The Art of Travel Part 2

Carriages.--An animal--camels always excepted--draws upon wheels in a wild country about two and a half times the weight he can carry.

lbs.

A light cart, exclusive of the driver, should not carry more than..................................................800 A light waggon, such as one or two horses would trot away with, along a turnpike road, not more than...........1500 A waggon of the strongest construction, not more than.........3000

Weight of Rations.--A fair estimate in commissariat matters is as follows:-- A strong waggon full of food carries 1000 full-day rations The pack of an ox " 40 "

The pack of a horse " 30 "

A slaughter ox yields, as fresh meat 80 "

A fat sheep yields " 10 "

(N.B. Meat when jerked loses about one-half of its nourishing powers.)

MEDICINE.

General Remarks.--Travellers are apt to expect too much from their medicines, and to think that savages will hail them as demiG.o.ds wherever they go. But their patients are generally cripples who want to be made whole in a moment, and other suchlike impracticable cases. Powerful emetics, purgatives, and eyewashes are the most popular physickings.

The traveller who is sick away from help, may console himself with the proverb, that "though there is a great difference between a good physician and a bad one, there is very little between a good one and none at all."

Drugs and Instruments.--Outfit of Medicines,--A traveller, unless he be a professed physician, has no object in taking a large a.s.sortment of drugs.

He wants a few powders, ready prepared; which a physician, who knows the diseases of the country in which he is about to travel, will prescribe for him. Those in general use are as follows:--

1. Emetic, mild; 2. ditto, very powerful, for poison (sulphate of zinc, also used as an eye-wash in Ophthalmia). e. Aperient, mild; 4. ditto, powerful. 5. Cordial for diarrhoea. 6. Quinine for ague. 7. Sudorific (Dover's powder). 8. Chlorodyne. 9. Camphor. 10. Carbolic acid.

In addition to these powders, the traveller will want Warburg's fever-drops; glycerine or cold cream; mustard-paper for blistering; heartburn lozenges; lint; a small roll of diachylon; lunar-caustic, in a proper holder, to touch old sores with, and for snake-bites; a scalpel and a blunt-pointed bistoury, with which to open abcesses (the blades of these should be waxed, to keep them from rust); a good pair of forceps, to pull out thorns; a couple of needles, to sew up gashes; waxed thread, or better, silver wire. A mild effervescing aperient, like Moxon's is very convenient. Seidlitz-powders are perhaps a little too strong for frequent use in a tropical climate.

How to carry Medicines.--The medicines should be kept in zinc pill-boxes with a few letters punched both on their tops and bottoms, to indicate what they contain, as Emet., Astr. etc. It is more important that the bottoms of the boxes should be labelled than their tops; because when two of them have been opened at the same time, it often happens that the tops run a risk of being changed.

It will save continual trouble with weights and scales, if the powders be so diluted with flour, that one Measureful of each shall be a full average dose for an adult; and if the measure to which they are adopted be cylindrical, and of such a size as just to admit a common lead-pencil, and of a determined length, it can at any time be replaced by twisting up a paper cartridge. I would further suggest that the powders be differently coloured, one colour being used for emetics and another for aperients.

Lint, to make.--Sc.r.a.pe a piece of linen with a knife.

Ointment.--Simple cerate, which is spread on lint as a soothing plaister for sores, consists of equal parts of oil and wax; but lard may be used as a subst.i.tute for the wax.

Seidlitz-powders are not often to be procured in the form we are accustomed to take them in, in England; so a recipe for making 12 sets of them, is annexed:--1 1/2 oz. of Carbonate of Soda and 3 oz. of Tartarised Soda, for the blue papers; 7 drachms of Tartaric Acid, for the white papers.

Bush Remedies.--Emetics.--For want of proper physic, drink a charge of gunpowder in a tumblerful of warm water of soap-suds, and tickle the throat.

Vapour-baths are used in many countries, and the following plan, used in Russia, is often the most convenient. Heat stones in the fire, and put them on the ground in the middle of the cabin or tent; on these pour a little water, and clouds of vapour are given off. In other parts of the world branches are spread on hot wood-embers, and the patient is placed upon these, wrapped in a large cloth; water is then sprinkled on the embers, and the patient is soon covered with a cloud of vapour. The traveller who is chilled or over-worked, and has a day of rest before him, would do well to practise this simple and pleasant remedy.

