6 WITH THE CAMEL CORPS UP THE NILE.

Of course everybody was cheerful the first day,

and of course nearly everybody was ill the second,

but this is only the usual fate of man. The men would

look on it all as a big spree, and were quite aggrieved

at first if you punished them for " small reports."

However, finding that the officers didn't see it in the

same light as themselves, they wisely accepted their

fate, and discipline like that of a barracks reigned

in the ship.

Being sick and getting over it occupied three

days, but after that there was next to nothing to do,

beyond shooting. The beneficent Government had

given us sixty rounds per man, to shoot off before we

reached Alexandria, but had forgotten to supply

us with targets. We accordingly shot everything

shootable to pieces, straw targets, old floating boxes,

bottles free, bottles tied, and bottles astern, till we

were reduced to shooting paper, and finally foam, or

an occasional whale or porpoise. The Heavies and

ourselves being dressed alike, we amused ourselves by

cutting out red cloth badges and letters to distinguish

the various corps, such as: iGG (ist Grenadiers-),