A rifle, before purchase, should also be carefully tested as to accuracy of shooting; this can be best done on some rifle range. For sporting purposes, accuracy of delivery and power of penetration at moderate distances are much more valuable qualities than length of range. Accuracy of shooting is best ascertained by firing steadily from increasing distances at an ordinary target centre, up to 200yds. A generally useful charge for spherical balls consists of the bullet-mouldful of the very best powder. Use a greased kid patch for the ball; see that it has no defects or faults in it; and never strike it with the driving end of the rod when it has once reached the surface of the powder in the barrel. Send the ball well home with a steady pressure from above, and then withdraw the rod. Should it be found that the balls are sent to the right of the object, in all probability it will be found on examination that either the hind sight is placed too far towards the right, or the fore sight too far in the opposite direction. So with rifles which shoot to the left. If the hind sight has been shifted in its slot, and driven too far to the left of the exact line, or the front sight in a direction towards the right, the balls will be found to assume an untrue flight; and the greater the distance they have to travel, the more marked will the error become. The handle of an old tooth brush, fashioned with a file into the form of an elongated wedge, will, with the aid of a mallet or hammer, serve to drift the slides into their proper position. This, when once found, should be noted by making a small but deep cut with the point of a penknife across both slide and barrel rib, so that if moved the two ends of the cut will not correspond. Gunmakers usually either cut a notch or punch in a piece of platinum, with the same view. Rifles will not unfrequently need re-sighting from accidents in wild countries, but this subject will be treated of at length hereafter. The penetration of rifle balls is best ascertained by firing them at a number of thin elm boards, placed one on the other like a pack of cards. The number of layers or boards penetrated is at once ascertained by taking off the planks one by one until the ball is reached.

We are not unfrequently asked to advise as to the quantity of ammunition a single sportsman should take abroad in order to enjoy a fair amount of shooting. The duration of the proposed excursion, nature of game about to be followed, and the proclivities of the intending traveller, will all influence the bulk of the store he should provide himself with. Still, a hint or two may at any rate serve for a basis for him to regulate his purchases by. Supposing, then, that a No. 12 or 11 muzzle-loader, an 11 or 12 bore muzzle-loading rifle, and either a brace of double pistols or a revolver, are taken; 4lb. of best sporting powder, 2lb. of rifle ditto, 2000 best caps for guns, which should have nipples alike, and 250 pistol caps; two 28lb. bags of No. 6 shot, one bag No. 4, and one bag BB. Have sail-canvas bags made to go outside the ordinary shot bags, as these are sure to burst with rough travelling. Take six bags of ordinary mercurial gun wads, and six of extra thick felt ditto as powder wads. These can be split in two if you run short. Wads of this kind are invaluable, as they keep the gun clean, improve its power of shooting considerably, and are less liable to rise in the barrel than those of thin material. Get a stout elm box made; have it lined with sheet lead; have a division of stout plank made in the middle, so that the shot may rest at one end and the powder, wads, and caps at the other. Pack in every crevice with tow, as that will come handy for cleaning purposes, solder down your lead cover, and then screw on your elm box-lid. A stout pair of elm cleets or bars should be secured to both bottom and top of the box. They not only strengthen it, but prevent the planking from coming in contact with the earth or wet decks. They also serve to prevent ropes used in slinging or fastening the case in its various haulings up and lowerings down from slipping. Cleets of this kind are useful appendages to all wooden boxes used by travellers.