Bleeding and Cupping'.--Physicians say, now-a-days that bleeding is rarely, if ever, required; and that frequently it does much harm; but they used to bleed for everything. Many savages know how to cup: they commonly use a piece ofa horn as the cup, and they either suck at a hole in the top of the horn, to produce the necessary vacuum, or they make a blaze as we do, but with a wisp of gra.s.s.

Illnesses.--Fevers of all kinds, diarrhoea, and rheumatism, are the plagues that most afflict travellers; ophthalmia often threatens them.

Change of air, from the flat country up into the hills, as soon as the first violence of the illness is past, works wonders in hastening and perfecting a cure.

Fever.--The number of travellers that have fallen victims to fever in certain lands is terrible: it is a matter of serious consideration whether any motives, short of imperious duty, justify a person in braving a fever-stricken country. In the ill-fated Niger expedition, three vessels were employed, of which the 'Albert' stayed the longest time in the river, namely two months and two days. Her English crew consisted of 62 men; of these, 55 caught fever in the river, and 23 died. Of the remaining seven, only two ultimately escaped scot-free; the others suffering, more or less severely, on their return to England. In Dr.

McWilliams's Medical History of this expedition, it is laid down that the Niger fever, which may be considered as a type of pestilential fever generally, usually sets in sixteen days after exposure to the malaria; and that one attack, instead of acclimatising the patient, seems to render him all the more liable to a second. Every conceivable precaution known in those days, had been taken to ensure the health of the crew of the 'Albert.' A great discovery of modern days is the power of quinine to keep off many types of fever. A person would, now, have little to fear in taking a pa.s.sage in a Niger steamer; supposing that vessels ran regularly up that river. The quinine he would take, beginning at the coast, would render him proof against fever, until he had pa.s.sed the delta; but nothing would remove the risk of a long sojourn in the delta itself.

However, I should add that Dr. Livingstone's experience on the zambesi throws doubt on the power of quinine to keep off the type of fever that prevails upon that river.

Precautions in unhealthy Places.--There are certain precautions which should be borne in mind in unhealthy places, besides that which I have just mentioned of regularly taking small doses of quinine, such as never to encamp to the leeward of a marsh; to sleep close in between large fires, with a handkerchief gathered round your face (natural instinct will teach this); to avoid starting too early in the morning; and to beware of unnecessary hunger, hardship, and exposure. It is a widely-corroborated fact that the banks of a river and adjacent plains are often less affected by malaria than the low hills that overlook them.

Diarrhoea.--With a bad diarrhoea, take nothing but broth, rice water, and it may be rice, in very small quant.i.ties at a meal, until you are quite restored. The least piece of bread or meat causes an immediate relapse.

Ophthalmia'.--Sulphate of zinc is invaluable as an eyewash: for ophthalmia is a scourge in parts of North and South Africa, in Australia, and in many other countries. The taste of the solution which should be strongly astringent, is the best guide to its strength.

Tooth-ache.--Tough diet tries the teeth so severely, that a man about to undergo it, should pay a visit to a dentist before he leaves England. An unskilled traveller is very likely to make a bad job of a first attempt at tooth-drawing. By constantly pushing and pulling an aching tooth, it will in time loosen, and perhaps, after some weeks, come out.

Thirst.--Pour water over the clothes of the patient, and keep them constantly wet; restrain his drinking, after the first few minutes, as strictly as you can summon heart to do it. (See "Thirst" in the chapter on "Water.") In less severe cases, drink water with a tea-spoon; it will satisfy a parched palate as much as if you gulped it down in tumblerfuls, and will disorder the digestion very considerably less.

Hunger.--Give two or three mouthfuls, every quarter of an hour, to a man reduced to the last extremity by hunger; strong broth is the best food for him.

Poisoning.--The first thing is to give a powerful emetic, that whatever poison still remains unabsorbed in the stomach, may be thrown up. Use soap-suds or gunpowder (see Emetics) if proper emetics are not at hand.

If there be violent pains and gripings, or retchings, give plenty of water to make the vomitings more easy. Next, do your best to combat the symptoms that are caused by the poison which was absorbed before the emetic acted. Thus, if the man's feet are cold and numbed, put hot stones against them, and wrap them up warmly. If he be drowsy, heavy, and stupid, give brandy and strong coffee, and try to rouse him. There is nothing more to be done, save to avoid doing mischief.

