MY FIEST EIDE ON CAMEL-BACK. 
27 
I was tired and timid : we were compelled to ride in single filcj 
and there was no turning back to pick up a straggler. One very 
difficult pass we came to^ and it required the cheering shout of the 
guidC;, and a good application of the whip_, to make the animals 
attempt it. It was past nine o^ clock ere we reached the halting- 
place^ called Sichreeg. The caravan soon came up ; fires were 
lighted,, and preparations made for supper. It was a novel sight : 
the dusky Arabs unloading the howling camels, three horses, and 
four donkeys, occupied a large piece of ground. Our rugs were 
spread, but I was too excited to rest, and wandered about the 
encampment. Here are some fine reservoirs, constructed by the 
order of the late Mehemet Ali. Late at night Mustapha, who had 
been reported missing, arrived : the wicked sheep had escaped, and 
he had to follow far into a mountain gorge ere it could be recovered. 
The poor man was exhausted, for his camel also had bolted, and he 
had to recover him unaided. Orders were given that in the morn- 
ing the sheep was to be slaughtered, and Mustapha retired inex- 
pressibly happy. 
Sunday j d)th . — A start was not made until half-past seven. The 
camel I was to ride — a female one, or naga, as they are called — had 
made ofi* in the night, and there was some delay ere she was brought 
back. Petherick had been unable to secure dromedaries for our 
riding, and we had to make the best of very tired, worn-out camels. 
It was not without a nervous beating of the heart that I approached 
the kneeling, groaning beast, to mount, for the first time, a camel. 
I had refused the palanquin and bale of bedding used by the female 
travellers, preferring the saddle of the Soudan — a large basin, as it 
were, but elongated, with a wooden peg in front, a similar one at 
the back ; to this last a gun was hung, and, supported by a strap. 
