242 THE CAMEL 



pieces, and it took us all our spare time and there 

 was very little or none of that to keep the frameworks 

 together by lashing the uprights with tarred yarn, 

 while we patched the panels as best we could a piece 

 of grain bag generally, for we had no proper material 

 and stuffed them with chopped straw, the only and the 

 worst thing we could get. Dried grass, cut into lengths 

 of twelve to fifteen inches, can also be used as stuffing ; 

 but it is little if any better, and we were unable to get 

 it. Whenever we halted for the day, I always made 

 a saddler-corporal, assisted by some of the drivers, 

 repair, and if possible refit, all the saddles he could ; but 

 as a rule except when we marched at night we had 

 precious little daylight to work in. It was uphill work 

 besides, as the saddlery was so utterly rotten that, on 

 the very same principle of putting new wine into old 

 bottles, it was really useless trying to mend it, and heart- 

 breaking into the bargain. When I first took over the 

 saddles at Assouan all the framework had to be lashed to- 

 gether, all the panels stuffed, and the majority of them 

 had to be cut down and shortened because they were 

 too long in fact, every single saddle had to be altered in 

 some way or other, and when we had finished very 

 little, if any, of the original ones was left. It would 

 have been wiser and more economical to have supplied 

 me with new saddles, and in the end time and money 

 both valuable items would have been saved. An- 

 other instance of one of the many aggravating minor 

 obstacles which a transport officer has to contend 

 against. During the Nile Expedition I took over at 

 Assouan some 350 camels, with which I was to carry 

 forage for a portion of the Light Camel Eegiment as far as 



