322 FROM NORTH POLE TO EQUATOR 



enough or more than enough; and at last the prelude comes to an 

 end. 



After peace is concluded they begin to twist the bast fibres of the 

 date-palrn into cords and ropes. With these they sling the bales 

 and boxes cleverly together; they make hooks and eyes so that the 

 two bundles may be fastened quickly to the saddle and as quickly 

 loosened; they mend the ready-made nets which they have brought 

 to hold the smaller packages; and they test the large and small 

 skin bags, patching them where need be, and finally smearing them 

 with ill-smelling varnish of colocynth. Lastly, they examine the 

 sun-dried flesh, fill several bast bags with Kaffir-millet or dhurra, 

 others with wood -charcoal, and some perhaps with camels' dung, 

 rinse out the skin-bags and fill them with water fresh from the 

 stream. As the tedious business is brought to a close one hears 

 each utter a hearty " Thank God" " El hamdu lillahi". 



To look after all these preparations is the duty of the Chabir or 

 leader of the caravan. According to its importance is his rank, 

 but in all cases he must be what his title signifies one who knows 

 the way and the existing conditions. Experience, honesty, clever- 

 ness, mettle, and bravery are the requirements of his difficult, and 

 not rarely dangerous office. He knows the desert as a mariner the 

 sea, he can read the stars, he is familiar with every oasis and every 

 spring on the course of the journey, he is welcome to the tent of 

 every Bedouin or nomad chief, he understands all sort of precau- 

 tions against break-down or peril by the way, he can cure snake-bite 

 and scorpion-sting, or at least alleviate the sufferings of the injured, 

 he wields the weapons of the warrior and of the huntsman with 

 equal skill, he has the word of the Prophet not only on his lips but 

 in his heart, he utters the "Fatiha" at starting, and discharges the 

 obligations of Mueddin and Iman at the appointed times; in a word, 

 he is the head of the many-membered body which travels through 

 the desert. In the solitudes where nothing seems to point the 

 way which other caravans have taken, where the wind obliterates 

 every track almost as soon as the last camel has passed, he finds 

 signs unseen by others which guide him aright. When the dry, 

 ill-boding dust of the desert hides the everlasting heavens, his 



