STATION LIFE. 103 5 P.M., when all return inside the fort. At 8 p.m.

the roll is called, the gates shut, and at 9 p.m. all fires are extinguished, an officer going the Tounds to see that this regulation is obeyed.

The orders are most strict with regard to fire ; should a strong wind arise during the day the bugle immediately sounds " fires out," and any one not promptly conforming to the rule is severely punished. This is a very necessary precaution, as if a hut once catches fire, it is with difiiculty that the whole station is saved from destruction. In the spring of 1878 Lado itself was burnt down, and the immense stores which Baker Pasha had taken to the province were all destroyed.

Near each of the stations are groups of native villages, and the whole province is divided into districts, having one such fort as its centre, where the tax of grain and cattle has to be paid by the natives.

The soldiers are nearly all Makraka men, and physically a finer body of troops it would be difficult to find. They are brave—one might almost say recklessly brave— civil and merry. They obey orders with the precision of clockwork, but are at the same time intelligent in the performance of their duties. They are all armed with the Eemington rifle, which is a great favourite with them, and which they pride themselves in keeping bright and clean. Their uniform when on duty in the