THE CLUE OF THE BLUE-FACED BOOBIES
SIR,—Strix, in his review' of Mr. Slessor's book in the Spectator of January 10, remarks that Mr. Slessor was unobservant in not connecting the passage of animals on the road with the corrugations in it. I do not dispute Strix's main contention that modern man is unobservant of nature, but .I think that he has chosen an unfortunate example, for I do not believe that animals are responsible for these corrugations.
The corrugated, or 'washboard,' road is a phenomenon .common in Africa and Asia and, I believe, in America—wherever, in fact, a metalled but unsurfaced road 'occurs. The distance between the 'crests' of the corrugations is uniform whereas the kind of animal found in these different areas is not. Mr. Slessor's scientific companion is probably correct, as the majority of vehicles using such roads are lorries of American origin, and the corrugations far too continuous and even for the vagaries of sheep, water buffalo or cattle to have caused them.
The discomfort of travelling over these roads is least when riding in a lorry, greater when in a Land- Rover and even greater when in a Jeep, which has a similar wheelbase length but slightly shorter springs. —Yours faithfully,
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