their belts and cartouche boxes, and prepare for the
start. The animals were loaded, and we moved slowly
forward at 4.30 p .m . The country was lovely. The
mountain of Belignan, although not exceeding 1,200
feet, is a fine mass of gneiss and syenite, ornamented
in the hollows with fine trees, while the general appearance.
of the country at the base was that of a
beautiful English park well timbered and beautified
with distant mountains. We had just started with
the Bari guide that I had engaged at Belignan, when
we were suddenly joined by two of the Latookas whom
I had seen when at Gondokoro, and to whom I had been
very civil. I t appeared that these fellows, who were
acting as porters to the Turks, had been beaten, and
had therefore absconded and joined me. This was
extraordinary good fortune, as I now had guides the
whole way to Latooka, about ninety miles distant. I
immediately gave them each a copper bracelet and
some beads, and they very good-naturedly relieved the
camels of one hundred pounds of copper rings, which
they carried in two baskets on their heads.
We now crossed the broad dry bed of a torrent, and
the banks being steep, a considerable time was occupied
in assisting the loaded animals in their descent. The
donkeys were easily aided, their tails being held by
two men, while, they shuffled and slid down the. sandy
banks; but every camel fell,' and the loads had to be
carried up the opposite bank by the men, and the
camels to be re-loaded on arrival. Here again the
donkeys had the advantage, as without being unloaded
they were assisted up the’steep ascent by two men in
front pulling at their ears, while others pushed behind.
Altogether, the donkeys were far more suitable for the
country, as they were more easily loaded. I had arranged
their packs and saddles so well, that they
carried their loads with the greatest comfort. Each
animal had an immense pad well stuffed with goats’
h a ir; this reached from the shoulder to the hip-bones ;
upon this rested a simple form of saddle made of two
forks of boughs inverted, and fastened together with
rails—there were no nails in these saddles, all the
fastenings being secured with thongs of raw hide.
The great pad, projecting far both in front, behind, and
also below the side of the saddle, prevented the loads
from chafing the animal. . Every donkey carried two
large bags made of the hides of antelopes that I had’
formerly shot on the frontier of Abyssinia, and these
were arranged with taggles on the one to fit into loops
on the other, so that the loading and unloading was
exceedingly simple. The success of an expedition depends
mainly upon the perfection of the details, and
where animals-are employed for transport, the first