Chapter I: Outfit to Take Abroad (4)

When the "Pearl" first entered the Zambesi Dr. Kirk ordered that a glass of spirit with quinine in it should be served to the men every morning; and we would frequently, as the large doses administered were intensely bitter, make up the quinine into pills, with chocolate or cocoa paste, or sometimes place the quinine powder dry on the tongue, and then swallow a copious draught of water to wash it down.

We give, first, Dr. Livingstone's remedy for fever; but, useful and effective as it really is, we cannot say, from experience, that it is infallible; and the fatality among the gentlemen of the mission proves that we do not, as yet, possess a remedy for the fever that will supply the place of a sufficient and generous diet, total cessation of exposure to the malaria, and removal to a more elevated and healthy country, even though it be but a few hours' journey from the infected district. The doctor's receipt is as follows:--

"Linyante, 12th of September, 1855.

"A pill composed of three or four grains of resin of jalap, three or four of calomel, and an equal number of quinine; a drop or two of tincture of cardamoms to dissolve the resin to form the bolus.

"I have had a great many cases in hand, and never met with a single case of failure; it ought not to purge; the quantity of resin must be regulated to produce only a gentle movement, which, when felt, is accompanied by perspiration and a sound sleep. A check to this perspiration has, in my own experience, given rise to vomiting large quantities of pure blood."

In another letter:--

"We make a pill of equal parts of resin of jalap, calomel, rhubarb, and quinine; say for a powerful man eight grains of resin of jalap, eight grains of calomel, four or six grains of rhubarb, and four or six grains of quinine; make the whole into pills with tincture of cardamoms. This relieves the very worst cases in a few hours.

"We then give quinine till the system is affected with cinchonism[A], the calomel is removed at once from the system, and, curiously enough, decreasing doses serve. In some of us half a grain of the mass produces as much effect as twenty-four grains did at first."

[A] Singing in the ears.

A friend in Capetown, who had travelled in the Brazils, gave us the following receipt, used, we believe, by an Italian doctor; there he tells us it was efficacious, but we have not had opportunity to put it to the test:--

"To one bottle of water add 36grs. of sulphate of quinine, 2 teaspoonfuls of Epsom salts, 34 drops of sulphuric acid, and 40 drops of ether; this mixture is called antiperiodic water; a wine-glassful three times a day as soon as the first symptoms are perceived, and continued for three or four days after recovery. If delirious, an injection of 1 tablespoonful of vinegar to 10 of this water."

Warburg's fever drops are well spoken of. Very large doses of quinine are given in India and Africa, sixteen or twenty grains at a time; and we have frequently taken in powder as much as would lie upon a shilling.

Sometimes violent exertion, producing perspiration and exhaustion, if practised in time, may avert an attack. We have heard of a doctor visiting a man when the shivering fit was about to come on, who locked the door, mixed two glasses of stiff hot grog, put on the gloves, and engaged his patient in a boxing match, which, at least, for that time averted the fever.

We do not give our unqualified recommendation of this treatment; but we have often found that, during a period of severe and long sustained labour, we have remained in health, but that an attack of fever has accompanied the reaction induced by an intermission of the work.

Simple aperients should be taken; we have used Cockle's anti-bilious pills, salts, senna, or jalap; and their opposites in case of diarrhoea. With a little opium and a bit of carpenter's chalk, we have been able to give almost marvellous relief to a poor coloured woman in excruciating agony.

Take a good supply of _Chlorodyne_. Opium both in gum and tincture. A few drops of the latter, placed within the eyelids of those suffering from snow blindness, often prove of the greatest advantage; chloroform must be used with caution; still, in cases of great suffering, it is worth while to try it. We have known one exceedingly severe case of illness in which messengers had to be sent to every white man within 240 miles for medicines, and letters were written on the chance that some passing vessel might take them to a port whence by some other agency a supply of drugs might be forwarded.

_Emetics_, which are commonly sold in doses, white and grey, and of different degrees of strength.

_Sudorifics_--among which we have used Dover's powders as a convenient form.

_Eyewashes._--Weak solutions, sulphate of zinc and diacetate of lead, or weak brandy and water, may be used.

