When drinking
out of the pipette, the cork must be loosened in order to admit air, like
a vent hole. Macintosh bags, for wine or water, are very convenient to
carry and they will remain water-tight for a long period when fairly
used. (Mem.--Oil and grease are as fatal to macintosh as they are to
iron rust.) But the taste that these vessels impart to their contents is
abominable, not only at first but for a very long time; in two-thirds of
them it is never to be got rid of. Never believe shopkeepers in an
india-rubber shop, in their assurances to the contrary; they are
incompetent to judge aright, for their senses seem vitiated by the air
they live in. The best shape for a small macintosh water-vessel has yet
to be determined. Several alpine men use them; and their most recent
patterns may probably best be seen at Carter's, Alpine Outfitter,
Oxford Street. A flask of dressed hide (pig, goat, or dog) with a wooden
nozzle, and a wooden plug to fit into it, is very good. Canvas bags,
smeared with grease on the outside, will become nearly waterproof after a
short soaking. A strong glass flask may be made out of a soda-water
bottle; it should have raw hide shrunk upon it to preserve it from sharp
taps Likely to make a crack. Calabashes and other gourds, cocoa-nuts and
ostrich eggs, are all of them excellent for flasks. The Bushmen of South
Africa make great use of ostrich shells as water-vessels.
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