Taxidermy and Zoological Collecting. W. J. Holland

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ been written, then "read up" on the adjacent countries, for even that will be very useful information.

      Guides and Companions.—No matter where you go, you will be obliged to have one or more companions, who know the country, to act as guides and general assistants. It may be that you can find a single person combining the necessary qualities of a guide and interpreter with those of a boatman, a teamster, or porter. The expense of such assistants must be counted upon from the very first. It may be stated as a general rule that in the tropics the services of natives can be had cheaply; while those of Europeans are generally dear in comparison with what they do.

      Clothing and Food.—These subjects I propose to leave entirely alone. They make excellent "padding" for a work of this kind when there is a lack of really useful information with which to fill up; but every man feeds and clothes himself according to the dictates of his temperament, his purse, or his own sweet will. Whether his way is the best or the worst, he will still have food and clothes more or less suitable to his needs, and time spent in advising him what to wear and to eat is time wasted. These questions are generally controlled by the locality and circumstances.

      Preservation of Health.—There are certain hygienic principles which apply all the world over, and since their observance becomes in the tropics a question of life and death, I will record them. Their observance has preserved my health intact in unwholesome jungles in a way that I consider nothing short of wonderful.

      Never sleep on the ground in the wet portions of the tropics when possible to avoid it, but keep above the poisonous miasmatic vapors that lie close to the earth.

      Boil water before drinking it, if it is thought to be bad, and avoid stagnant water at all times.

      Drink no spirits whatever except when really sick or debilitated, nor wine, nor other alcoholic beverages. Avoid brandy, whiskey, and rum as you would the plague.

      Eat no unripe fruit, and with moderation of even ripe fruits, excepting bananas, which are harmless and most excellent food.

      Avoid eating large quantities of meat, but give the preference to rice, and farinaceous foods generally.

      Wear light flannel shirts, and at all hazards keep the head and nape of the neck well shielded from the sun. Pith helmets are best.

      After getting wet, do not sit down in the hot sun with your wet clothes on, but if you must remain in the sun, keep moving.

      By means of rubber clothing, or "ponchos," keep from getting wet whenever you can.

      On coming into camp with wet garments, do not sit down in them to rest, but change immediately to dry clothing and footgear. The strict observance of this rule will save many an attack of fever.

      Medicines.—Every traveller or collector who goes beyond the ready reach of doctors (and for that matter also every family living in the country) should have a small box filled with certain medicines and simple appliances as a resort in all cases of emergency. Very often a deal of mischief can be prevented by having the proper remedy at hand and ready for immediate application. Who has not seen great suffering endured for the lack of a simple remedy costing only a few cents? No matter where I go in the field, or how much luggage I am impeded with, I always carry with me a small, square, japanned tin box (10 inches long, 7 inches wide, and 4 inches deep) which contains the following:

1 roll silk court-plaster (about 1 yard).	1 bottle Collis Browne's chlorodyne.
6 curved surgeon's needles and silk thread.	½ ounce quinine.
4 ounces spirits of turpentine.	1 package Epsom salts.
4 ounces tincture of arnica.	1 package senna leaves.
2 ounces syrup of ipecac.	1 package carbonate of soda.
1 ounce paregoric.	2-ounce bottle of Squibb's diarrhoea mixture.
1 ounce ammonia.	1 box Beecham's pills.
2 ounces castor oil.	1 small measuring-glass.
1 pint lime-water and linseed oil.	1 piece of small rubber tube, a foot long.
1 pint best brandy.	12 doses of tartar emetic.

      The above makes a formidable showing, but the whole stock costs only about three dollars and fifty cents, and the box, with lock and key, about one dollar more. I have lately added to this outfit a most valuable and helpful little book, entitled "Till the Doctor Comes," by George H. Hope (G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York), which to any traveller or country dweller is worth twice its weight in gold. Fortunately, however, it costs only fifty cents, and no one need be without it.

      While a traveller or hunter should never drink brandy or whiskey as a beverage, it is a most excellent thing to have in many cases of sickness or accident, when a powerful stimulant is necessary. Above all things, however, which go farthest toward preserving the life of the traveller against diseases and death by accident, and which every naturalist especially should take with him wherever he goes, are habits of strict temperance. In the tropics nothing is so deadly as the drinking habit, for it speedily paves the way to various kinds of disease which are always charged to the account of "the accursed climate." If a temperate man falls ill or meets with an accident, his system responds so readily to remedies and moderate stimulants that his chances for recovery are a hundred per cent better than those of the man whose constitution has been undermined by strong drink.

      There are plenty of men who will say that in the tropics a little liquor is necessary, "a good thing," etc.; but let me tell you it is no such thing, and if necessary I could pile up a mountain of evidence to prove it. The records show most conclusively that it is the men who totally abstain from the use of spirits as a beverage who last longest, have the least sickness, and do the most and best work. As a general rule, an energetic brandy-drinker in the jungle is not worth his salt, and as a companion in a serious undertaking, is not even to be regarded as a possible candidate.

CHAPTER II.

       Table of Contents

OUTFITS, AND HINTS ON HUNTING.

       Table of Contents

      In making up an outfit with which to work on specimens in the field, away from civilization perhaps, you must first decide definitely upon the line of work you intend to do, for upon this the extent and character of your outfit must depend. The requirements to be met are economy of space, weight, and labor, with no necessary article lacking. The mere item of keeping one's tools in order, and always accessible, is much more important than it would at first seem to be. There must be no confusion, and not a single article must get lost. Good tools, and plenty of them, in good СКАЧАТЬ