ny nation to use, little clusters of
shells near dismantled battery positions, long rows of sharpened stakes in
front of a trench smashed almost out of recognition, and endless
barbed-wire torn and blown into grotesque piles by the violence of our
bombardment; and through the debris slunk the predatory Bedouin with his
dingy galabeah full of loot. At one place a Turkish camel with a gaily
caparisoned saddle trotted up to us and joined the column for company; he
earned his keep, too, after he had recovered from the effects of his long
fast and had been fattened up again. While on the subject of animals let me
state that on this first day a goat, an ass, another camel, and numerous
pariah dogs added themselves to our ration strength.

The goat earned opprobrium and early demise by eating one of my notebooks,
which contained a nominal roll of some two hundred camel-drivers; and as
each native has at least four names--Abdul Achmed Mohammed Khalil is a fair
example--the fact that we made several meals off the goat was not adequate
compensation for the labour of re-writing the roll. The ass performed the
duty to which he has been accustomed from time immemorial in the Holy Land:
he carried the aged. In the company we had a number of old men who had
joined the corps probably because they had sons already serving, and we
used to allow the old fellows to ride in turn upon the ass, particularly
towards the end of a long day's march. The number of these "Abu's"
(fathers) who developed a pronounced limp at some time or other during the
day was astonishing, but the sudden and miraculous cure that was effected
by the appearance of the Bash-Rais (native Sergeant-Major) completely
bewildered the uninitiated. The second camel, being too young to carry a
load, was killed, and gave me my first taste of camel-steak, which in
flavour is not unlike veal.

Of the pariah dogs I dare not trust myself to say much. They would follow
the convoy all day long, with the furtive air characteristic of those to
whom life means nothing but a constant dodging of half-bricks violently
hurled; and at night they would sit around in a circle and perform the
mournful operation known as baying the moon, which they did with prodigious
enthusiasm and complete indifference as to whether there was a moon or not.
It will convey much when I add that there was a deplorable lack of suitable
stones along the roadside.

After leaving Tul Keram, a hill town whose white m