KOROSKO. 
13 
refused to carry their loads r it might be only a few pounds more in 
some of the cases, in others far beyond this ; but the result was 
the same. The consequence was, that as no carpenter was near, 
and the servants about us were ignorant of the use of a hammer, 
Petherick had to alter the cases himself. He went at it with a 
will, but the heat was terribly against him : daily at noon the 
chamseen, or simoom wind, blew for hours at intervals, carrying 
with it clouds of fine penetrating sand. I was soon aware of its 
freaks, and at its approach would envelope myself in a large white 
Algerian burnous, throw myself on the ground, and there remain 
until the gust was over. 
On August bth sufficient work had been executed to enable us 
to send off the seventy camels to Berber, where four of Petherick^s 
boats had been waiting two months. We were obliged to remain 
at Korosko, so much was yet to be done to the boxes. We deter- 
mined to make the best of a bad position, and got out a table and 
chairs for the tent, and sundry little comforts. The horses had 
come by land from Assouan, and it was arranged that daily, before 
the sun was up, we should give them exercise. 
Living as it were in public, we could bear no sides put up to the 
tent. Though we slept always in the open air, not an intrusive 
glance or step did we ever experience : no backsheesh was de- 
manded : not a child even approached ; all respected the privacy 
so desirable. 
We had some fine fowls bought for slaughter, but they became 
pets during the river voyage, and thus escaped their intended doom. 
These fowls were the objects of nightly attack; foxes, wild cats, 
dogs, in turn assailed their cage, placed high in a mimosa tree. 
Our pets’ cry of distress sounded the alarm, and Petherick, who had 