Fleas.--"Italian flea-powder," sold in the East, is really efficacious.

It is the powdered "Pire oti" (or flea-bane), mentioned in Curzon's 'Armenia' as growing in that country; it has since become an important article of export. A correspondent writes to me, "I have often found a light cotton or linen bag a great safeguard against the attacks of fleas.

I used to creep into it, draw the loop tight round my neck, and was thus able to set legions of them at defiance."

Vermin on the Person.--I quote the following extract from Huc's 'Travels in Tartary':--"We had now been travelling for nearly six weeks, and still wore the same clothing we had a.s.sumed on our departure. The incessant p.r.i.c.klings with which we were hara.s.sed, sufficiently indicated that our attire was peopled with the filthy vermin to which the Chinese and Tartars are familiarly accustomed; but which, with Europeans, are objects of horror and disgust. Before quitting Tchagan-Kouren, we had bought in a chemist's shop a few sapeks'-worth of mercury. We now made with it a prompt and specific remedy against the lice. We had formerly got the receipt from some Chinese; and, as it may be useful to others, we think it right to describe it here. You take half an ounce of mercury, which you mix with old tea-leaves previously reduced to paste by mastication.

to render this softer, you generally add saliva; water could not have the same effect. You must afterwards bruise and stir it a while, so that the mercury may be divided into little b.a.l.l.s as fine as dust. (I presume the blue pill is a pretty exact equivalent to this preparation.) You infuse this composition into a string of cotton, loosely twisted, which you hang round the neck; the lice are sure to bite at the bait, and they thereupon as surely swell, become red, and die forthwith. In China and in Tartary you have to renew this salutary necklace once a month."

Blistered Feet.--To prevent the feet from blistering, it is a good plan to soap the inside of the stocking before setting out, making a thick lather all over it. A raw egg broken into a boot, before putting it on, greatly softens the leather: of course the boots should be well greased when hard walking is antic.i.p.ated. After some hours on the road, when the feet are beginning to be chafed, take off the shoes, and change the stockings; Putting what was the right stocking on the left foot, and the left stocking on the right foot. Or, if one foot only hurts, take off the boot and turn the stocking inside out. These were the plans adopted by Captain Barclay. when a blister is formed, "rub the feet, on going to bed, with spirits mixed with tallow dropped from a candle into the palm of the hand; on the following morning no blister will exist. The spirits seem to possess the healing power, the tallow serving only to keep the skin soft and pliant. This is Captain Cochrane's advice, and the remedy was used by him in his pedestrian tour." (Murray's Handbook of Switzerland.') The recipe is an excellent one; pedestrians and teachers of gymnastics all endorse it.

Rarefied Air, effects of.--On high plateaux or mountains new-comers must expect to suffer. The symptoms are described by many South American travellers; the attack of them is there, among other names, called the puna. The disorder is sometimes fatal to stout plethoric people; oddly enough, cats are unable to endure it: at villages 13,000 feet above the sea, Dr. Tschudi says that they cannot live. Numerous trials have been made with these unhappy feline barometers, and the creatures have been found to die in frightful convulsions. The symptoms of the puna are giddiness, dimness of sight and hearing, headache, fainting-fits, blood from mouth, eyes, nose, lips, and a feeling like sea-sickness. Nothing but time cures it. It begins to be felt severely at from 12,000 to 13,000 feet above the sea. M. Hermann Schlagintweit, who has had a great deal of mountain experience in the Alps and in the Himalayas, up to the height of 20,000 feet or more, tells me that he found the headache, etc., come on when there was a breeze, far more than at any other time. His whole party would awake at the same moment, and begin to complain of the symptoms, immediately on the commencement of a breeze. The symptoms of overwork are not wholly unlike those of the puna, and many young travellers who have felt the first, have ascribed them to the second.

Scurvy has attacked travellers even in Australia; and I have myself felt symptoms of it in Africa, when living wholly on meat. Any vegetable diet cures it: lime-juice, treacle, raw potatoes, and acid fruits are especially efficacious. Dr. Kane insists on the value of entirely raw meat as a certain anti-s...o...b..tic: this is generally used by the Esquimaux.

