EQUIPMENT 245 



The Bedawins and desert tribes in Egypt, Nubia, Makhioofa 

 and the Soudan use a saddle for riding purposes which 

 is called ' makhloofa.' It is rather small and light (I 

 have forgotten the weight, I am sorry to say), but well 

 and strongly made. A sheepskin is generally placed 

 for the rider to sit upon. It is fairly comfortable, and 

 plenty of things can be fastened to it, such as saddle- 

 bags, water-skins, tentes d'abri, guns, and a few days' 

 rations. In India and Afghanistan one very similar to 

 this is used by the natives. I do not think the native 

 saddle can be much improved on as regards the 

 principle on w^hich it is built ; but, of course, the 

 means of putting the framework together, in addition 

 to the quality of the wood and the material composing 

 the pads and stuffing, can with advantage be superior. 



It stands to reason that in this, as in the case of the 

 boats used on the Nile, long centuries of experience 

 have taught the natives the most suitable form to 

 adopt. Blindly conservative and opposed to reform as 

 they usually are, there are, for all that, certain lessons 

 that we can learn from them and we should never be 

 above learning them. The French in Algeria, it seems, 

 invented a pack saddle ; but after a short trial it 

 was found to be unsatisfactory and inferior to the 

 Arab pattern, so was abolished and replaced by the 

 latter, which had hitherto always been in use. 



The saddles that were used in the Egyptian army Mounted 

 were the same as those which were supplied to the pattern 7 

 ' Heavy,' ' Light,' < Guards,' and Mounted Infantry Corps 

 in the Nile Expedition. I do not recollect their weight, 

 but they struck me as being rather too heavy. They 

 might have been lightened with advantage, without in 



