TIGEELAND 



sauntering round the camp or visiting the neighbour- 

 ing village, to inquire about the crops or other rural 

 matters. 



The above is fairly typical of a day's routine in camp, 

 varied from time to time by the march to the next halting- 

 place necessarily an uncomfortable experience, extending 

 from the evening before the move to the afternoon of the 

 day following, when the new camp is completed. 



The " dining," or day tent the one usually sent 

 ahead was struck shortly after dinner, with the usual 

 noisy chatter characteristic of the native when at work, 

 and as the process, plus the loading, occupies some hours, 

 the occupant of the sleeping tent enjoys but little sleep. 

 Finally, about midnight, the loading was completed, 

 and as the creaking of the departing carts died away in 

 the distance, I turned over with a sigh, hoping to snatch 

 some hours of sleep, but only to be awakened long before the 

 dawn by the sounds of further preparations of a character 

 equally destructive to repose to wit, a banging of my 

 tent pegs and the loosening of the ropes, suggestive of a 

 speedy demolition of my temporary abode. 



Compelled thus by necessity to quit my cosy quarters, 

 I jumped quickly out of bed, and, making a hurried toilet, 

 emerged into the raw air of the morning, to find my " chota 

 hazri " laid out on a table near the fire the only signs 

 of comfort now visible in the camp. For the scene was 

 now one of bustle and confusion, in strange contrast with 

 the quiet, orderly appearance of the camp the day before ; 

 with the exception of the bedroom all the tents were 

 down, and, together with their furniture, were being 

 rapidly converted into packages of portable dimensions, 

 to be loaded presently on the carts, of which a number 

 were drawn up round the camp. Indeed, looking at the 

 chaos now existing, it would be difficult to believe that 

 the mass of ropes and canvas lying all about could ever 

 have formed the spacious and apparently substantial 

 dwellings that had, so recently, towered above the 

 plain. 



The servants and attendants seemed to have undergone 

 a similar transformation, and were now unrecognizable in 

 their travelling attire, even to the sedate " khansamah," 

 194 



