THE CARAVAN. 159 



vants, as they are consuming the relics of your 

 repast, and in this case they are pretty sure to 

 secure to themselves the lion's share. It is al- 

 ways stipulated that the Arabs shall furnish 

 their own food and water, but they rarely pro- 

 vide themselves with a sufficient supply of either ; 

 and as they are bold, persevering, and impor- 

 tunate beggars, it is very difficult to protect 

 your stores against their rapacity. 



" And now that we have got well through 

 our first day in the Desert, and are fairly out of 

 sight of land, let me sit down on the shady side 

 of the tent, and while our tardy dinner is pre- 

 paring, talk over the experiences of the day, and 

 write up our journals. And, here let me impress 

 on the present reader, and I hope future trav- 

 eller, the extreme importance of keeping a most 

 full and minute record of every observation and 

 every noteworthy occurrence. I have heard and 

 read a great deal in my time on memories ; and 

 been told how, forsooth, people who can't read 

 and write, and so make no notes, and don't 

 relax their memorial muscles by using artificial 

 supports, and leaning on broken reeds of mem- 

 orandum books and lead pencils, have much 

 more retentive memories than those who avail 

 themselves of such unnatural substitutes. Be- 

 lieve me, reader, 'tis all moonshine. You remem- 

 ber no whit the worse, and you observe vastly 



