OUR LIMITED WATER SUPPLY. 313 



faithful friends a little from our nearly empty 

 skins. 



Throughout our journey we shall be obliged to be 

 very sparing of the water, owing to the loss of half of 

 our barrels and skins through the desertion of the 

 Arabs when they went off for the presumed purpose of 

 filling them. If the Arabs ever return to the place 

 where they left us, they will have the pleasure of see- 

 ing a pile of ashes to indicate what we did with their 

 property to ensure their not having it again. Unfor- 

 tunately they can replace their ropes and simply made 

 saddles far more easily than we can our water-barrels. 



Lorenzo tells us this evening the bad news that the 

 camels are so weak they constantly come down with 

 their loads, and that he does not believe they can reach 

 Souakim. He therefore suggests that \ve seize any 

 camels we meet, and compel the owners to make an ex- 

 change. 



A cattle-drover reports that our other division was 

 here yesterday, so it must have passed our camp in the 

 darkness of the previous night. 



April 29. 5.30 A.M. sees us again en route, but no 

 thanks to any of our men, Lorenzo and Ibrahim 

 included, for they sleep like pigs. In this respect more 

 almost than in any other we miss Emanuel in the 

 desert journey, for he was always up before sunrise ; 

 now I have to go round every morning and shake the 



