Laziness of Natives. 59 



decidedly independent and difficult to get on with. In 

 the smaller villages and isolated communities the dress, 

 or rather the greater want of dress, at once showed the 

 people to be of a more unsophisticated nature. They 

 greeted us with many salaams and much kissing of 

 hands, and were more willing to give us such supplies 

 as they could, but very little work could, be got out 

 of them. 



At every camp we harangued the " Sheikh " of the 

 nearest village and asked him to procure us animals for 

 our collection, but we stipulated that they should be 

 brought in alive and uninjured. We offered varying 

 rewards, but at only one camp did the natives show 

 any interest or take any trouble to earn the reward. At 

 this camp, near a rocky hill named Gebel Auli, a 

 number of bats and some rather rare hedgehogs, caught 

 in the caverns on the hill, were brought to us. The bats 

 were captured by a boy who appeared with his shirt 

 bulging out and held up to his neck. Out of the shirt 

 were extricated, amidst considerable amusement and 

 excitement, half-a-dozen live bats with long and very 

 sharp teeth, which were more than once used with great 

 effect. The bats were swarming in the cracks and 

 caverns of Gebel Auli, and their squeaking could be 

 heard at a considerable distance. The natives poked 