It may be needful to carry a small quantity of blistering plaster--or rather the materials of which to make it--soft wash-leather, ointment of Spanish fly, &c., or mustard.

_Tincture of arnica_, used in the proportion of one part tincture to eight parts water, is a valuable application for strains or contusions.

_Glycerine_, or cold cream, may be used as cooling applications to irritated surfaces.

_Effervescing powders._--The blue paper contains carbonate of soda, 30grs.; the white, tartaric acid, 25grs. 1lb. of carbonate of soda, and 13-1/2oz. of tartaric acid, make 256 powders of each sort; or, 1-1/2oz. of carbonate of soda, and 3oz. of tartarised soda, packed in blue, and 7drs. of tartaric acid, in white, will make twelve sets.

All salts must be kept in bottles closely stoppered, and only put in paper for immediate use.

_Antiscorbutics._--Almost any vegetable; plenty of sugar; fresh fruit; dried tamarinds; good lime juice, vinegar, or citric acid; raw potatoes, with the strong earthy taste as fresh as possible; the pulp of the cream of tartar tree or Baobab in Africa, or of the Gouty-stem (_Adansonia Gregorii_) in Australia. Dr. Kane, in his Arctic voyages, found fresh raw meat a remedy.

It will be well for the traveller to limit his equipment to a few simple and really useful medicines, of which a sufficient supply for the maladies to be expected in the country he is bound for should be taken. A complicated assortment would serve only to confuse him, and it is better even to trust solely to nature than to tamper unskilfully with dangerous remedies.

{Poisons and antidotes.}

Poisoning, whether from accident or otherwise, should always be provided for, and it will be well to be supplied with a few antidotes. Some poisons are best ejected by vomiting--draughts of salt or mustard and warm water, half a wine-glassful of ipecacuanha wine, or a glassful of warm water with twenty or thirty grains of sulphate of zinc. Antimonial preparations, as tartar emetic, are too depressing, and not controllable.

In others, the action on the stomach may be diminished by mucilaginous or oily drinks, as milk, barley water, white of egg, and salad oil.

For _poisonous acids_ use no emetics; alkaline remedies are proper. Soda or potash in water, given plentifully; carbonate of magnesia, Dinneford's solution, common whitening, or chalk in water, followed by some mucilaginous fluid, as milk or barley water.

Against _alkalies_, as potash, soda, &c., acids must be used--diluted vinegar, citric or tartaric acid, lemon juice or sour beer; soothing drinks as before, after the poison has been neutralised.

For _metallic poisons_ an emetic may generally be tried.

For _arsenic_, avoid emetics. Take a mixture of milk and lime water, or soda water in equal quantities. Light magnesia diffused in water may be taken. Common animal charcoal may be tried.

For _corrosive sublimate_ give white of egg and plenty of milk; if eggs are not at hand, use flour mixed with water.

_Vegetable irritants._--Give an early emetic and demulcent drinks.

_Narcotic poisons._--Opium. Give an emetic; pour cold water on the head and neck and shoulders; place mustard poultices on the calves of the legs or feet; give hot strong coffee and free air; keep the patient moving till drowsiness passes off.

_Prussic acid in small doses._--Give ammonia or strong coffee; pour cold water on head and chest, rubbing dry with warm towels, and give free air; in large doses no treatment will avail.

_Strychnine._--In Australia, South Africa, and some other countries strychnine is extensively used; and a correspondent thus writes in the _Field_ concerning it:--"It sometimes happens that dogs are poisoned, accidentally or otherwise, by nux-vomica, or its alkaloid. It may not, therefore, be useless to inform the reader what treatment should be adopted in such a case. The poison acts very rapidly, tetanus comes on, and the dog soon dies, exhausted by the violence of the fits. If the poison have only been just taken, and no fits have occurred, the best remedy is tannin, in the form of pounded galls, or the areca-nut powder so much used in kennels. But if the dog be already seized with tetanus, the only remedy is the permanganate of potash. I have found, in several experiments on animals, that, when once the tetanic spasm has set in, permanganate of potash is the only remedy giving any chance of recovery; if administered in time it is most successful. Condy's fluid, now so much used in the stable and kennel, is the most convenient form for its administration. A wineglassful of Condy's fluid, slightly diluted, may be given. During the treatment the dog must be kept quiet, and touched as little as possible. This treatment, which has never yet been suggested (to my knowledge), I beg to offer to those readers who may be in need of it; but I cannot speak of its effects on the human subject."

