Hints on the Construction of Tents and on Camp Sanitation.
In many hot countries Europeans of all classes pass a considerable
portion of their time under canvas, and though it is not proposed to
refer in any way to military operations, some reference to the
management of small private camps is desirable.
In pioneering life in the colonies, permanent encampments necessarily
have to serve in place of houses, often for long periods, and in such
colonies as South Africa whole families are often “on the trek” for
months together; whilst in India most officials must pass much of the
cold season under canvas as a part of their routine duty, and it is
quite common for an official to be accompanied on these long tours by
his family and entire establishment.
Now in spite of its apparent inconveniences, tent-life is, if fairly
well managed, extremely healthy, and there can be no doubt that in India
these cold weather tours under canvas form the saving clause in the
description of an official’s life; so that it is extremely desirable
that, wherever practicable, the ladies and children of a family should
share in its advantages. In a well-ordered Indian cold weather tour in
tents, the hardships are indeed so purely nominal that there is no
difficulty whatever in taking even the youngest children, not only
without any increase in the risks of life, but with enormous advantage
to health.
Tents should, as a rule, be obtained on the spot, as those manufactured
in any given country will generally be better planned to meet special
local exigencies than those obtainable elsewhere, and in any case it is
a mistake to obtain an outfit of this description in Europe, as
tent-life is so foreign to the habits of settled countries, that our
manufacturers are utterly ignorant of the proper plan of construction,
or of the most suitable materials to choose. The English service
bell-tent, for example, seems contrived to combine all possible
disadvantages that a tent can possess, every other consideration being
sacrificed to the idea of supporting it by means of a single pole;
though the advantages of this are more than neutralised by the
employment of a spar, better suited to serve as the mizen-mast of a
small cruiser than for the purpose for which it is intended. In India,
on the other hand, the manufacture of tents has been an extensive
industry for centuries, and the intending explorer or colonist who is
likely to have to pass prolonged periods under canvas cannot do better
than obtain what he requires from some of the large manufacturers in
Cawnpore or Lahore.
In the first place, it may be laid down as an absolute rule, that tents
with single “flies” or roofs, are quite unsuitable to any climate, and
should never be used except under the absolute compulsion of restricted
transport. Such tents are insufferably hot in warm climates, bitterly
cold in chilly ones, and damp and unwholesome in rainy weather in
either. On the other hand, the use of waterproofed material is, as a
rule, a mistake, and should at any rate never be adopted for the inner
fly, as to do so would make any tent of moderate dimensions intolerably
“stuffy.” In very rainy climates, there might be no harm in selecting
light milrained canvas as the material for the outer fly; but there is
no real necessity for this, as a tent should be so planned as to throw
off the water by virtue of the slope of the roof, and not by the
character of its materials.
A second point to be remembered, is that two or more layers of
comparatively light material will afford far greater protection against
either heat or cold than the same weight of material woven as a single
heavy cloth, and on this account the canvas universally used in Europe
for work of this sort is absolutely unsuited for the purpose.
Each fly of an Indian tent is usually formed of two or three layers of
cloth, the outer layer being formed of what is generally known as
“American” cotton drill, though it is usually of local manufacture; and
it would be hard to find a material better suited for the purpose. Where
only two layers of cloth are used, the inner layer should be a deep red,
as this colour cuts off the largest proportion of the chemical rays of
the sun, which exercise such a powerful effect on the human economy.
With three layers the middle one should be red, and the undermost deep
indigo. In the case of the inner fly, for the middle layer of cloth,
where there is one, a deep red should also be selected, but the inner
lining should be a pale yellow chintz, as a sombre cloth makes a tent
uncomfortably dark. The poles should be so constructed that a space of
free air, of not less than a foot, should intervene between the two
flies, even in the smallest tents, and if the outer fly be properly
planned, it should be impossible for rain to reach the inner fly, even
under the worst conditions of weather; though this proviso need not
extend to verandahs and bath-rooms, which are not intended for prolonged
occupation, and so may be formed by the outer fly only. When weight is a
serious consideration, as in the case of exploring parties, it would be
difficult to find a better form than that known as the “Kabul tent,”
which, with poles, mallet and pegs, weighs but 80 lbs., while the
somewhat larger “Field Officer’s Kabul,” weighing, with verandah and
bath-room complete, 120 lbs., forms about as comfortable a little
residence as can be desired for such purposes. For Indian family use,
and for permanent encampments, where a tent has to serve in place of a
house, the best form is probably that known as the “Swiss Cottage Tent,”
which, however, weighs, according to size, from 4 to 6 cwt., and is
therefore only useful for a moving camp, where ample wheeled transport
is available.
