A huge sack about four feet long by two feet
in width, called a kerrata, hangs on either side of
the camel. Into these as much as possible of the
load is crammed. The wooden boxes containing our
store of provisions and the heaviest baggage went
in first, on the top of these were placed the lighter
articles—my camp-bed and the hold-all containing
my blankets, rug, and pillow ; the little dried goatskins
full of couscous or dates, the baskets in which
were placed the provisions and the cooking utensils
which would be required during the day’s journey,
and any articles of a crushahle or breakable nature.
In loading a camel the sacks are leant up against
him on either side. To each corner of the top end
of the kerratas is fixed a small loop of rope. The
sacks are lifted slightly until the loops of the sack
on the one side can be passed through the corresponding
loops in the sack on the other, and secured
in their places by passing through them a
short piece of stick. Other articles, such as the skin
water-bag, which cannot be placed in the kerratas,
are tied by cords to the saddle and allowed to hang
down below the sacks, or else secured on the top of
the pad.
The water-bag used in the Sahara is usually
formed from the skin of a goat well cured with pitch
to make it waterproof. They call the thing a
gurlah, and as soon as you have drunk out of one
you will know that it is most appropriately named
‘ gurr-bah-ughr ! ’
While we were reloading the camel all the beggars
and loafers in Biskra assembled round us from all
directions, and by the time that the operation was
finished all the halt, the maimed, and the blind which
the oasis contained—and a halter, a maimer, and a
more cross-eyed crew it would be difficult to find—
seemed to have collected together to see us off.
Gradually, largely owing to El Haj and his stick,
we got rid of our followers, and by the time that
we had got among the mud houses and the palm-trees
of the villages of old Biskra we had completely
shaken them off. We followed the road for some
two or three miles through the palms, and then
emerged from the oasis into the desert beyond.