HORN EXPEDITION NAUUATIVE. 7 



dating back to the V)uikliug of tlic overland telegraph line ; and thanks to him, so 

 long as wc remained in the main camp we lived in comparative luxury. Breakfast 

 — always hot and most welcome — was eaten when usually the temperature was 

 not much above freezing point. The black Ijoys and the Afghans brought the 

 camels into camp, and along with them the odour of their undigested feed. 



Whilst the loading of the baggage-camels took place, each of us saddled and 

 packed our own beast. A riding saddle is so made — they are wonderfully crude 

 and heavy structures — that you can pack your personal belongings in front of the 

 hump, while behind is a seat for yourself in such a position that the animal can, 

 when it desires to do so, whisk its filthy tail on to your back. 



The reins of a riding camel consist of two strings, one passing round each 

 side of the neck and attached in front to the single wooden peg inserted in one 

 side of the nose. Owing to the fact that a hard pull is liable to at once bring out 

 the peg, this gives the rider the minimum of control over a beast so naturally 

 stupid as the camel. More than once, when I had stayed behind the rest to 

 endeavour to secure some particular beast or to take a photograph, my camel 

 started off at a quick trot to catch up the train. All that I could do was to hold on 

 to my camera and luggage and hope that the train was not far ahead ; .the camel 

 was sure to reach it safely, but there was every chance of the camera and myself 

 being left behind. I may say that I had christened my camel the " Baron," after 

 my distinguished friend and counsellor, the Baron von Mueller, whose name is \ 

 household word with us in Victoria, in the hope that, as the bearer of such a 

 name, he would behave himself accordingly, but I was disappointed in him. 



Once mounted, we travelled slowly on at a walking pace for perhaps ten or 

 twelve miles, with plenty of tinie to observe the nature of the country, but with 

 no or little opportunity to collect. Tlien came a halt in the heat of the mid-day 

 for lunch, when collecting was made difficult by reason of the flies which settled on 

 your face. After the halt, another march of the same length brought us at dusk 

 to our camping place for the night. The camel train was brought into camp 

 forming a semicircle ; each camel was unloaded, and then, after being hobbled, 

 was set free for the night to find what feed it could. The camp fire was lighted, 

 notes were written up, specimens labelled and packed away, and then we lay 

 down and slept in the open under the perfect clearness of the desert sky. As a 

 general rule the nights were very cold, not infrequently the thermometer registering 

 several degrees below freezing point ; but the air was so dry that the cold was 

 comparatively little felt, even when our water-bags were frozen solid. 



