AN UNCOMFORTABLE START. 21

though they carried them to Cassala, they never recovered

from the hardships of the long desert-journey, and one of them

died soon after its arrival there.

Most people, after they have once become used to them, find

camels far less fatiguing to ride than horses, for long desert-

journeys ; and they are certainly much more suitable to the

country.

A most uncomfortable start we made from Souakim : the

rain, which we had been daily favoured with, came down in tor-

rents soon after our departure. Although in the winter months

rain is unknown in the interior, at the time we landed in Africa

it was the season of coast-rains ; and rain might be daily ex-

pected until we could put some miles between us and the sea.