The most efficient and powerful pistol we have used is the holster revolver of Colonel Colt, but its weight (4lb. 2oz.) is far too great to admit of its being generally carried except on horseback. There are not so many objections to the use of breech-loading revolvers and pistols as there are to guns and rifles made on that plan. In the first place, they are less liable to breakage or derangement; and in the next, from the very limited number of cartridges which would be actually fired, a sufficient number may be very easily taken to last through a long campaign or expedition. It is an immense advantage being able to instantly load or unload the chamber without discharging it. It is customary with many travellers, ourselves amongst the number, to fire the revolver off every Saturday to clean, re-load, and re-cap them, thereby sacrificing six charges, six caps, and some little labour. Notwithstanding all the ingenuity which has of late been devoted to the production of breech-loading revolvers, we have not seen one which we can recommend without reservation—the great fault in every case being smallness of bore. Long range is, as a rule, not required in a pistol, but that which is required is the power of inflicting a severe shock to the system at comparatively close quarters. Numerous cases might be cited when, after lodging two or even three of the tiny pellets fired from small revolvers in the body of an enemy, the enemy has had decidedly the best of it, and coolly finished off the owner of the mechanical popgun with some old-world weapon of greater power. Until a large-bored and handy breech-loading revolver is produced, we recommend for use on horseback, either double-barelled smooth-bore Lefaucheux-pattern pistols with 7½in. barrels and 14 bore, or muzzle-loaders of the same size and gauge, with bar side locks and swivel ramrods. The over and under double pistol is an excellent weapon, and is carried by many soldiers and travellers of great experience; but for our part, we prefer the barrels mounted side by side, precisely as they are in a double gun. To carry in the belt for use on foot, the Tranter breech-loader is perhaps as good as any, although as a rule the trigger pull is too heavy; but this is an evil which admits of correction.

Take three Sykes powder-flasks, one to hold a pound and the others of medium size; have them of tinned copper stitched over with saddle pig-skin. We prefer for carrying shot a double shot-belt with patent side springs to any of the lever cut-off contrivances; it is a very old-fashioned plan we know, but a very effective and useful one for all that. Two sizes of shot can be carried in it; it can be worn much more comfortably than a pouch, which is always getting in the way, and there is no loss of shot from chance blows on the lever: a still greater advantage lays in your being able to see that which goes into your gun. If only one size shot can be taken, select No. 6 for general use; but No. 8, No. 4, and Bristol B. should be added if practicable. Gunpowder of excellent quality is now to be obtained of all the first-class makers. For percussion caps, thick felt gun-wads, and ordinary mercurial ditto, go to either Joyce or Ely. The wire cartridges of the latter maker are invaluable if they can be carried: we have done wonders with them. When having your shooting gear put in order, have two well-seasoned deal rods made, so that they may fit tightly into the barrels of the gun when covered with two layers of flannel, which must be firmly stitched on; the sticks are cut exactly the length of the barrels, and connected at the muzzle ends by a short piece of strong tape; this serves to draw them out by. Before placing the sticks in the barrels for final packing up, rub them over with mercurial ointment, as should be done to both the outsides of the barrels and the gun furniture; there is little fear of rust attacking your firearms when treated in this way.

A brass mould for casting buck shot will be found very useful. One we have found of infinite service is thus made: Two long narrow cheeks of brass are fitted at one end with a hinge, each cheek has the halves of fifteen shot sockets at each edge, making, when the two halves are closed, thirty perfect spherical moulds for shot. A groove and row of inlets run along each edge, and two movable steel plates cut off the necks of the shot when cool. There are two handles, and the whole affair is not unlike a long narrow pair of nutcrackers. The shot thus cast are about the size of garden peas, and an ounce of them, with 3½drs. of powder behind it from a No. 11 gun, forms a charge which will be found most formidable if used at moderately close quarters. When defending a camp or waggon fort against the attacks of savages nothing is equal to it.

Stationery and Artist’s Materials.

It is to be supposed that most persons visiting little-known regions will at least keep a diary for private gratification, if not for public use; and now that drawing from nature is so essential a branch of education, they will most likely also wish to sketch such objects or scenes as may be most interesting. Some who aspire to more exactitude of detail than an artist can hope for in a hasty sketch may wish to practise photography; and in this beautiful art the greatest possible facilities are offered to those who practise it. We have lately seen in London many most beautiful pictures taken by Dr. Kirk on the Zambesi with a small and inexpensive camera, carried as a mere supplement to his private equipment; but unless the traveller possesses, as Kirk did, chemical knowledge enough to enable him to contend successfully against the various contingencies of changing climate, impurity or scarcity of water, and innumerable other new and unexpected difficulties, we are inclined to think that the pencil, guided with what artistic skill the individual may be able to command, will afford, if not the best, at least the most certainly available results; and, without undervaluing photography, we may in this preliminary chapter notice principally the appliances which will enable a man to keep his journal and illustrate it with sketches of interesting scenes or objects.

