In Search of the Okapi | Page 7

is her name to be?" And Mr. Hume looked at Venning.
He had thought of a name, and was prompt with it--the Okapi.

"And what does that mean?" asked the builder, with a smile.
Venning explained, and the name was adopted.
"Now," said the builder, "if Mr. Venning will come down to-morrow
afternoon, my workmen will take the Okapi to pieces in his presence
before packing it for delivery in the docks, and explain thoroughly how
it is to be put together. I will give orders for several extra plates with
fittings to be placed in one of the divisions, so that if you have an
accident you will have the material for repairing the mischief. You
understand, aluminium cannot be soldered, but you could cover a hole
by means of nuts and screws."
Venning was in time next day to receive his instructions, and made in
his note-book an outline sketch of each part. While he was so engaged,
Mr. Hume, with Compton, were seeing the outfit packed for the
steamer, every purchase having been made with great judgment, so that
nothing superfluous figured in the list. Their armament consisted of one
double express for Mr. Hume, two sporting carbines for the boys, three
Mauser revolvers, and one fowling-piece, strong hunting-knives, as
well as four Ghoorka knives for cutting a path through the forest. As far
as possible all their food-stuff was concentrated in tabloids and
essences; each had his own special tin- lined medicine-case, in addition
to the common drug-chest; each his own water-bottle of double canvas,
a material which, permitting evaporation, keeps the water cool; and
each his regulation "billy," or cooking-tin. As for clothing, it was a
mixture of luxury and rough wear, of the best silk underwear, cellular
shirts of a light blue, and yellow chamois-skin breeches, warranted to
grow tougher with use. Putties were discarded, as likely to give
harbourage to "jiggers," which bore into the toes, in favour of soft
leather high boots, tightly fastened at the knee; and the outfit included
needles for the making of moccasins, or veld schoen, from the hides of
the larger antelope.
"Why do you select all blue shirts, Mr. Hume?" asked Venning.
"On account of the mosquitoes."

"Consider the feeling of the gorillas," said Compton, dryly. "Perhaps
they would prefer green."
"They may find us green enough for their taste, Compton; but I am not
joking. Mosquitoes have a preference for some colours and an aversion
for others. They dislike blue most of all, so you see I have a purpose in
selecting blue--not only for the shirts, but for the mosquito curtains."
"All these precautions for a wretched fly."
"Exactly. A mosquito's gimlet carries more terrors for the explorer than
the elephant's trunk, and his hum is more dreaded than the roar of the
lion. The mosquito is fever-winged, alert, and bloodthirsty. He carries
the germs of malaria with him; and malaria kills off more men than all
the reptiles and wild animals combined."
"Is there no way of fighting?" asked Compton, impressed.
"Oh ay; they are fighting him on the West Coast by draining the
swamps, where he breeds about the villages. But who can drain the
swamps of the Congo, or let light into the Great Forest?"
"Then we stand a fair chance to catch malaria?"
"A better chance," said Mr. Hume, grimly, "than we have of catching
the okapi. Fear the mosquito, but at the same time take every
precaution against its attack. I have an idea myself that nature has
provided a safeguard."
"Quinine?" said Venning.
"Quinine is an antidote. I mean a preventive--but that is your
department, Venning. It will be one of your duties to study the little
brute, and you may make a great discovery, for instance, it has been
discovered that the mosquito dislikes certain colours. Why? It may be
that he would show more distinctly on one colour than on another, and
so fall an easy victim to an insect-eating bird. But it may be that the
leaves of some plant of a particular hue, or the juices of the plant, are

distasteful to the insect. Flies don't like the leaves of the blue-gum, and
I guess mosquitoes have their likes and dislikes. Find the plant they
dislike, and we may defy them."
They had no accommodation for such a luxury as a tent, but instead
they purchased canvas hammocks, each with a waterproof covering,
and a roll of green canvas with strong eyelet-holes, to serve the purpose
of a tent, in addition to a canvas awning with bamboo rods, to cover the
whole boat in case they were not able to land for any length of time.
It was a pleasant time for the boys, and when at last they were pitching
down the Channel into the Bay