- SHERLOCK HOLMES 99 li\ EGYPT. 
■ 39 
of a gang of murderers who 
had carried off the bodies of 
two of their victims. The 
trackers we**e able to detect the 
fact that one of the bodies car- 
ried off was a wounded man, 
while the other was dead, and 
where the murderers buried him 
his grave was duly found. The 
fact of one man being dead and 
the other living they were able 
to deduce from the blood-marks 
at the various halting-places. 
Thus they arc not only able to 
tell human blood from that of 
an animal, which I understand 
they do by the smell, but actu- 
ally to decide whether it comes 
from a living or a dead body. 
In the case I am alluding to 
the wounded man, who eventu- A GANG ( 
ally became troublesome, was 
also murdered and buried, and, to make 
a long story short, the police were eventually 
able to bring all the gang to justice. That, 
however, they never could have done but for 
the help of the trackers in the first instance. 
Colonel Dumreicher has very kindly placed 
at my disposal some notes on the subject, 
from which I have taken a few excerpts. 
They put the matter more clearly than I can 
do, being based upon long personal experience. 
He points out that tracking is a science. 
To observe and remember marks accurately, 
and to draw from them the proper inferences, 
is an important part of a Bedouin’s educa- 
tion. He begins it as a baby when he goes 
with his mother to mind the flock, and before 
he can count his fingers he knows the indi- 
vidual track of every animal in that flock, 
to say nothing of others. 
As soon as he can walk he is sent to bring 
in the laggards and the strayed ; and as 
animals in the desert are constantly dis- 
appearing he puts his knowledge to a practical 
te it from the very first. When he grows older 
lie is sent farther afield, to carry food, per- 
haps, or a message, to an uncle or brother, 
who is feeding his flock in a distant wady ; 
or it may be in search of a strayed camel, 
which he may have to follow for days before 
he even gets a glimpse of it. When he 
acquires a gun the tracks of a gazelle or ibex 
interest him, and he learns to follow them 
even over granite. Above all, he learns to 
notice the tracks of men. From earliest 
childhood he is taught to recognize the foot- 
prints of the family, and as time goes on and 
experience grows his store of knowledge 
F MURDERERS HAD CARRIED OFF TUB BODIES OF 
TWO OF THEIR VICTIMS.’ 
increases. It becomes second nature to him 
not to pass unnoticed the track of a man or 
woman ■ and so, when lie comes upon one 
which he has seen before, he knows whether 
it belongs to a friend or an enemy, a relative 
or acquaintance. In short, a knowledge of 
tracks is not the secret of an initiated few 
but rather the general lore of the desert and 
the common heritage of all who dwell there* 
Without it they could neither keep their 
property safe nor recover it if strayed or 
stolen ; their friendship would be without 
value, their enmity contemptible, for they 
would be able neither to ward nor strike. To 
possess it. is the essential condition of their 
mode of existence. 
The science of tracking, however, involves 
far more than the mere recognizing of known 
footprints. The expert will tell you from the 
examination of a track the time of day when 
the impression was made. The tracks of men 
and camels walking in the dark are different 
from those made during the day ; they arc 
less straight, lead over hard ground, and 
stumble over stones and bushes. 
In the early morning, when dew is falling, 
more sand is thrown out of a track than 
when the desert is dry, and such sand remains 
clotted, and the whole track has for the first 
two days a reddish appearance. 
In the morning and late afternoon, when 
the sand is cool and pleasant, Bedouins 
generally walk without sandals, but they put 
them on when the sand gets warm. Then 
at midday caravans generally take a few 
hours’ rest, and the traces of this are easily 
noticeable. 
