i io WITH THE CAMEL CORPS UP THE NILE.

Nus in the distance. It is a well-known landmark in the Bayuda, being a tall conical hill sticking straight up out of the sand, and visible for many miles round. My company, worse luck, was detailed for baggage guard that morning : this irksome duty consisted in keeping a short way behind the baggage train, and whacking up any camel or driver who lagged behind. Every five minutes a load would slip off, or a camel fall down sick ; in that case a couple of men were at once detailed to dismount, help load up the camel, and whack it along again. As all the baggagers were in strings of three, tied nose to tail, each string in charge of one native driver, the downfall of one meant the stoppage of the three ; the other two camels generally did not comprehend why they should stop, and hauled away till their head-gear or tail-ropes gave way, or else got themselves so entangled with each other that their loads dropped off, and then the whole thing had to be done again ; it was an endless business, and provocative of much swearing.

Generally by the time the three camels were reloaded