I am reading the book THE COUNTRY OF THE DWARFS; by Paul Du Chaillu.

He mentions he had enough photography equipment and chemicals for 10,000 photos. The transportation of this alone require 24 men!

And to imagine today I can have oen small pocket camera, with a 64GB SD card, and can have double that number of photos, and require nothing more than to put the camera in my pocket!

He also had the following equipment forhis safari:

72 pairs of boots
24 pairs of shoes
12 pairs of linen slippers
12 dozen pairs of slippers
6 dozen pantaloons
7 dozen handkerchiefs
100 pounds of soap
75 bottles of quinine
10 gallons of castor oil
50 pounds of Epsom salts
2 quarts of landanum
100 pounds of arsenic
12 muzzle loaders

Oh, and he is going on a 5 year safari

Six dozen pantaloons does sound a bit excessive.

OOOO My... 10 Gallons of castor oil!!!!!

And two quarts of laudanum? I would have hated like hell to get sick on that safari.

What do you reckon the arsenic is for?

These historical lists of supplies are always very interesting. As if it wasn't tough enough to do what some of these old timers did, the era itself made it 10x worse with the sheer volume of necessarily heavy and bulky crap they had to lug around with them.

As another example, I am always amazed that Sir Ernest Shackleton had a photographer on board The Endurance. What's more, after they lost the ship and had to walk back to open water...and had to row to Elephant Island...and had to wait for ol' Ernest to paddle his way back to South Georgia for help....THEY STILL KEPT THE CAMERA AND UNDEVELOPED PLATES WITH THEM! Simply astounding.

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As another example, I am always amazed that Sir Ernest Shackleton had a photographer on board The Endurance. What's more, after they lost the ship and had to walk back to open water...and had to row to Elephant Island...and had to wait for ol' Ernest to paddle his way back to South Georgia for help....THEY STILL KEPT THE CAMERA AND UNDEVELOPED PLATES WITH THEM! Simply astounding.

Hear Hear!! Shackleton's feat was unbelievable, and the fact no one died is practically miraculous.

they used arsenic for field tanning birds and small mammals

I thought they used Alum for this. One learns new stuff all the time.

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Originally posted by ravenr:
they used arsenic for field tanning birds and small mammals

quote:

Originally posted by ravenr:
they used arsenic for field tanning birds and small mammals

and most everything else. A lot of the very old rhino mounts in museums, were steeped in pure arsenic as a preservative. Those that have been stolen and flogged off to the East, should result in some folk questioning the curative qualities of rhino horn.

When I first got involved in African hunting (32 years ago), the guy who made it all possible never used to salt any of his skins at all.

Instead, when he went on safari, he'd just take an old pop bottle that he kept full of a liquid that he always referred to as his magic muti.

He'd dilute about a cupful of this stuff in a gallon of water and we'd just swab the wet side of each skin in this stuff, hang up to dry in the shade and after 24 hours would fold and pack the almost dry skins for later delivery to the taxidermist and the only precautions we used to take was to wear rubber kitchen gloves whilst haldling this liquid. We used it on everything from cat skins to antelope to buff skins and as far as I can recall, we never had a single case of hair slip or any other problem.

Years later, after he died, I had some of this magic muti analysed and (if I remember correctly) it turned out to be a mixture of sodium arsenate and sodium arsenite.

We'd never consider using such a thing nowadays but those skins, once dried could and often would be put away for several years and could be tanned to a beautiful soft finish years later.

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Originally posted by Brice:
And two quarts of laudanum? I would have hated like hell to get sick on that safari.

Hell, a lot of folks would have WANTED to get sick!

Thanks for the insight into the arsenic.

In the 18th and 19th centuries arsenic was used as a treatment for syphillis, a 5 year safari is a long time.

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arsenic was used as a treatment for syphillis,

Could someone please pass this information on to Bob.
He has it bad, tell him he needs to triple the dosage for the rest of his natural life

quote:

Originally posted by African Hunters Quest:

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arsenic was used as a treatment for syphillis,

Could someone please pass this information on to Bob.
He has it bad, tell him he needs to triple the dosage for the rest of his natural life

F#@KEN YEAH MAN! Help the old prick out! Even those with "syph brains!" The bubbly is chilled and waiting.

Well, our friend had so many presents to give.

Here is a list of those he gave to one chief.

6 pieces of different colour silks
100 pieces of calico prints
6 silver spoons, knives and forks
1 silver goblet
1 maginificent red, blue and yellow silk umbrella
1 common brass kettle
100 iron bars, 6 feet long 11 wide
50 large copper plates, 24 inches in diameter
50 small brass kettles
50 iron pots
50 guns
50 kegs of powder
25 wash basins
12 dozen plates
6 dozen glasses
300 pounds of beads, different colour
50 pine chests
200 pairs of earrings for his wives
Severalchests containing trinkets, mirrors,files,forksand knives

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
Well, our friend had so many presents to give.

Here is a list of those he gave to one chief.

6 pieces of different colour silks
100 pieces of calico prints
6 silver spoons, knives and forks
1 silver goblet
1 maginificent red, blue and yellow silk umbrella
1 common brass kettle
100 iron bars, 6 feet long 11 wide
50 large copper plates, 24 inches in diameter
50 small brass kettles
50 iron pots
50 guns
50 kegs of powder
25 wash basins
12 dozen plates
6 dozen glasses
300 pounds of beads, different colour
50 pine chests
200 pairs of earrings for his wives
Severalchests containing trinkets, mirrors,files,forksand knives

and so started the quaint custom of "baksheesh!"
Visiting hunters and other tourists encounter this custom at Jo'burg Airport, where luckily for them, the custom has been modernised and only little pieces of paper depicting US Presidential portraits suffice. A lot easier than boarding an aircraft with some of the stuff listed above.

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And two quarts of laudanum? I would have hated like hell to get sick on that safari.

I wouldn't have waited to get sick