A WARM RECEPTION 143 good introduction. The corporal in charge went to some trouble to obtain milk and eggs for me, and the official hut in the middle of the compound provided shelter. But the hut was of brick, and gathered and held all the heat it could find. The door certainly faced away from the sun ; the window was the merest apology. Then, the sun of the great continent is as clever as a buffalo : if it cannot get at one direct, it comes round a corner. The pith helmet is a sufficient bulwark against the heat from above, but the sun gets over that by rebounding his rays from the ground, and thus coming from under ; or he mixes them up with long grass, to bombard from sides, back, and fi'ont.

Here in this hut, being unable to penetrate the front-door by direct route, he aimed his shafts at the naked, precipitous cliff of the great granite hill, which radiated them unceasingly during the day on to the camp, robbing it, too, of all benefit from the less hot northern wind.

Still, rest for a spell we were forced to, especially as the camels struggled in full two hours later, and threw themselves down on the hot ground exhausted. The men disposed themselves as though they had a week to spare, and many were the grumblings and objections when I insisted that a further ten miles must be accomplished before midnight.

For the sake of the animals, a start was deferred until eight o'clock—well after sunset—and we passed to the north of a vertical rock of great