_Alcohol in excess._--Evacuation of the stomach, followed by hot coffee, external stimulants and friction.

_Suffocation by gases, &c._--Removal to pure air, cold water on face and chest, artificial inducement of respiration, friction of surface, followed by hot coffee or brandy and water.

_Animal poisons_--stings of insects, snake-bites, &c.--If a sting remains in the wound, extract it, and apply a strong wash of ammonia in spirit or water, or, in its absence, warm oil; if faintness follows, some stimulant, as brandy and water, may be given freely for snake-bites; in addition to this cauterise the wound with nitric acid or a white-hot iron.

The trappers of America place great dependance on strong whisky; if great exertion can be maintained, so as to produce excessive fatigue and perspiration, the system may throw off the poison.

In the Cape colony an antidote for snake-bites is sold under the name of Croft's Tincture of Life. This was analysed, when we were in Grahamstown, by the faculty, and the ingredients they found were pronounced good; but there were others which the maker would not reveal. We have seen several testimonials as to its efficacy. The medical men, however, arranged a case somewhat larger than a fifty-likeness _carte-de-visite_ album, containing lancet, ligature, cupping-glass, a bottle of ammonia, lint, and a piece of lunar caustic; but it was much too large to be carried about by any traveller in expectation of being bitten by a snake. We therefore took a small tin vesta match box, put a lancet, small bottle of ammonia, lunar caustic, in a stoppered bottle, lint, and ligature in it, and kept it in the waggon. We are happy to say we never had to put it to the test, for we were never bitten by a serpent. Sometimes a little judicious humouring of the patient does as much good as medicine.

In the Bushman country around Lake Ngami, where the entrails of the Ngwa or poisonous grub are used to give such fatal effect to the insignificant-looking arrows, a small plant with a yellow star-like flower, called the _Kala-haetlwe_, is used as an antidote. Fat is also rubbed into the wound and also given internally till the effect of the poison is neutralised.

The snake-stone of India, if it has any good qualities, seems to owe them entirely to its absorbent properties, and these would be more efficiently performed by scarification and the cupping glass.

Ipecacuanha, applied as a poultice, has been by some considered a most valuable antidote to snake-bites. This antidote is equally effective in the stings of scorpions and other venomous reptiles.

The fiction of the cup of rhinoceros horn, which caused all poisonous drink to effervesce and bubble over, is so firmly believed, that we have known a Cape trader offer to drink any poison we could give him out of such a cup; but we declined the experiment.

A preparation of the guaco plant is highly esteemed on the Spanish main as an antidote against bites of snakes of all kinds.

Acetic acid rubbed on the wound caused by the bite of scorpions or centipedes is very efficacious. In the absence of this, chewed tobacco is often made use of; but the natives are of opinion that the scorpion inflicting the wound crushed between two stones and laid on the injured part is a certain remedy, and, from what we have been enabled to learn from them on the subject, there seems to be some foundation for the belief.

{Imaginary ailments of natives.}

The imaginary ailments of natives are neither few nor far between; but it is not at all times wise to disregard them. We have known our followers come, night after night, with small sicknesses, when we had but a few doses of fever mixture left, and, by some chance or other, a little currie powder. Now, had we sent away a man with his "little sickness," he would have been really ill next morning. We therefore looked as wise as possible, felt his pulse, looked at his tongue, read a paragraph or two, and sent him to boil some water and bring it to us; we then carefully measured out a spoonful of currie powder, mixed it, saw him drink it off, and sent him to make himself as warm as he could till next morning.

Horse Medicines and Farrier's Stores.

