3io LIFE WITH THE HAMRAN ARABS. 



on their return they were to pick it up and join us on or 

 before our arrival at Souakim ; and we stimulated them 

 to extra exertion by the promise of good backsheesh. 

 Owing to the slipping first of one camel and then of 

 another our progress was so ridiculously slow that in two- 

 hours we could barely have accomplished so many miles ; 

 then a camel playfully shook off the whole of his load, 

 which fell with an ominous crash to the ground, two or 

 three more immediately laid down, and the confusion, at 

 last, became so complete in the total darkness that we 

 were compelled to call a halt for the night. At this rate 

 our prospect of reaching the coast has again become poor 

 indeed. The prisoner was taken back to Kassala by the 

 soldiers ; and as he had to keep up with them on foot, 

 whilst being dragged along by a rope fastened round 

 his neck, he is not likely to have on the whole a pleasant 

 journey. Our present feeling is that we wish his friends 

 could be similarly treated ; for, so far as they were con- 

 cerned, we might have died where they left us. The 

 country is so open here that we have little chance of 

 killing game, and we therefore bought a respectable- 

 sized sheep at the village to-day as a temporary measure. 

 Ranfurly has added to our live stock two young black 

 ostriches, as well as two paroquets which he exchanged 

 for some cartridges with Mr. Cohen. The ostriches 

 when sitting look much more like porcupines, and they 

 are only about the size of hens. The aviary is a large 



