THE START FROM MERKET 491 
The loth of April 1895 was a great day in the annals 
of Merket. The courtyard, every alley, every house- 
roof in the neighbourhood, was crowded with people, all 
anxious to see us off. “They will never come back 
again — never,” we heard them cry one to another. “ The 
camels are too heavily laden ; they will never get through 
the deep sand.” These croakings did not disturb me in 
the least. The ground burned under my feet to get off 
And we had an antidote to their ill-omened prophecies 
in the action of the Hindus, who, just as I put my 
camel in motion, flung a few handfuls of da-tien (Chinese 
bronze money with a square hole in the middle) over my 
head, crying, “ Good-luck go with you ! ’ 
The camels were tied together in two strings of four 
each. A piece of stick was thrust through the cartilage 
of the animal’s nose. A rope, fastened to one end of 
the stick, was loosely knotted to the tail of the camel 
in front, in such wise that, if the second camel fell, the 
knot would come undone of itself 
The other end of the piece of stick terminated in a 
knob, which prevented it from slipping out of the animal s 
nose. The four young camels went in the first string. 
After them followed Boghra with me on his back ; and 
behind him Babai, Ak-tuya, and Nahr. Mohammed Shah 
never left hold of Boghra’s bridle ; so that I had no need 
to trouble myself in the least about my camel, but gave 
my attention wholly and undivided to my compass and 
watch, by which I steered our course and measured the 
length of our day’s march, and to the observation of 
the country we were travelling through. Islam Bai had 
shown much ingenuity in arranging my load for me. 
It consisted of the two boxes which held my most 
delicate instruments, and such things as I generally needed 
when we encamped for the night. On the top of the 
boxes, and between the camel’s hump, he spread pelts, 
carpets, and cushions, so that with one leg on each side 
of the front hump, I rode as comfortably as though I 
were sitting in an easy-chair. When all was quite ready, 
I said good-bye to Niaz Beg, whom I rewarded hand- 
