a temperature of not less than 96
degrees in its inward parts.

Mattresses and their Substitutes.--A Strip of Macintosh.--If a traveller
can do so, he should make a point of having a strip of macintosh sheeting
7 feet by 4, certainly not less than 6 feet by 3, to lay on the ground
below his bedding. Every white servant in the expedition ought to be
furnished with a strip of macintosh sheeting, or, failing that, with a
strip of painted canvas. However, painted cloth is much inferior to
macintosh, as it will not fold up without cracking: it also tears easily,
and is heavy. Macintosh, of the sort that suits all climates, and made of
linen, not of silk, is invaluable to an explorer, whether in the form of
sheeting, coats, water-bags. swimming belts, or inflatable boats. A
little box full of the composition for mending it, and a spare bit of
macintosh, should always be taken.

Mattress.--Making a mattress is indeed a very simple affair. A bag of
canvas, or other cloth, is made of the size wanted. It is then stuffed
full of hair, wool, dry leaves, or cotton, and a strong stitch is put
through it every few inches. The use of the stitching is to prevent the
stuffing from being displaced, and forming lumps in different parts of
the bag.

Palliasse.--Straw, well knitted or plaited together, forms a good
mattress, commonly called a palliasse.

Shavings of Wood.--Eight pounds' weight of shavings make an excellent
bed, and I find I can cut them with a common spokeshave, in 3 1/2 hours,
out of a log of deal. It is practicable to make an efficient spokeshave,
by tying a large clasp-knife on a common stick which has been cut into a
proper shape to receive it.

Oakum.--Old cord, picked into oakum, will also make a bed.

Various Makeshifts.--If a traveller, as is very commonly the case, should
have no mattress, he should strew his sleeping-place with dry grass,
plucked up from the ground, or with other things warm to the touch,
imitating the structure of a bird's-nest as far as he has skill and
materials to do so. Leaves, fern, feathers, heather, rushes, flags of
reeds and of maize, wood-shavings, bundles of faggots, and such like
materials as chance may afford, should be looked for and appropriated; a
pile of stones, or even two trunks of trees rolled close together, may
make a dry bedstead in a marshy land. Over these, let him lay whatever
empty bags, skins, saddle-cloths, or spare clothes he may have, which
from their shape or