BOKGOLO. 63 



Leaving Adabdgi, the road for some miles traverses 

 the undulating metamorphic tract. To the west, a few 

 miles distant, are some massive isolated crags, evidently 

 of sandstone, no longer horizontal, but tUted up at a con- 

 siderable angle. About eight miles from the camping- 

 ground a steep scarp is met with, down which the road 

 descends to the valley of the Genfel. The whole descent 

 is over metamorphic rocks, but just beyond the base 

 sandstone comes in, resting upon the metamorphics, and 

 dipping at a sharp angle, about 25°, to the south-west. 

 This sandstone is evidently a continuation of the crags, 

 composed of similarly-inclined beds, abeady seen to the 

 westward from the top of the descent. 



The valley now reached, in which stood the camping- 

 ground of Dongolo, offered a great contrast to the 

 somewhat barren table-land from which we had just 

 descended. A small stream runs through the bottom, 

 which is richly covered with trees and bushes ; and the 

 massive bluffs of sandstone, of a rich red colour, not 

 white, as farther north, almost recall some of the scenery 

 in the old red sandstone of Western England. Despite 



to strap the load firmly if the shape of the latter was at aU inconvenient. 

 That any success was achieved by the Transport Corps was due to the sheer 

 hard work of the officers, and especially of those on the highlands. The 

 muleteers, as a rule, were abomiuable. The Punjabees were manageable, but 

 knew nothing of mules ; the Egyptians knew something of mules, but were 

 difficult to manage ; and the Persians, by far the best muleteers in the army, 

 were few in number, and disgusted at finding no one who could understand 

 them. Indeed, nearly the whole difference in respect to management between 

 the unruly Turks, Egyptians, and Persians, and the easily-managed Punjabees, 

 lay in the simple fact, that nearly all the officers of the Transport Train spoke 

 Hindustani fluently, and could converse with the latter, whilst, not under- 

 standing Arabic, they could not make themselves intelligible to the former. 



