The art of luxurious tenting is better understood in Persia
than in any other country, even than in India.
Bedsteads.--A portable bedstead, with mosquito-curtains, is a very great
luxury, raising the sleeper above the damp soil, and the attacks of most
creatures that creep on it; in tours where a few luxuries can be carried,
it is a very proper article of baggage. It is essential where white ants
are numerous. A very luxurious bed is made on the principle of a
tennis-player's raquet; being a framework of wood, with strips of raw
hide lashed across it from side to side and from end to end. It is the
"angareb" of Upper Egypt.
Hammocks and Cots.--I stated in previous editions of this book, that
hammocks and cots had few advocates, owing to the difficulty of
suspending them; but Captain M'Gwire's recent ingenious invention quite
alters the case. His method will be easily understood by the annexed
sketch. The apparatus is adapted for use on the wooden floors of houses,
or ships, by the employment of eyelet-bolts or screw rings instead of
pegs, and by putting wooden shoes below the staves to prevent their
slipping inwards: the shoes are tied to the eyelet-bolts by a cord.
The complete apparatus, in a very portable form, can be bought at Messrs.
Brown's, Piccadilly.
Mosquito Nets and their Substitutes.--A mosquito-curtain may be taken for
suspension over the bed, or place where you sit; but it is dangerous to
read in them by candle-light, for they catch fire very easily.
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