Substitute for Clay.—­In Damara land, where there is no natural material fitted for pottery, the savages procured mud from the interior of the white-ant hills, with which they made their pots.  They were exceedingly brittle, but nevertheless were large and serviceable for storing provisions and even for holding water over the fire.  I have seen them two feet high.  What it was that caused the clay taken from the ant-hills to possess this property, I do not know.

Pots for Stores and Caches.—­An earthen pot is excellent for a store of provisions or for a cache, because it keeps out moisture and insects, and animals cannot smell and therefore do not attack its contents.

CANDLES AND LAMPS.

Candles.—­Moulds for Candles.—­It is usual, on an expedition, to take tin moulds and a ball of wick for the purpose of making candles, from time to time, when fat happens to be abundant.  The most convenient mould is of the shape shown in the figure.  The tallow should be poured in, when its heat is so reduced that it hardly feels warm to the finger; that is, just before setting.  If this be done over-night, the candles will come out in the morning without difficulty.  But, if you are obliged to make many at a time, then, after the tallow has been poured in, the mould should be dipped in cold water to cool it:  and then when the tallow has set, the mould should be dipped for a moment in hot water to melt the outside of the newly-made candle and enable it to be easily extracted.  By this method, the candles are not made so neatly as by the other, though they are made more quickly.

[Sketch of candle mould].

It is well to take, if not to make, a proper needle for putting the wicks into the moulds.  It should be a hooked piece of wire, like a crochet needle, which catches the wick by its middle and pulls it doubled through the hole.  A stick across the mouth of the mould secures the other end.  When the tallow is setting, give an additional pull downwards.  A gun-barrel, with a cork or wad put the required distance down the barrel, has been used for a mould.  Pull the candle out by the wick after heating the barrel.  Two wads might be used; the one strongly rammed in, to prevent the tallow from running too far, the other merely as a support for the wick.  Perhaps, even paper moulds might be used; they could be made by gumming or pasting paper in a roll.

Dip Candles.—­Candles that are made by “dipping,” gutter and run much more than mould candles, if they have to be used as soon as made.  The way of dipping them is to tie a number of wicks to the end of a wooden handle, so shaped that the whole affair looks much like a garden-rake—­the wicks being represented by the teeth of the rake; then the wicks are dipped in the tallow, and each is rubbed and messed by the hand till it stands stiff and straight; after this they are dipped all together, several times in succession, allowing each fresh coat of tallow to dry before another dipping.  Wax candles are always made by this process.