130 FROM BINDER, AND NILE TO NILE one would part with a scum which gave taste to the water. For this reason old ones are best.

Great care must be taken of the skins not in use, as they are liable to be punctured by a small insect.

When once this occurs, or they are torn, it is almost impossible to mend them. ]\Iany Government folk used iron receptacles specially adapted for carrying on camel-back, but to my mind they are by no means so practical, save in the amount that they carry. The water was half boiled by the sun on the iron, and rough treatment caused many a leak, whereas the girba by its sweating kept cool, adapted itself to inequalities of surface, was Ughter, and took up no space when empty. The rude thorn had certainly to be guarded against, and my thirsty mule was at one point convicted of tearing a hole in a girha, vainly endeavouring to gather the vanishing drops.

In general the camel-men would place their girbas in a safe spot just behind the maklufa, the only disadvantage being that through the pores of the skin some exchange was likely to be effected between its contents and the sweat of the camel.

At midnight we camped for but four hours' rest. How those four hours raced ! Still dark when we rose, the coffee awakened one, the going was pleasant in the fresh morning hours, and the track not too bad. A small gebel appeared before us, skirted by trees, and roan antelope raced round the patches of grass.