First, then, as to the journal. Of course, for purposes of correspondence, a traveller will take care to supply himself with some one of the substantial and economical portable desks in which pens, ink, note-paper, and envelopes are always at hand to enable him to write a creditable letter from almost any part of the world. But the journal or diary is another matter; its value consists chiefly in its being what its name indicates—a diary or diurnal record. It must be written while the events described are fresh on the memory, or there is neither life nor spirit in it. If the journal of to-day is put off, the events of to-morrow will confuse and dim the impressions that ought in all their pristine vigour to have been committed to paper; procrastination is the thief of time, and we may well say that it will rob the journal of the traveller of all that freshness and vivacity which alone can make it interesting.

The question, then, is, how shall he carry with him material so that each night, by the blazing camp-fire, the scantily-fed oil lamp, or the last half hour of the quickly waning twilight, he may record his impressions of the events of the day? We will suppose that the chase has occupied him; or he has been engaged, as we have, in desultory warfare in Kaffirland or India; or even, it may be, passing through a peaceful country, with no other than the common difficulties of exploration and objects of interest in botany, zoology, or any of the innumerable departments of science crowding on him at every hour. He will, perhaps, wish to send home one or more copies of his diary as correspondence, and it is absolutely necessary that he himself should retain a perfect copy. Ink he cannot at all times carry, nor could he use it, for the drying up of the fluid, the clogging and corroding of his pens, would be insuperable difficulties; and, beside this, as his time is not sufficient for him to write in detail, even for the first time, all that he wishes, how shall he obtain a copy? In answer we will simply state the plan we have successfully adopted. Pen and ink we discarded altogether, and trusted simply to the powers of a good HH. pencil and a supply of thin white foolscap interleaved with semi-carbonic paper, as shown in the illustration here given. By this arrangement we were able at any time to record all needful remarks or observations in duplicate, and could have extended this if necessary to five copies, while all the labour of re-writing was saved and all chance of error obviated by this simple process.

With regard to artist’s materials, until we have an opportunity of going farther into detail, perhaps all that need be said is that the traveller, knowing his own capabilities and requirements, should supply himself with material from some respectable colourman—Reeves, Winsor and Newton, or others—with such materials as he requires. To one who has real facility in sketching, the black-lead pencil and a few quires of sketching cartridge paper will be the means of affording illustrations which, compared with the simple means employed, may be accounted marvellous; but if he has skill in colouring and will add to this a water-colour box, with tubes, or moist colours in porcelain pans, in assortments (always kept by the best colourmen), with a few sable or other pencils, and brushes of the best quality (for there is really no saving in buying cheap goods), he may obtain results that will in after years more than repay the cost and labour he has expended upon them.

Details of our own outfit and expenditure will hereafter be given; and we may now briefly mention that, for pure and careful painting, white paper—say Whatman’s—is indispensable; but where strict accuracy of tint is not essential, it is very soothing to the eye, especially under the fervid rays of an almost vertical sun, to have the paper slightly tinted with pearl, warm grey, light drab, or neutral colours, which, if well chosen, will enable the artist to make very effective drawings in sepia, or colours heightened with Chinese white.

For persons wishing to employ their leisure in pleasing mementoes of the scenes they visit, perhaps the following brief list—amplified, should they desire it—will afford sufficient guidance; and they will also do well to choose one or more of the shilling handbooks published by Rowney and Co., or Winsor and Newton.

A sketching portfolio, with folding tin frame to confine the paper while in use, and pocket for spare paper—quarto size. Do not take sketching blocks where they have to stand rough usage.

One of folio size, if desired.