People unaccustomed to living in tents are apt to think that they are
necessarily draughty and uncomfortable, but this is so far from being
the case that it is quite as necessary to attend to their ventilation as
that of a house; and this is especially true of large tents, the gable
part of which is rarely sufficiently ventilated to allow of the escape
of foul and heated air. All that is provided for this purpose by
manufacturers are a few brass eyelet boles, the total area of which is
far too small to have any appreciable effect whatever. Those who possess
large tents will do well, therefore, to have made in the uppermost part
of the gable of the inner fly of a Swiss Cottage, or near the apex of
the pyramidal single pole tent, a small window measuring some 8 in. or
10 in. square. It is easy to arrange a curtain for this, capable of
being closed with strings from below, but in practice it will be found
that it is never necessary to close the opening, which may merely,
therefore, be filled in with strong twine netting, so as to maintain the
strength of the tent. The gain in coolness effected by this little
modification will be astonishing to those who have not tried it, and it
is equally necessary where a stove is used for heating a tent.
Having mentioned this point of the warming of tents, it may be well to
point out that on no account should the common native plan of using an
open charcoal brazier be adopted, as it is quite a mistake to imagine
that a tent is not quite capable of sufficiently retaining the poisonous
charcoal fumes to cause harmful, and even serious, effects.
The writer has met with attempts to copy the Indian patterns in tents
manufactured in England; but the inveterate attachment of our
tent-makers to flies formed of a single heavy waterproof cloth has
rendered the best of them next door to useless, and though very pretty,
none were fit to be put up anywhere outside a colonial outfitter’s
show-room; so that unless the necessary delay of a couple of months be
an absolute bar to doing so, novices fitting themselves out for camp
life will do well to get what they require from India, or some other
country where camp life is a practical everyday contingency.
When used for a living room during the day a tent can not well be too
lofty, but for sleeping purposes, tents with the ridge of the inner fly
not more than 8 ft. or 10 ft. high present many advantages over larger
ones, as not only are they warmer and snugger, but it is far easier to
keep them free from flies, which if once they gain admission, render
rest during the day impossible.
It is wonderful how free a small tent of this sort can be kept from
these pests, provided the chicks or blinds formed of split bamboo be
kept always closed. Every night when the flies have become sluggish and
sleepy as many as possible should be killed by striking at them with a
towel or duster; and then the lamp should be put outside the tent door
and the chicks and flies raised, while the flies are kept from settling
by flecking and shaking the interior. Attracted by the light, in a very
short time, all insects will be coaxed out of the tent, and the chicks
and curtains being then replaced, one starts the next day with the tent
free from these intruders. The same plan may be also used with large
tents, but cannot so effectually be carried out, as it is difficult to
reach insects that have settled in the uppermost part of the tent, but
vigorous shaking will usually suffice to dislodge most of them.
Mosquito-nets for camp use should be shaped like a miniature tent, with
a ridge and gable-shaped ends, so that they can be easily and quickly
suspended from the tent poles by means of strings fitted to each end of
the ridge, which should be strengthened with a stout piece of tape.
In selecting a site for camp, it is well to keep as far as possible from
native villages, but as a rule one is obliged to pitch tolerably near
them, on account of the difficulty of bringing supplies to a greater
distance. In any case, however, the site chosen should be to the
windward of the village, and sufficiently removed to be clear of the
results of its primitive notions on the subject of conservancy.
Conservancy, indeed, is always a difficulty in camp, and renders the
prolonged occupation of any one camp extremely undesirable. In private
marching camps and even in the tolerably large caravans of exploring
parties, it may be taken for granted that any attempt at the
establishment of regular latrines is doomed to failure; so that the
utmost that can be done is to fix a limit of distance, within which
cleanliness is enforced by punishing any detected infraction of the rule
as sharply as may be practicable. Where, however, tents are pitched in
standing camp, as a temporary substitute for a permanent habitation,
trenches should always be established, and their use insisted upon, as
otherwise it will be absolutely necessary to periodically shift the
camp to a clean site.
In the matter of water supply, it should be needless to point out that
its sources are always necessarily of doubtful purity, and that more
than common care is therefore essential to secure that it is properly
sterilised by boiling. As already remarked, it is a good plan, where
possible, to send on and get the wells in advance disinfected by
treatment with permanganate of potash, and this precaution is, of
course, especially important in the presence of cholera.
In the sort of camp life under consideration, regular camp beds are
assumed to be carried, so that there is no need to burden oneself with
heavy ground sheets, ordinary cotton carpets being, for our purposes,
far more comfortable and sightly; but it is nevertheless well, wherever
the material is available, to lay down, beneath the floorcloth, a good
layer of hay or straw, as this not only serves as a sop to the white
ants, but serves the further sanitary purpose of taking up the damp that
is always arising from the soil even in apparently very dry localities.
As the litter is in no way damaged by its use for this purpose it is
rarely necessary to buy it outright, the owners being usually satisfied
with a trifle for the loan of it, sufficient to remunerate them for the
trouble of bringing the straw and fetching it back. In standing camps
however, litter used for this purpose should always be cleared out and
dried in the sun at frequent intervals, as without this precaution it is
sure to get mildewed and offensive.
There is, of course, no real difference between the rules of personal
hygiene suitable to camp life, and those of dwellers in more settled
habitations, and with due attention to a few special points such as
those that have been touched upon in the present article, camp life, on
account of the constant enjoyment of fresh air which it affords, will
always be found far healthier than that passed within houses.