If an expedition is about to be undertaken where the services of many horses or mules are required, a list of medicine stores should be furnished for them, which may be approximately as follows, the quantities being arranged for twenty animals for six months:--

Raw linseed oil, 4 galls.
Olive oil, 2 galls.
Spirits of nitre, ether, 4lb.
Nitrate of potash, 6lb.
Barbadoes aloes, 2lb.
Potassio tartrate of antimony, 1lb.
Camphor, 1lb.
Ginger, in powder, 6lb.
Palm oil, 6lb.
Tincture of opium, 4lb.
Spirits of ammonia, 4lb.
Spirits of turpentine, 1 gall.
Cantharides, in powder, 1lb.
Lard, 6lb.
Linseed meal, 8lb.
Compound tincture of myrrh and aloes, 2lb.
Calomel, 1oz.
Nitrate of silver, 1/2oz.
Sulphate of copper, 2lb.
Alum, 2lb.
Sugar of lead, 1lb.
Sulphate of iron, 2lb.
Powdered gentian, 4lb.
Prepared chalk, 6lb.
Stockholm tar, 10lb.
Tow, 6lb.

Old flannel and sheeting for bandages, two or three sponges, a packet of pins, a hank of fine twine, six pieces of coarse tape, a pestle and mortar, set of scales and weights, palate knife, graduated measure, a quire of whitey-brown paper, two pairs of scissors, one straight and the other curved; a drenching-horn, phleam, lancet (horse size), glyster syringe (quart size), and blood can. Hoof picker, searcher, drawing knife, buffer, pincers, shoeing hammer, hoof rasp, and set of hobbles. The use of these matters will be treated on under the head of "Veterinary Surgery."

Lamps, Lights, and Lanterns.

{Lamps.}

About the most simple and effective lamp we have ever seen is that used by the Portuguese at Tette, in their illuminations; it consists of a shallow pan of clay, as big as the palm of the hand, slightly baked, or, perhaps, merely sun-dried--to contain the oil--a spoonful of salt is tied up in a piece of rag, the ends being left just long enough for a wick, and this cheap and simple arrangement serves all the purposes of out-door illumination. Sticks about three feet high, with their upper ends cleft into three parts, which are kept open by the insertion of a wedge, are planted in lines along the streets, and the lamps supported on these, or ranged along the porticoes or fences of the various houses, burn brightly and steadily for many hours, defying even a tolerably stiff breeze to blow them out. The oil used is that of the ground nut, which, beside being cheap and plentiful, is so pure that it may be used for almost any purpose, scarcely an article of food in Tette being prepared without it; in fact, the nut itself, which may be eaten plain, roasted, treated as a "confect" in various ways, or infused as a substitute for coffee, contains so much essential oil that it will burn for more than a minute with as bright a flame as a good candle; when arranged one over the other on a stick or wire they give a good permanent light.

It is often necessary, however, for the traveller to supply himself with light when the grease at his command is neither liquid enough to rise through the fibres of a wick, nor hard enough to be moulded into a candle. In this case, the wick should be allowed to rest on and overhang a little the sides of the vessel used as a lamp--a cup of earthenware, a common tin cap box, or even a bit of tin or sheet iron bent up will answer well enough; the flame soon heats the side sufficiently to melt a portion of the fat, and a constant supply is thus kept up as the wick requires it.

Almost anything will serve as a wick--a bit of old rag, or the flax-like fibres of the various plants used as cordage by the natives; strips of bark beaten to separate the fibres, or even small twigs may be used; rushes with enough of the outer covering removed to expose the pith, while on one side a strip of bark is left sufficiently strong to support it, are also worth looking to in case of need; but it is best to be provided with a sufficiency of cotton which is cheap, easily carried, and useful for many other purposes. If possible, a good supply of the best sperm candles, or others of material not likely to be affected by changes of climate, should be carried. On the Australian expedition, we used Price's vegetable wax candles; and some of these--after having twice crossed the line, gone round Australia and part of the Indian archipelago, and made the circuit of the globe--are now in Kew Museum in as good condition as when they were issued from the factory.