A good strong havresac of canvas, with leather slings for each folio. Stout canvas is almost waterproof. This should have pockets for colour box, water bottle, pencils, and penknife.

Half quire Whatman’s drawing paper (white). Some of it should be cut to the size of the folio.

Half quire sketching cartridge for less finished work.

Half quire tinted drawing paper (pearl, light drab, cool and warm greys).

A proportion of all these papers should be cut to the size of the sketch book when purchased; but a few sheets should be kept whole, as a larger drawing may be required.

Two dozen drawing pencils—8 HH., 12 H., and 4 HB. In practice, it will be found HB. is black enough, and it should be used sparingly, as, unless a drawing is fixed immediately, the deep shades are very apt to smear when the backs of other sketches are packed against them.

Two single bladed penknives.

Very compact sketching boxes with assorted colours in cakes, in porcelain pans, or in collapsible tubes, are provided; and the amateur can hardly do better than select one of these with any number of colours from two to twenty-four.

We prefer to use the collapsible tubes, as from them any amount of colour may be placed upon the palette ready for use, without the trouble of grinding from the cake or washing up from the moist pan. Another advantage is that the colour remaining in the tube cannot be spoiled by the admixture of any other—the tubes might be carried loose in the pocket of a white waistcoat without fear of spoiling it. There are, however, a few which do not keep well, as, from their weight, they separate from the medium they are mixed with and become hard. Some of these are seldom used; but, where they are necessary, we should advise that they be taken in cakes.

On tinted paper very nice effective sketches may be made with one tube of sepia and a cake of Chinese white. With these we should advise three brown sable pencils in flat German silver ferrules—Nos. 1, 3, and 6. With the addition to these of the three primitive colours—red, blue, and yellow—a considerable range of subjects may be painted; indeed could we obtain these in perfect purity, we should require no other. But, as this is impossible, we subjoin a list of colours, placing first in order those that we have found most useful (Chinese white and sepia have been already mentioned):—

• Indian yellow,
• Carmine,
• French blue,
• Yellow ochre,
• Light red,
• Prussian blue,
• Gamboge,
• Rose madder (perhaps in cake),
• Cobalt,
• Raw sienna (cake),
• urnt sienna,
• Indigo,
• Yellow lake,
• Mars orange,
• Payne’s grey,
• Vermilion (cake),
• Vandyke brown,
• Emerald green,
• Scarlet lake (cake),
• Crimson lake,
• Purple lake,
• Cadmium yellow (cake),
• Brown madder (cake),
• Purple madder (cake).

With these, the whole set from 1 to 6 of the sables in flat albata will be needed, and we advise two each of 1, 2, and 3, as well as one or two large swans’ quills for washing in the sky or flat tints. A tripod sketching stool folding to the size of a special’s staff would be useful, but the rivet should be strong and well clinched. Let the watercolour box have divisions on the edge of the palette for every colour it contains. If you take an easel, do not trust an india-rubber collar joint; it will not stand tropical heat; let the joint be brass. The tripod easel, folding up like a single rod, is most portable. We have in this said nothing of oil colours; amateurs will hardly need them in a wild country; but when we treat more at length on this subject our own equipment will be given.

Scientific Instruments.

If the traveller aims at exploring and approximately mapping the country he passes through, astronomical instruments are indispensable, and of these none are more useful than the compass; the sextant, with artificial horizon; the note book, conveniently ruled, for recording observations; and the protractor, the scale, and the dividers, for laying them down upon the map. If merely a pleasure excursion in a sufficiently known country is contemplated, a pocket compass will be all that is needed; and even that is dispensed with by hunters and traders, who push farther every year into the wilderness without fear of either mistaking their way or being unable to return upon their own tracks.

