52 WITH THE CAMEL CORPS UP THE NILE.

some half-dozen koorbashes and a dozen skins for about a quarter what they asked, but that was all ; I circulated the fact of my wanting these things in all the villages near, and the next day got some two dozen more, but these were nothing compared with the number we wanted.

The next thing to be done was to help buy grain for the advancing troops. Three acting Quartermasters with accompanying interpreters were already hard at work. The labour and ingenuity necessary for getting hold of the grain were immense. The natives had long ago hidden their grain in " caches" in their houses and fields, for fear of some marauding sheikh seizing it, and they would not be persuaded to bring it forth. Large stores were unearthed by means of threats and secret information, but the owners would not be comforted till they had the hard cash in their hands, and then their extravagant demonstrations of joy seemed to show that being paid for their goods was a most unusual thing. The next day the rest of the brigade turned up, and encamped close by on the river. We left at