Not Daring To Leave The Camp, Lest In My Absence They Should
Return And Take All Our Provisions, I Was Unable To Follow The Thieves,
And Had To Wait In Patience The Return Of The Camels.
So far had they wandered in their hobbles, that by the time we were ready
to start the blacks
Must have gained too great an advantage in distance to
make it worth our while to follow them; nor, since they started off in the
direction from which we had come, was it any use tracking them with the
hope of getting water. So we pushed on eastwards, through open forest of
gums, scrubs, and thickets, broken by occasional small plains of saltbush,
seeing no signs of water or lake, when presently we entered a belt of
sandy desert - rolling sandhills, spinifex-clad, with occasional thickets
of mulga and mallee.
Monotonous work it was, dragging the wretched camels for eight to ten
hours at a stretch, inciting them to fresh exertions by curses and
beatings, kindness and caresses, in turn. In some respects a camel
resembles a bullock; not only does he chew his cud, but he loves to be
sworn at; no self-respecting ox will do an ounce of work until his
driver has flung over him a cloud of the most lurid and hair-raising
language. Now, a camel draws the line at blasphemy, but rejoices in the
ordinary oaths and swear-words of every-day life in much the same way as a
retriever.
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