Haemorrhage from a Wound.--When the blood does not pour or trickle in a steady stream from a deep wound, but jets forth in pulses, and is of a bright red colour, all the bandages in the world will not stop it. It is an artery that is wounded; and, unless there be some one accessible, who knows how to take it up and tie it, I suppose that the method of our fore-fathers is the only one that can be used as you would for a snake-bite (see next paragraph); or else to pour boiling grease into the wound. This is, of course, a barbarous treatment, and its success is uncertain, as the cauterised artery may break out afresh; still, life is in question, and it is the only hope of saving it. After the cautery, the wounded limb should be kept perfectly still, well raised, and cool, until the wound is nearly healed. A tourniquet, which will stop the blood for a time, is made by tying a strong thong, string, or handkerchief firmly above the part, putting a stick through, and s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g it tight. If you know whereabouts the artery lies, which is the object to compress, put a stone over the place under the handkerchief. The main arteries follow pretty much the direction of the inner seams of the sleeves and trousers.

Snake-bites.--Tie a string tight above the part, suck the wound, and caustic it as soon as you can. Or, for want of caustic, explode gunpowder in the wound; of else do what Mr. Mansfield Parkyns well suggests, i.e., cut away with a knife, and afterwards burn out with the end of your iron ramrod, heated as near a white heat as you can readily get it. The arteries lie deep, and as much flesh may, without much danger, be cut or burnt into, as the fingers can pinch up. The next step is to use the utmost energy, and even cruelty, to prevent the patient's giving way to that lethargy and drowsiness which is the usual effect of snake-poison, and too often ends in death.

Wasp and Scorpion-stings.--the Oil sc.r.a.ped out of a tobacco-pipe is a good application; should the scorpion be large, his sting must be treated like a snake-bite.

Broken Bones.--It is extremely improbable that a man should die, in consequence of a broken leg or arm, if the skin be uninjured' but, if the broken end forces its way through the flesh, the injury is a very serious one. Abscesses form, the parts mortify, and the severest consequences often follow. Hence, when a man breaks a bone, do not convert a simple injury into a severe one, by carrying him carelessly. If possible, move the encampment to the injured man, and not vice versa. Mr. Druitt says:--"When a man has broken his leg, lay him on the other side, put the broken limb exactly on the sound one, with a little straw between, and tie the two legs together with handkerchiefs. Thus the two legs will move as one, and the broken bone will not hurt the flesh so much, nor yet come through the skin."

Drowning.--A half-drowned man must be put to bed in dry, heated clothes, hot stones, etc., placed against his feet, and his head must be raised moderately. Human warmth is excellent, such as that of two big men made to lie close up against him, one on each side. All rough treatment is not only ridiculous but full of harm; such as the fashion--which still exists in some places--of hanging up the body by the feet, that the swallowed water may drain out of the mouth.

I reprint here the instructions circulated by Dr. Marshall Hall:--

"1. Treat the patient instantly, on the spot, in the open air, exposing the face and chest to the breeze (except in severe weather).

"To Clear the Throat--2. Place the patient gently on the face, with one wrist under the forehead; all fluids and the tongue itself then fall forwards, leaving the entrance into the windpipe free. If there be breathing--wait and watch; if not, or if it fail,--

"To Excite Respiration--3. Turn the patient well and instantly on his side, and--4. Excite the nostrils with snuff, the throat with a feather, etc., dash cold water on the face previously rubbed warm. If there be no success, lose not a moment but instantly--

"To Imitate Respiration--5. Replace the patient on his face, raising and supporting the chest well on a folded coat or other article of dress;--6.

Turn the body very gently on the side and a little beyond, and then briskly on the face, alternately; repeating these measures deliberately, efficiently, and perseveringly fifteen times in the minute, occasionally varying the side; when the patient reposes on the chest, this cavity is compressed by the weight of the body, and expiration takes place; when he is turned on the side, this pressure is removed, and inspiration occurs.

7. when the p.r.o.ne position is resumed, make equable but efficient pressure, with brisk movement, along the back of the chest; removing it immediately before rotation on the side: the first measure augments the expiration, the second commences inspiration. The result is--Respiration;--and, if not too late,--Life.