A great amount of detail may be filled in with the following simple outfit:—A pocket compass, not only showing the points as in common use, but graduated on the outer circle with degrees, reading uninterruptedly from zero all round to 360: this will give the direction of the road, the bearings of any two objects, and the angle between them. A waistcoat-pocket ivory 6in. folding rule: this will serve the purpose both of scale and protractor; the eighths of an inch may be conveniently taken to represent miles, and by laying the rule upon the compass, so that its joint coincides with the centre on which the needle turns, and opening the legs to the degrees marked upon the circumference, the required angle may be approximately transferred to the note book. For observing latitudes a sextant is indispensable. If great accuracy is not required, a pocket or box sextant of from three to four inches diameter, and reading to half miles, will answer; but for more precision one of at least 8in. radius should be taken, framed entirely of metal, as wood will shrink and warp; it should read to 15 or even to 10 seconds, or sixtieths of a mile. There are many forms of artificial horizon, but of these the mercurial is the best, and, in fact, the only one we can confidently recommend. The trough should not be less than five inches long by three broad, and we prefer an oval form, with a convenient spout for pouring off the quicksilver when done with. A glass roof is used to protect the surface of the mercury, should there be any wind, and this may be made to fold into a very small compass, if desired. Six, or at least four, pounds of mercury should be provided; and this should be kept in an iron bottle, with screwed stopper and cover, serving as a funnel, which should be further protected by a piece of washleather tied over it. We have used as a substitute a common stoneware ink bottle, with leather securely tied over the cork, but wooden bottles are sure to split and leak when taken to hot countries.

With this equipment, a superior compass, for the more accurate determination of bearings, will be required. A prismatic compass is very useful, but we have used, with great convenience and accuracy, a flat one with a card of three inches diameter, divested of everything but the slit and hair line sights, which are used just as those of a rifle are, and protected only by a stout glass, which saved the trouble of removing and replacing the cover. A small pouch on the waist belt was appropriated exclusively to this. The note book may be of good non-metallic writing-paper, such as is in common use. This may be written on very conveniently with a H. or HH. drawing pencil, which is practically indelible. It would be convenient to have lines ruled along the side of the page for the courses and time or estimated distance; £. s. d. columns will do very well for this. For mapping, paper may be purchased ruled with squares of almost any desired size; the inches are marked with strong lines, and the subdivisions, eights or tenths, with fainter. This should be cut to fit one of the quarto sketching folios, with folding frame to confine the sheet in use, and pocket for spare paper as commonly used by artists. The instruments absolutely necessary for plotting the result are a semicircular, or, still better, a circular protractor, marked like the compass with degrees from 0 to 360, and made of brass, or preferably of some transparent material. A 6in. scale, with the usual divisions, and a good pair of compasses or dividers, with points as fine as possible, but somewhat obtuse, to prevent the possibility of their piercing the paper and breaking off in it. For heights of mountains, the simplest and most reliable instrument is the hypsometrical or boiling-point apparatus, which, though not so accurate as the mountain barometer, is sufficiently so for ordinary purposes, and has this great merit—it cannot easily be put out of order. The rainfall, should the country be blessed with any, may be measured by a Casella rain gauge, which we have also used very successfully on a pinch as a funnel for drawing off rum from a barrel. Thermometers reading up to boiling point ought to be carried, and in addition to these the traveller may provide himself with a self-registering maximum and minimum, and a wet and dry bulb thermometer.

One of the greatest difficulties that an observer working on shore with the artificial horizon can meet with is—that the actual angle to be observed is doubled by reflection in the quicksilver. Few sextants read higher than 120° or 130°, consequently, when the sun is 70° high, it is beyond the reach of ordinary instruments. To meet this, Captain C. George, R.N., of the Royal Geographical Society, has invented a very beautiful little instrument, in the form of a double box sextant, and the object of which is either to take two angles at one observation, by referring two distant objects to a common centre, and completing at once a perfect triangle, or, by the increased power of the instrument, to take any required angle that may be too great for those in ordinary use. The instrument is best described as being a special arrangement of two sextants placed one over the other. Each sextant is complete in all its essential details, and, if so required, can be detached and separately used.

