BRINGING IN AND SADDLING. 207 



the bell-mare in front of the train. Two packers 

 to every six mules is a fair division of work. 



Imagine a camp chosen with due regard to the 

 three primary requisites wood, water, and grass: 

 breakfast over, bedding rolled up, tents struck 

 and packed in the tent-bag, and the tinkling bell 

 heralds the approach of the mules, being driven 

 in by the packer whose duty it is to ' herd ' them. 

 Fifty come trotting in ; the packers, blinders in 

 hand, await their arrival, standing by the apa- 

 racjos, that are placed side by side in a kind of half- 

 circle. The bell-mare seized on first, is haltered, 

 and tied to the first aparacjo; then the mules file 

 up, each standing with its head over an aparacjo ; 

 it sometimes happens to be the one it carries, mere 

 matter of accident, not the choice of the mule on 

 the score of ownership ; they are not half so clever 

 as that. The halters are then put on from the 

 opposite side of the aparacjo, and each fastened 

 to that of its neighbour. This saves counting; 

 if the halters are all used, the mules are there to 

 wear them. 



Saddling begins immediately after haltering. 

 Two packers loose a mule from its neighbour, 

 find the aparacjo belonging to it, slip the blind 

 over its eyes, adjust the saddle-cloths, fling 

 on the aparacjo, and then ' synch up.' First one 



