182 WITH THE CAMEL CORPS UP THE NILE.

came in, and we relieved them on outpost duty on the slopes round our fort. At first it was rather hard work, for we had to find (out of the G.C.R.

alone) two subalterns and seventy men every night ; this, out of four subalterns and 223 men, meant for us only every other night in bed, which was somewhat fatiguing, to say the least of it. Luckily this system did not last long, and it was soon changed to one officer and twenty-four men. The reason why at first we had to have so many men out was that the chain of sentries extended round the whole position, river fort and all ; now orders were given for each fort to find its own sentries, a much simpler plan. Our picquet was therefore divided into eight posts of three men each, of which one man at a time was on sentry go, and when the officer or sergeant went his rounds (every hour), he took a man from each post up to the next, and sent him back, and so round the chain.

These relieved themselves every two hours, thus obviating the necessity of N.C.O s and reliefs marching out to them, and reducing the number of