for the couple of months which had elapsed since that
ghastly event, the blood-stains being still on the walls.
On other occasions I had the utmost difficulty
rV T it lT t iT UT ldC Y « •
Difficulties t° select a spot where I could sit without being
under some hole in the roof, through which
the rain poured incessantly, and when I lay down I had
to be protected by my waterproof. The room, a large
garret, the thatched roof of which permitted one to stand
up only in the middle third, was packed with field
labourers, while in the midst there crackled a fire of
thorns, casting a lurid glare on the scene, the only light
I had to write by, till it died out and was replaced by
a dim and spluttering oil lamp, ever and anon extinguished
by a fierce gust through the large holes which
served as windows at either end. It was under these
befitting circumstances that I wrote the greater portion
o f these jottings, besides covering a quire or so with
general descriptive notes.
I have one day, behind my mule, in mud and sun,
trudged the country barefoot, getting my feet cut and
my legs scratched in a manner which pre-
urious vented their use for weeks, and in the course
of the same journey I have ridden bravely
amid an escort of a dozen armed men renewed from
stage to stage. I have crossed the country as a wellto
do merchant in flowing garments on an ambling mule,
and I have gone long distances as a poor countryman,
in dirty garments the worse for wear, legs muddy and
feet bare, on the top o f the load of a stumbling pack-
beast. A t one time travelling in a style that was a continuous
picnic, at another I have been roasted with heat,
and parched with thirst; soaked with rain, and pierced
with cold, with hardly a dry garment in my possession.
I have had my skin rubbed off by wear and tear, and
have been bitten by loathsome insects, but I have hitherto
SAFEGUARDS OF H E A L TH '427
been fortunate in escaping anything venomous, and by
most careful precautions as to personal cleanliness and
contact with the natives— even to carrying my Personai
own tea-glass in my satchel, and never using Experiences.
any other,— and by making free use of carbolic
for my hands, I have likewise kept clear of the many
contagious diseases from which they so commonly suffer.
Among other safeguards of general health, I have placed
great reliance in a rigid observance of the rule to boil
and filter all my drinking water— except perhaps a sip
after a full meal of kesksoo,— and to select rising ground
for my camp if possible, by which means I have thus
far also been free from the traveller’s great enemies,
dysentery and fever, or any approach to either.
And here I may say that although I have visited
every country of Europe, every kingdom of Asia save
Afghanistan and Tibet, all those of North ^ Testimony.
Africa, and nearly all in North America, I have
never found it needful to use any form of strong drink.
* My principle has been fearlessly to drink the local water after due
enquiry and examination, filtering and boiling whenever that precaution
nnneared necessary, but filtering first. Many who make soup
m S B m process complain that “ boiled water tastes!” ■ PrecauHons
Of course it does, if you cook living creatures in it. But v,Uh Water.
the strict test has been the closely noted effect on the digestive
organs, and whenever the water has be¿n doubtful, I have when possible
made use of natural mineral waters, or the manufactured article; always
at least as pure as the wines I have seen made-and for which I have
trodden the grapes myself in Spain.
But a word of warning about filters. All stone or charcoal blocks systems
are a delusion, unless an unlimited stock of blocks can be carried
for the moment they are clogged they are worse than useless. Only such
filters can be relied on as Maignen’s, which can be recharged in a few
moments with an absolutely fresh medium. Thus, notwithstanding the
somewhat immoderate use of water to which I must confess, Ihaye never had
cause to regret it, and I never met a wine-dnnker who enjoyed better
health. Nor have I yet learned to smoke; there is always time for that
And I may add that few things have more strongly recommended me to
my Moorish friends than this abstention from alcohol and narcotics.