THE ELUSIVE DUNES 283 



we had given him earher in the day! We raced down 

 to the brittle stalks of twisted coarse-grained wood that 

 meant fires and hot food that night, and everyone began 

 to talk of what they would eat! 



Just after sunset we came to an almost perpendicular 

 dune which the camels refused to descend. We had to 

 dig a sloping trough down it and push the beasts into it 

 one by one. Everybody was tired and the camels were 

 incredibly stupid. The young nagas simply rolled down, 

 flinging their loads in front of them, at which Mohammed 

 lost his temper and made matters worse by violently 

 beating the animals, still hesitating at the top. They 

 stumbled forward in a huddled mass, and I saw the 

 girbas threatened. Luckily the Tebu beast was carrying 

 most of them. He plunged solidly down on his great 

 splay feet and I had just enough energy left to seize his 

 head-rope and drag him out of the chaos. We barraked 

 before our short-sighted guide could lead us over another 

 such precipice and, because it was a joy to be wasteful 

 of anything on that journey, we made no fewer than three 

 fires and recklessly poured everything we could find into 

 the frpng-pan together — rice and corned beef and tinned 

 turnips — so that we ate a hot, very hot, meal. We even 

 drank our one cup of tea hot, debating the while whether 

 coffee were not preferable, for, though it made one thirsty, 

 it somewhat hid the taste of the girba water. 



Ever}i:hing by now tasted slightly of wax, for, in the 

 hot days, all the candles had melted in the canteen. It 

 is certainly possible to clean pots and pans beautifully 

 with sand, but it needs a great deal of energy to do it 

 and I defy anyone to have any superfluous energy after 

 loading and feeding camels before a twelve to thirteen 

 hours' march, unloading and feeding the tired and smelly 

 beasts at the end of it, agahng thern while they persist- 

 ently tried to escape, preparing some sort of a meal 



