For riding, either stout khaki drill or the admirable cotton cords made at Cannanore are most suitable, and they are best cut after the pattern of the very handy “Puttialla” breeches, in which the breeches are prolonged below the knee into a closely fitting extension formed like a gaiter, as this does away with the necessity of wearing the very hot and unsanitary long boot. These garments would also be very useful, either at the Cape on account of ticks, or in parts of Burmah and Assam as a protection against leeches, as in both these, and no doubt in many other localities, these pests swarm so amongst the herbage that it is impossible to go abroad in ordinary trousers unless they be tucked into the socks. It is true that knickerbockers and long stockings will serve the same purpose, but few can bear the irritation caused by stockings thick enough to be worn in this way, in climates of this sort.
Another very suitable class of material for outer garments is to be found in the coarse wild silk that is met with and manufactured in parts of India, under the name of Tussur serge, and I have no doubt that many other parts of the world produce materials equally adaptable to our needs.
The matter of head covering requires special consideration, as there is a quite unaccountable difference as to the risk of sunstroke in climates which, as judged by the thermometer and the brilliancy of the sunlight, appear quite similar.
Accidents of this sort are almost unknown at the Cape of Good Hope; even as far north as Natal, and throughout our colonies there, and I believe also in America and Australia, a broad-leaved felt hat appears to afford quite adequate protection, always provided that it be not looped up in the idiotic “smartness” of an Imperial yeoman’s headgear. It is wonderful, too, how European officers contrive to go about in Egypt in the singularly unpractical “fez,” which, save as a protection for the bald within the house, appears about the most ill-contrived headgear yet contrived.
To wear one in June in most parts of India, would be certain death to the majority of Europeans, and few could venture to wear it at any time of the year.
For India, however, and other climates where sunstroke is common, a good sun-hat is indispensable, and there is undoubtedly no material that at all equals pith or solah for the purpose; and the bigger, the thicker, and uglier, the better it is for the purpose. Thick stiffened felt also answers very well, but is not reliable under extreme conditions, unless made double with an intervening air space throughout. Whatever the material, it is essential that the interior should be well ventilated, and this is most efficiently secured by the hat itself being attached to a comparatively narrow band that encircles the head, by the means of a few widely separated pieces of cork; no lining or other material being allowed to obstruct the passage of air.
The ordinary brass bound eyelet holes and squat top ventilator, so often seen in home-made “helmets,” are generally, for all practical purposes, absolutely useless.
Of the various shapes of solah hat in use, I am inclined to think the “Cawnpore tent club hat” is the best. This is made with the brim almost horizontal in front so as not to interfere with vision, and well sloped elsewhere, and is quite comfortable to ride, shoot, or work in. It has been adopted for the troops for tropical field service, but is I notice, already commencing to undergo evolution in the direction of smart inefficiency so dear to the heart of the military milliner.
Constructed as they are of strips of pith glued together, solah hats naturally go to pieces in rainy weather, but this can be obviated by covering with some waterproof material instead of the alpaca, or brown holland, usually used. The padded and quilted coverings to solah hats sometimes seen are absurd, as quilted cotton is far inferior as a non-conductor of heat to a similar thickness of pith, and the padding greatly increases the weight of the head gear.
In case of emergency, the oriental pugaree or turban is a very fair protection, though it requires a good deal of practice to tie it properly. Five or six yards of coarse muslin can, however, be got even in small native towns, and such accidents as one’s hat blowing out of a railway carriage, or off the head into a river, may occur to any one, so that the expedient may obviate one’s either incurring considerable risk, or submitting to the alternative of returning with one’s errand unperformed.