292 WITH THE CAMEL CORPS UP THE NILE.

Kaibar, and here the river took a long detour. The orders were therefore to send our baggage round through the rapids in boats, and take a short cut across country to the Kaibar Camp.

A detachment of Kroomen had been sent up from the Mediterranean squadron to do the piloting of the cataract, and extraordinary people they were.

Their dress was supposed to be that of an English blue-jacket, but the varieties of clothing were endless, from a loin-rag upwards. Coming from the West Coast of Africa, they were a different type of negroaltogether from the Soudanese, and had a break-jaw lingo of their own that nobody could understand. This latter difficulty, however, made little difference to them, for they jabbered broken English (very broken it was, too) with the greatest pleasure. Each Krooboy was borne on his ship's books under an English Christian and surname, such as Tom Teapot, Uncle Fat, Salt Pork anything that was in his sponsor's mind at the time of christening. They were very cheery fellows, and certainly wonderful at getting a boat through an impossible place.