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 m; 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, ling 
on the aparacjo, and then ‘synch up.’ First one 