The “Improved Double Sextant” is capable of being applied to the following uses:—

A pocket compass is now made in which the northern half is black with white points, and the southern white with black points; the advantage of which by night or twilight is obvious. We prefer that the card should travel with the magnet, as all the points then come naturally into position, and the excessive liveliness of the needle which renders a rapid observation so difficult is obviated. We have carried a pocket compass with a swivel ring, so that it could be worn on the left thumb, while we held the note book and kept the right hand free for writing or guiding the horse. It is easier to make pencil notes on horseback than in a waggon. For the proper registration of the time and distance travelled, a good well-going hunting watch is necessary; and if it has a black dial and white figures so much the better. This will serve sufficiently well for taking time in the observation of lunar distances. Unless under very exceptional circumstances it would be useless for an explorer to trouble himself with a chronometer. A good binocular field glass for day and night will be found useful.

We give a sketch of a very convenient arrangement made for us by Mr. Casella, in which the roof of the artificial horizon, slung with its point downward in a leather case, with pieces of tin let in to protect the glass from injury, was filled up with a block of light cedar, with hollows cut in it for the reception of the pocket sextant, iron-stoppered bottle of mercury and funnel cap, prismatic compass, note book with tables of declination cut from Hannay and Dietrichsen’s Almanac pasted in it, pencil, skin of chamois leather, and over all the horizon trough. Lieutenant Skead, R.N., who accompanied the expedition to the Zambesi, frequently used it, and called it “a portable observatory.” If the traveller intends to be long absent, he should supply himself with the Nautical Almanac for three years in advance, as well as with Norie’s or Raper’s Epitome, or Kerigan’s Navigation. In addition to the instruments we have described, triangular compasses are very useful for taking the exact relative position of three points, and sliding beam compasses for long distances. Proportional compasses are also very useful in plotting the result of observations; we were accustomed to pin down half a dozen sheets over each other on the drawing board, and with a fine needle point prick the course through the whole of them; then by underlaying them with semi-carbonic paper, and writing the names on the upper sheet with a HHH. pencil, three or even more copies at a time might be obtained, the number, of course, depending much on the thinness of the paper we worked on. use of carbonic paper(See accompanying illustration.) Measurement of distances. Bear in mind that what an explorer wants is the means of approximately laying down his course and distance travelled, and his latitude precisely; the sextant and artificial horizon will do the last within a mile. The compass will give the course very nearly if he walks or rides; no instrument can be perfectly depended on. A pedometer will do for short distances, but when he becomes weary it counts his feeble steps just as it did his vigorous strides at the beginning, and thus shows more than the truth. If wheel carriages can be used, take a trochiameter, and contrive if possible to have the wheel on which it is fixed exactly five yards in circumference; it saves no end of trouble if there are no odd half inches to calculate. For mapping, do not take a case of instruments unless they are really good; have rather a few good ones wrapped in a chamois skin, a small ivory rule on which the eighths of an inch serve for miles, a pair of good dividing compasses, a good circular protractor transparent marked, from 0 to 360, a small parallel rule, HHH. pencils, a cake of blue for rivers, and carmine for roads, with a couple of sable pencils and a fine incorrodible metallic pen, will enable you to make a very complete and reliable map.

In the map room of the Royal Geographical Society a small selection of practical works is kept, a list of which, by the courtesy of Captain C. George, we are enabled to insert here. It is as follows:—

The Traveller’s Library.

Astronomy.

Navigation.

Mathematics, Trigonometry, and Spherics.

For Travellers.

Geodesy and Surveying, Military, Nautical, and Land Surveying.

Weights and Measures.

Construction of Maps.

Projection of the Sphere.

Use of Instruments.

Geography.

In addition to these, every one ought to possess the Admiralty Manual of Scientific Enquiry, which is a series of papers written for the direction of explorers by men of the highest standing in various sciences; and no better general work can be recommended.

Horse Equipment.

