A RIDE TO MAGNESIA. 125 



poses men to sociability with the stray fellow-creature 

 or two who may happen to have been led to the same 

 point ; and here were two or three fellow-countrymen 

 of the drivers. But they took no notice of their 

 neighbours; they performed their prostrations, they 

 disposed of their supper, and coiled themselves up 

 to rest. If they rose for a moment, it was to look 

 after some restless camel ; and early in the morning, 

 long before the sun, when I turned out, they were 

 departed to a more remote solitude. But now the 

 road is clear, and we make a start of it, leaving the 

 town fairly behind. 



"Stop, my men," said J ; "look at your 



horses' feet" 



"What's that for?" 



" We shall pass never another smithy this livelong 

 day; and should a screw be loose in any of their 

 shoes, it would be rather a bring-up for us." Sage 

 and sound advice for those who have a long ride 

 before them, which yet at this time of our need 

 we rejected, and for which I afterwards suffered. 

 Awakening to a sense of my error, I did afterwards 

 make a divergence to a village by the way ; but there 

 I found no artist, and in the course of the day I 

 learned fully to appreciate the importance of a nail 

 in time. By the way, the shoes hereabout are of a 

 peculiar kind, composed of a plate that entirely covers 

 the hoof. They are at least effective in preventing 

 the infraction of peebles. 



