Lamps, Lights, and Lanterns.
Lamps.
About the most simple and effective lamp we have ever seen is that used by the Portuguese at Tette, in their illuminations; it consists of a shallow pan of clay, as big as the palm of the hand, slightly baked, or, perhaps, merely sun-dried—to contain the oil—a spoonful of salt is tied up in a piece of rag, the ends being left just long enough for a wick, and this cheap and simple arrangement serves all the purposes of out-door illumination. Sticks about three feet high, with their upper ends cleft into three parts, which are kept open by the insertion of a wedge, are planted in lines along the streets, and the lamps supported on these, or ranged along the porticoes or fences of the various houses, burn brightly and steadily for many hours, defying even a tolerably stiff breeze to blow them out. The oil used is that of the ground nut, which, beside being cheap and plentiful, is so pure that it may be used for almost any purpose, scarcely an article of food in Tette being prepared without it; in fact, the nut itself, which may be eaten plain, roasted, treated as a “confect” in various ways, or infused as a substitute for coffee, contains so much essential oil that it will burn for more than a minute with as bright a flame as a good candle; when arranged one over the other on a stick or wire they give a good permanent light.
MAKE-SHIFT LAMPS.
It is often necessary, however, for the traveller to supply himself with light when the grease at his command is neither liquid enough to rise through the fibres of a wick, nor hard enough to be moulded into a candle. In this case, the wick should be allowed to rest on and overhang a little the sides of the vessel used as a lamp—a cup of earthenware, a common tin cap box, or even a bit of tin or sheet iron bent up will answer well enough; the flame soon heats the side sufficiently to melt a portion of the fat, and a constant supply is thus kept up as the wick requires it.
Almost anything will serve as a wick—a bit of old rag, or the flax-like fibres of the various plants used as cordage by the natives; strips of bark beaten to separate the fibres, or even small twigs may be used; rushes with enough of the outer covering removed to expose the pith, while on one side a strip of bark is left sufficiently strong to support it, are also worth looking to in case of need; but it is best to be provided with a sufficiency of cotton which is cheap, easily carried, and useful for many other purposes. If possible, a good supply of the best sperm candles, or others of material not likely to be affected by changes of climate, should be carried. On the Australian expedition, we used Price’s vegetable wax candles; and some of these—after having twice crossed the line, gone round Australia and part of the Indian archipelago, and made the circuit of the globe—are now in Kew Museum in as good condition as when they were issued from the factory.
The common bull’s-eye or police lamp is very useful if only required by one person for a specific purpose, such as reading off a sextant after observation of a star, but it does not diffuse light enough for general purposes. In fact, if wood is plentiful, a roaring fire will give greater facility for reading, writing, or such other occupations as are likely to employ a traveller’s evening than anything else. If you want warmth, let your fire be on the ground and sit round it; if you want light to work by, make it on a slight elevation, say from eighteen inches to two feet high. If you want wood, and your native attendants, when called on, make excuses, or Jem tells Sambo and Sambo tells the old woman to fetch wood for the master, do not put yourself to the trouble of scolding them, but take the wood off their fire and put it on your own, and let them settle whose duty it is to bring more. Experto crede.
A horn lantern is good “to keep the light from going out;” but then, perhaps, the operator may desire that the light should not be so literally “kept in;” and it is said that a piece of rag dipped in salt and water, and wrapped round a candle, will answer the purpose of preserving it from extinction in windy weather without lessening its illuminating powers. This, however, requires continuous attention, in order that it may be cut down as the candle burns low. The Esquimaux lamp is a piece of soft stone with a slight groove along the front edge; in this is laid a wick of moss or other material, and, the heat imparted to the stone being quite sufficient to melt the fat laid on it, it is fed with very little trouble. One who has made a turnip lantern in his youth will seldom be at a loss to extemporise a shelter for his bit of candle. A calabash or gourd, with perforations to allow the passage of the light, covered or not with oiled calico or paper; a worn-out pannikin or preserved meat tin; the body of a quart bottle, the more transparent the better; or, what is best of all, one of the oblong tins in which fancy biscuits are generally sold, will answer admirably; the polished surface of the latter serving also as a powerful reflector. We had one of these slung from the roof of the waggon, the bowl of a broken ladle was secured in the bottom of it, and with a bit of cotton wick and a few pieces of hard fat, a light steady enough to work by was secured for the evening; the common forecastle lamp used on board our merchantmen is a useful form, and the shadowless railway lamp we found very servicable, as long as the glass could be preserved.
We have constructed a very powerful reflecting lamp from a large sheet of tin, nearly two feet in height, curved round so as to form half a cylinder, six or eight inches in diameter; about eight inches from its base, we made a shelf to sustain the oil lamp, and a socket to contain the candle if we should be fortunate enough to have one, and behind this we arranged a couple of sixpenny trade looking-glasses at an angle of 90° with each other, and by the light thus thrown forward we were able to write or sketch with facility during many hours of the weary night. (See p. 85.) A lamp commonly used in India is a tumbler half full of water with oil on the top, and a wick wrapped round a stone or bit of lead, with its end projecting above the oil; but it has this disadvantage, that rats may upset the glass while drinking the oil, carry off the burning wick, and so expose the house to great danger. A float may easily be made of bottle wire and three bits of cork, in which half an inch of wick is enough to last all night.