A good roomy hunting saddle, turned out as only an experienced English maker can, or, at any rate, so far as our experience has gone, ever does, we look on as the very perfection of that on which a horseman should sit; and we strongly advise every one leaving England for any country in which he has to ride, to provide himself with at least one. The various saddles used abroad will be described farther on. It will be requisite to have a number of “Ds” fastened on in the most convenient situations for attaching by straps the various matters which it is at times requisite to carry. Two soft leather holsters should be fitted to the front, and a wallet (see engraving), made to rest behind the off saddle flap and thigh of the rider, suspended by straps from Ds sewn firmly on for that purpose. At the rear of the saddle should also be attached a double row of Ds for the purpose of securing a sort of leather cover or envelope (see engraving), within which, when on the march, the head and heel ropes, with their pins, are secured. The mode of using these, as well as “knee halters,” &c., will be described when treating on that subject. Two “numdahs,” or saddle cloths, should accompany the saddle. The best we have seen of late are composed of a thick species of felt; but, during the most rapid and fatiguing forced marches through Central India, at the time of the mutiny, we used two of quilted cotton of native manufacture, which were put on alternately, one getting dry whilst the other was becoming saturated with perspiration from the horse, and so, by a constant change of these, avoiding one of the worst misfortunes that can befall the horse of the traveller through a wild country, viz., “a sore back.” The skin of the klip springer, prepared with the hair on, forms an admirable numdah. Saddles are greatly protected during rough travel, and their durability much increased, by having cases made for them of soft “russet” leather, or that which is infinitely better, when it can be obtained, “saumber skin.” We have had covers for all our saddles made of it, to protect the pig skin from the tremendous thorns of tropical forests, as well as the numerous other sources of injury to which saddles are liable. The stirrup-iron should be of large size, so as to admit of the free passage in and out of a thick boot with some mud or clay about it. Two or three pairs of substantial hunting spurs, with wide straps, will be found the most reliable kind of “persuader.” Bridle. The most useful bridle we ever had was of the “shifting bead collar pattern,” so constructed that, by unbuckling a pair of side straps, both bits, with the reins attached, came off, leaving a strong head collar, with a chin strap, on which was an iron ring for a coil of rope to be suspended from, as shown in the illustration on page 37. Numerous opinions exist touching “bits,” and much diversity of opinion must remain after all the arguments which have from time to time been expended on the subject; as the temperaments of horses and men vary, and as the peculiar purposes to which the horse, in the number of phases or conditions in which he is called on to minister to the wants and pleasures of his master, are changed, so will some modification of the means used for his control and direction be required. Pall-mall is one place and the forest another; and it by no means follows, because the equipment one has used with English hunters in an English hunting-field has been found all that could be desired, that native bred or colonial horses, ridden in pursuit of game, require no other. We do not think it would be profitable to the reader to enter here on a description of the bits used by various nations and tribes. We advise as nearly as possible adhering in this, as well as in many other customs, to the mode adopted by the particular race or nation amongst whom the traveller may chance to sojourn. Still, we recommend him to take out from England (besides the bit fitted on the head collar bridle, which may be a plain strong snaffle) two “segundras” of medium power. Have no more buckles in either heads or reins than are absolutely needed. Nothing tends to weaken a bridle so much, during the exposure consequent on an outdoor life, as the rusting out of buckles and the breaking or pulling through of their tongues—both sources of endless trouble and annoyance.

For simple and efficient equipment both for pack and saddle horses we do not know a better model than that adopted by Augustus C. Gregory, Commander of the North Australian Expedition, and now Gold Medallist of the Royal Geographical Society, with whom we had the honour of serving from 1855 to 1857. The pack saddles, elaborately constructed in England, which we took out to him were at once condemned for two reasons; first, that they were unnecessarily heavy, and next that the points of suspension for the load were so high that the least swaying of the saddle would severely wring the horse’s back. The large flaps were saved as a reserve of useful leather for emergencies, and the thick felt saddle cloths were gladly appropriated to their proper use; but the complicated arrangement of wood and iron, combining the undesirable qualities of weakness, weight, and inconvenience, was left in store to await the sale of surplus equipment on our return.