The common bull's-eye or police lamp is very useful if only required by one person for a specific purpose, such as reading off a sextant after observation of a star, but it does not diffuse light enough for general purposes. In fact, if wood is plentiful, a roaring fire will give greater facility for reading, writing, or such other occupations as are likely to employ a traveller's evening than anything else. If you want warmth, let your fire be on the ground and sit round it; if you want light to work by, make it on a slight elevation, say from eighteen inches to two feet high. If you want wood, and your native attendants, when called on, make excuses, or Jem tells Sambo and Sambo tells the old woman to fetch wood for the master, do not put yourself to the trouble of scolding them, but take the wood off their fire and put it on your own, and let them settle whose duty it is to bring more. _Experto crede._

A horn lantern is good "to keep the light from going out;" but then, perhaps, the operator may desire that the light should not be so literally "kept in;" and it is said that a piece of rag dipped in salt and water, and wrapped round a candle, will answer the purpose of preserving it from extinction in windy weather without lessening its illuminating powers. This, however, requires continuous attention, in order that it may be cut down as the candle burns low. The Esquimaux lamp is a piece of soft stone with a slight groove along the front edge; in this is laid a wick of moss or other material, and, the heat imparted to the stone being quite sufficient to melt the fat laid on it, it is fed with very little trouble. One who has made a turnip lantern in his youth will seldom be at a loss to extemporise a shelter for his bit of candle. A calabash or gourd, with perforations to allow the passage of the light, covered or not with oiled calico or paper; a worn-out pannikin or preserved meat tin; the body of a quart bottle, the more transparent the better; or, what is best of all, one of the oblong tins in which fancy biscuits are generally sold, will answer admirably; the polished surface of the latter serving also as a powerful reflector. We had one of these slung from the roof of the waggon, the bowl of a broken ladle was secured in the bottom of it, and with a bit of cotton wick and a few pieces of hard fat, a light steady enough to work by was secured for the evening; the common forecastle lamp used on board our merchantmen is a useful form, and the shadowless railway lamp we found very servicable, as long as the glass could be preserved.

We have constructed a very powerful reflecting lamp from a large sheet of tin, nearly two feet in height, curved round so as to form half a cylinder, six or eight inches in diameter; about eight inches from its base, we made a shelf to sustain the oil lamp, and a socket to contain the candle if we should be fortunate enough to have one, and behind this we arranged a couple of sixpenny trade looking-glasses at an angle of 90° with each other, and by the light thus thrown forward we were able to write or sketch with facility during many hours of the weary night. (See p. 85.)

A lamp commonly used in India is a tumbler half full of water with oil on the top, and a wick wrapped round a stone or bit of lead, with its end projecting above the oil; but it has this disadvantage, that rats may upset the glass while drinking the oil, carry off the burning wick, and so expose the house to great danger. A float may easily be made of bottle wire and three bits of cork, in which half an inch of wick is enough to last all night.

{Candles.}

It is often desirable to make candles, and for this purpose the hard fat and tallow of any animal that may be killed should be preserved, that is, if it can be spared from the no less important purpose of greasing the axles; or beeswax, if it can be obtained, may be used either in combination with it or separately. If you wish to make dip candles, take a sufficient number of strands twice the length you require, twist them slightly and double them, and let the parts twist together; pass a small rod through the "bights" of as many of these wicks as you find convenient, say half a dozen; take a bucketful of hot water, throw the fat or wax in, and it will soon melt and float upon the surface; let the wicks absorb as much as they will, straighten and let them harden; then, holding the rod by the end left for that purpose, dip them quickly to their full length, withdraw and allow them to cool, and repeat the operation till your candles attain the desired size. If you have fat enough you may have half a dozen or more sets of wicks and can keep on dipping in rotation, thus allowing each plenty of time to cool before its turn comes round again. If you aspire to mould candles, nothing is better for your purpose than a piece off the end of a gun-barrel--and very few African hunters make a journey without shortening some lengthy weapon by eight or ten inches. In this case, pass a small stick an inch or two in length through the bight of the wick, bring the end out through the "mould" and make it fast to another, or pass it through a gun wad or section of a cork, so as to stretch it fairly and evenly in the centre, and stop the lower end; then pour in the tallow or wax, and, when cool, warm the mould slightly and the candle will draw out. In some countries wood may be found sufficiently resinous to be used as candles, but a supply of sticks cut to a convenient size must be prepared and a rest of some sort contrived so that they may be easily placed in it or withdrawn when nearly burnt out; the angle they ought to make with the horizon varies with the quality of the wood, if very combustible they may be set nearly upright, if less so they must be more nearly horizontal.

