing could beat our American
combination of high-laced boots and heavy knit socks. Leather
leggings are noisy, and the rolled puttees hot and binding. Have
your boots ten or twelve inches high, with a flap to buckle over
the tie of the laces, with soles of the mercury-impregnated
leather called "elk hide," and with small Hungarian hobs. Your
tent boy will grease these every day with "dubbin," of which you
want a good supply. It is not my intention to offer free
advertisements generally, but I wore one pair of boots all the
time I was in Africa, through wet, heat, and long, long walking.
They were in good condition when I gave them away finally, and
had not started a stitch. They were made by that excellent
craftsman, A. A. Cutter, of Eau Claire, Wis., and he deserves and
is entirely welcome to this puff. Needless to remark, I have
received no especial favours from Mr. Cutter.
Six pairs of woollen socks, knit by hand, if possible-will be
enough. For evening, when you come in, I know nothing better than
a pair of very high moosehide moccasins. They should, however, be
provided with thin soles against the stray thorn, and should
reach well above the ankle by way of defence against the fever
mosquito. That festive insect carries on a surreptitious
guerrilla warfare low down. The English "mosquito boot" is simply
an affair like a riding boot, made of suede leather, with thin
soles. It is most comfortable. My objection is that it is
unsubstantial and goes to pieces in a very brief time even under
ordinary evening wear about camp.
You will also want a coat. In American camping I have always
maintained the coat is a useless garment. There one does his own
work to a large extent. When at work or travel the coat is in the
way. When in camp the sweater or buckskin shirt is handier, and
more easily carried.
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