A pair of pads, sufficiently large to prevent not only the saddle but also the packs chafing the horse, were attached to the boards by thongs passing through holes bored in either end, so that upon occasion we could easily remove them to re-arrange the stuffing, and tie them again in their places. One of the thick felted saddle cloths before mentioned was invaluable as an additional protection. The form of the bags will also be readily understood by a glance at the frontispiece. They were of stout canvas, as wide as one breadth of the material, and the ends were formed by a pear-shaped piece let in, and strongly roped round the seams; the loops at the upper part were bound with leather, and iron cringles or grummets were let in, by which to hang them on the hooks. No other fastening was used, so that if a horse fell in the rugged mountain paths, or in fording a rough and swollen torrent, it was an advantage to him to shake off his bags at once, while we were generally able to fish them up again before even such perishable stores as sugar could be reached by water, through the pack and double bags of canvas in which we kept them. Nothing whatever was allowed to be fastened to the bows above the suspension hooks; indeed there was a general order that the horse should carry nothing that was not contained in the side bags. The smaller bags for flour, sugar, and other stores, were also the length of one breadth of canvas. One end was formed by a circular piece of canvas about eight inches in diameter, and the other was left to be closed when they were filled. The inner bag was of plain canvas, and this was covered by another that had been well saturated with boiled linseed oil; these held about fifty pounds of flour, &c., and in each flour bag two ½lb. tins of gunpowder were kept perfectly secure from fire or water; we generally ate the flour as fast as we wanted the powder. Each pair of side bags was numbered, and carefully balanced one against the other, the stowage of each being from seventy to seventy-five pounds, so that the total load of the horse should not much exceed 160lb.

It may be mentioned that we found the spring bar a very convenient arrangement, and only once we lost a stirrup leather when a rider had dismounted to allow his horse to descend more easily a difficult hill; but for such contingencies spare stirrups, &c., had been provided by the commander. Two Ds on either side supported such saddle pouches as were required; we preferred the nearly square form shown in the sketch of saddle on page 36, as being more roomy, containing in one the quarto sketch book actually in use, and in the other, a store of paper, &c., for further supply. Small loops, the attachment of which is just indicated on the inside of one of these bags, led forward for the girth to pass through and keep the pouches from flapping.

Some of us carried a valise, such as is separately represented, and others would make a roll of spare clothing; but it was imperative on all that nothing whatever should be allowed to rest on the horse’s spine, but should be padded or otherwise arranged so as to pass clear over it. The hobbles were formed of a band of stout leather, double the required width, turned up and stitched so as to form a flat edge and a round one. In use, the sewn edge was always uppermost, so that the fetlock might not be chafed. They were connected by a short chain, having a swivel in the centre, and a double hook at each end, the hooks having holes pierced in their extremities for the reception of thongs, by which one end of each hobble was moused or secured from falling off. The hobbles were carried on the off side of the saddle, behind the pouches; and were not unfrequently balanced by the pannikin and tin quart, so essential to an Australian, that Henry, our commander’s brother, declared his conviction that no one could become a successful traveller till he reduced his equipment to a clasp knife and a quart pot. Bells were hung to the headstalls of the horses most apt to stray, but thongs were fastened to the clappers, that they might be tied up during the day’s march.

Our personal equipment consisted of a brown leather waist-belt, with snake fastening, carrying a small ammunition pouch, a revolver, and a compass; the naturalist, geologist, botanist, or artist adding to this such instruments as they required. Some few of us favoured braces, but with the majority they were at a discount. A cabbage-tree hat, or one of soft felt, a striped cotton shirt for fine weather, serge for wet, moleskin trowsers, light woollen socks, and ankle boots, completing our general costume.

Some hundred fathoms of small rope formed an essential portion of our equipment, the use of which will be best understood on reference to the frontispiece (which illustrates an expedient strictly within the range of actual travel, and is here introduced chiefly to show the form of pack-saddle bag which we found convenient, and can, therefore, recommend to intending explorers). This shift will hereafter be more fully described when we have to treat of those which must be improvised by every traveller on such emergencies.