3i8 SERVICE AND SPORT IN THE SUDAN 



had accompanied me for some months after. The care 

 lavished on them by their Kababish owners was re- 

 warded at once. My supervision, as well as the example 

 of the Kababish, ensured care being given them by the 

 Garrarish or other owners of the hired ones. 



The care with which the Kababish on the march 

 cleaned the grain before giving it to their camels, and 

 with which they were watered, and grazing, when 

 available, was selected, was noteworthy. 



To the camel-owning tribes the camel is a pet as 

 much as is a horse to a groom ; only a man wholly 

 ignorant or inexperienced or playing for effect would 

 deny this. To see one playing with his master to get 

 a date from him or even to be fondled shows him to 

 be lovable as a horse. I know that a writer of a work 

 that had a great vogue played on the ignorance of his 

 readers by comparing the snarling of a camel when he 

 tried to pat its head to the ingratitude of the Sudan. 

 He ought to have known better. Who, having used his 

 eyes, could not point out the mistakes made by us in 

 the care and use of the camel. It is surprising when, 

 in spite of the Nineveh carvings of six thousand years 

 ago, showing us how a camel should be ridden, we 

 find ourselves till lately riding it like a horse. Not the 

 least mistake is the crowding of this very restless 

 sleeper at night in about as comfortable a position as 

 one to be found in a third-class compartment on the 

 evening of a Bank Holiday. Experience shows that, 

 as a rule, the camel looked after by a man not its 

 owner does not last out unless under constant super- 

 vision — supervision that lasts from morning to night. 