All candles, however, waste rapidly unless screened from the wind, if the traveller can carry a spring burner, this inconvenience is in a great measure obviated; but often this is impossible, and he must make the best shelter he can with a bit of bent tin, a joint of bamboo, or whatever material may be at hand. If the candles have to be packed in bags where stowage is of importance, and cases must be thrown away, it is best to cut them in two, as the risk of breakage is much reduced by the diminution of their length; in cutting them the knife should be warmed slightly, as it divides them without chipping off fragments. In lighting the lower half, if you have wax vestas, and stick one of them in alongside the wick that has been cut, you avoid the necessity of cutting down the wax to expose the end, and so may save three quarters of an inch of candle.

{Torches.}

We have seen the Malays, in the Island of Timor, take a soft porous stick, or the pith of a peculiar rush, and then wrap round it a coating of beeswax, to serve as a torch or candle. The natives of the shores of British Columbia and Vancouver Island use a fish known as the Eulachon, or North-West Capelin, as a source of light. The leaf of the cocoa-nut palm possesses strong illuminating power. The pine knot and birch bark of North America and Canada are extensively used for giving light in deer-hunting, fish-spearing, and on other occasions. The bog deal of Ireland is also used. The Damaras, who have a custom of obtaining their fire only from that kept burning at the hut of their chief, carry with them dry flakes of "Kraal mist" or cattle droppings, ignited and held between the forks of a cleft stick; and the Indian matchlock men carry fire in the same way. The mussalchees or torch-bearers of Central India, who commonly accompany troops during night marches, use long sausage-shaped rolls of cotton cloth; the ends of these they from time to time moisten with oil poured from a vessel carried for the purpose. The hill guides usually employ large splinters cut from the Deodar cedar. In Mexico, the brilliant fire-flies are sometimes caught and used for giving a temporary light: the direction of a letter, or the points of a compass, may be read by them.

The sparks from a flint and steel, a bit of quartz, sulphuret of iron or agate, and a pocket knife, will give light enough to read the compass, or to form a night signal.

There are many very nice arrangements for the purpose of light giving and cooking, which may be obtained from any military outfitter; but their chief defect is, that they will only answer their purpose under tolerably convenient circumstances, and become useless when the real hard work of travel begins.

{Samovar.}

Travellers, both on sea and land, often require to cook a small allowance of coffee or tea when, from severity of weather, scarcity of fuel, or the impossibility of halting long enough, it is impossible to kindle a fire in any of the ordinary methods, and frequently when, from the pitching of a small vessel or the jolting of a waggon, it would be dangerous to use a spirit lamp, an Etna, or an uncovered fire of any kind. Under these circumstances we should think the principle of internal heat, as applied in the Russian _samovar_ or tea urn, might be successfully adopted. This, with various modifications in outward form, may be described as a small furnace for burning wood or charcoal in that part which serves as the base of the urn, with a funnel or stove pipe, wide at the bottom, but tapering rather sharply upward, leading straight up through the water, and having at top a telescope joint, by which the funnel can be lengthened and the draught increased when requisite.

Our own idea is to have an upright cylinder of copper tinned inside, and from about a couple of inches above the lower part of this an internal cone, like an inverted funnel, exactly fitting the cylinder at its lower edge, and tapering up to a small aperture at top. A double floor would be let into the cylinder about an inch from its base, so that it might be set upon a plank without danger from the fire. The cover would have a central hole for the funnel or smoke pipe to rise through; a small lip spout would serve to pour off the water, and ring handles, with chains long enough to obviate all danger, would serve to suspend it from the waggon roof, or from the beams of a small vessel, while others on either side would help to stay and steady it. A broad cap or roof of copper hooked on to links of the chains an inch or two above the end of the smoke pipe would prevent any possible risk from fire reaching any woodwork from which the samovar might be suspended.