98 WITH THE CAMEL CORPS UP THE NILE.

slid down the perpendicular side and fished it out. Of course, whilst I was being hauled up in this inverted position, most of the other things fell out of my pockets, and I had to go down again. One tiny tin of meat lozenges is there to this day, but the other articles, being floatable, were recovered. We then pursued our way till we got to a stony little plain, with faint gazelle and jackal tracks, all converging in one direction, which could only mean one thing water. In fact, after a few minutes' walk, we suddenly came upon an immense pool of rain-water, similar to those below, and hemmed in on all sides by steep rocks. I had luckily a quantity of string in my pocket, so as we wanted to gauge the contents of the reservoir, I stripped and plunged in.

Owing to the shape of the thing, I could not take a header into deep water, and the cold of the water driving the blood to my head made me turn dizzy and nearly faint ; however, ducking my head made me feel better at once. Having previously tied a stone to the end of my string, I let it slip when about half-way across ; to my surprise it kept quite taut right to the