[Illustration: FIG. 32. SEED-VESSEL OF HAKEA LEUCOPTERA.]
Take a nail-can, keg, cask, or any other vessel, or even an ordinary wooden case (well tarred inside, if possible, to make it water-tight). Make a hole or several holes in the bottom, and set it over a tank or bucket. Into the bottom of the filter put (1) a few inches of washed broken stone; (2) about four inches of charcoal; (3) say three inches of clean coarse sand (if not to hand you can manufacture it by crushing quartz with your pestle and mortar), and (4) alternate layers of charcoal and sand until the vessel is half filled. Fill the top half with water, and renew from time to time, and you have a filter which is as effective as the best London made article. _But it is better to boil your water whether you filter afterwards or not._
Clear the inside of the water-cask frequently, and occasionally add to the water a little Condy’s fluid, as it destroys organic matter. A useful cement for stopping leaky places in casks is made as follows; Tallow 25 parts, lard 40 parts, sifted wood ash 25 parts. Mix together by heating, and apply with a knife blade which has just been heated.
[Illustration: FIG. 33. CANVAS WATER BAG.]
Are easily made, and are very handy for carrying small supplies of drinking-water when prospecting in a dry country; they having the advantage of keeping the water cool in the hottest weather, by reason of the evaporation. The mouthpiece is made of the neck of a bottle securely sewn in (Fig. 33).
Medicine is also a matter well worthy of thought. The author’s worst enemy would not call him a mollycoddle, yet he has never travelled in far wilds without carrying something in the way of medicine. First, then, on this subject, it cannot be too often reiterated that if common Epsom salts were a guinea an ounce instead of a penny the medicine would be valued accordingly, but it is somewhat bulky. What I specially recommend, however, is a small pocket-case of the more commonly known homoeopathic remedies, “Mother tinctures,” or first dilutions, which are small, light, and portable, with a small simple book of instructions. Though generally an allopath in practice, I once saved my own life, and have certainly helped others by a little knowledge in diagnosing complaints and having simple homoeopathic remedies at hand to be used in the first stages of what might otherwise have been serious illnesses.