When enough has been collected the thong is removed and the wound stopped up with a mixture of cow dung and dust. The frothing blood is sometimes mixed with sour or sweet milk, but is generally drunk alone, and supplies the salt necessary for the system. We arranged ourselves as comfortably as we could for the night. We had not brought away with us the extra blankets with which we had provided ourselves on our upward journey, as we thought our travelling-rugs would be enough, and we did not wish to be encumbered with the heavy woollen things for the three weeks of tropical travel which lay before us. To supplement our steamer-rugs I had brought along a great armful of Chicago Tribunes .
Paper is supposed to be a retainer of heat.
Doubtless ours would have been if they had stayed on. But they spent the night slipping off. As we rose and crossed the eight thousand foot divide the air was thin and distressingly cold. I would swathe myself in those Tribunes and, after getting accustomed to their subdued crackle, would doze off, only to be awakened with a chill start by those wretched journals sliding off with a malicious, slithering rustle. It was what the French would call une nuit penible.