The Lake Regions of Central Africa: A Picture of Exploration, Vol. 1Burton, Richard Francis, Sir
History
The Lake Regions of Central Africa: A Picture of Exploration, Vol. 1
Burton, Richard Francis, Sir
Africa, Central -- Description and travel
_Tools._--1 large turnscrew; 1 hand saw; 1 hammer; 20 lbs. nails; 1 hand
vice; 1 hone; 9 hatchets (as a rule every porter carries an axe); 2
files; 9 Jembe or native hoe; 9 Mas’ha or native dibbles; 1 cold chisel;
1 heavy hammer; 1 pair pincers. To be followed by 1 bench vice; 1 hand
ditto; 12 gimlets of sizes; 1 18-inch stone grinder, with spindle and
handle; 6 splitting axes; 12 augers of sizes; 2 sets centre-bits, with
stock; 12 chisels; 4 mortise chisels; 2 sets drills; 24 saw files; 6
files of sorts; 4 gouges of sizes; 50 lbs. iron nails; 2 planes, with 2
spare irons; 3 hand saws; screws. These things were expected to be
useful at the lakes, where carpenters are in demand.
_Clothing, Bedding, and Shoes._--Shirts, flannel and cotton; turbans and
thick felt caps for the head. (N.B. not looking forward to so long a
journey, we left Zanzibar without a new outfit; consequently we were in
tatters before the end, and in a climate where flannel fights half the
battle of life against death, my companion was compelled to invest
himself in overalls of American domestics, and I was forced to cut up
blankets into coats and wrappers. The Goanese also had laden themselves
with rags which would have been refused by a Jew; they required to be
re-clothed in Kaniki, or blue cotton. African travel is no favourable
opportunity for wearing out old clothes; the thorny jungles, and the
practice of packing up clothes wet render a double outfit necessary for
long journeys. The second should be carried packed up in
tin--flannel-shirts, trousers and stocks, at least six of each,--not to
be opened till required.
The best bedding in this country would be a small horsehair mattrass
with two blankets, one thick the other thin, and mosquito curtains that
would pack into the pillow. A simple carpet-bag without leathern or
other adjuncts, should contain the travelling clothes, and all the
bedding should roll up into a single bundle, covered with a piece of
waterproof canvass, and tightly bound with stout straps.
As regards shoes, the best would be ammunition boots for walking and
jack boots for riding. They must be of light colour, and at least one
size too large in England; they should be carefully protected from
external air which is ruinous to leather, and they must be greased from
time to time,--with fat not with oil--otherwise they will soon become so
hard and dry, that it is impossible to draw them on unless treated after
the Indian plan, viz. dipped in hot water and stretched with a stuffing
of straw.)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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