And Mingled With These Were The Camels, Some
Standing, Some Kneeling And Being Unladen, Some Twisting Round
Their Long Necks, And Gently Stealing The Straw From Out Of Their
Own Pack-Saddles.
In a couple of days I was ready to start.
The way of providing for
the passage of the Desert is this: there is an agent in the town
who keeps himself in communication with some of the desert Arabs
that are hovering within a day's journey of the place. A party of
these upon being guaranteed against seizure or other ill-treatment
at the hands of the Governor come into the town, bringing with them
the number of camels which you require, and then they stipulate for
a certain sum to take you to the place of your destination in a
given time. The agreement which they thus enter into includes a
safe conduct through their country as well as the hire of the
camels. According to the contract made with me I was to reach
Cairo within ten days from the commencement of the journey. I had
four camels, one for my baggage, one for each of my servants, and
one for myself. Four Arabs, the owners of the camels, came with me
on foot. My stores were a small soldier's tent, two bags of dried
bread brought from the convent at Jerusalem, and a couple of
bottles of wine from the same source, two goat-skins filled with
water, tea, sugar, a cold tongue, and (of all things in the world)
a jar of Irish butter which Mysseri had purchased from some
merchant.
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