106 UGANDA AND THE EGYPTIAN SOUDAN.

and the men on the march. This is a most happy arrangement for Europeans, as it relieves them of all trouble concerning the baggage, and enables them to devote their entire attention to the beauties of the country and to scientific pursuits.

The order of marching is as follows. Preceded by a dragoman guide, an advance guard leads the way, carrying the flag ; then follow the porters, at a distance of twenty or thirty yards, a soldier marching behind every ten or twenty men. In the centre of the caravan the ammunition boxes are carried, guarded by four soldiers under a sergeant, who has a small boy to carry his gun. After all the porters come the women of the company, carrying the food and the stones with which they grind the corn, and the iron plates on which they bake the cakes. The rear-guard, with another flag, completes the cavalcade. The officer in charge has a hard time, for every now and then he must dash through the high grass from the rear to the head of the column, and as each soldier passes him, hear if all is well, and no man or load missing.

If an alarm is given the leading men fall back on the ammunition, those following press forward, the boxes are opened, extra ammunition served out, and then the porters and women collect inside a circle formed by the loads, which are so piled as to make as good a barricade as possible. It is surprising, to any one seeing it for the first time, with