hen he languidly
swung his head round and gave me a reproachful look, which undoubtedly
meant "Can't you see I am ill? I wish you would get off."

Well, I did get off, although walking in the desert is not a pleasure at
any time, and when we arrived at the next well, after a dreadfully slow
march, we proceeded to doctor up our long-necked patient.

Now, doctoring a camel is not an easy matter, for one cannot work on his
imagination as doctors do on human beings. When a camel is ill, he is
really ill. There was no mistake about the symptoms of his complaint, and
after a consultation Sadek, Mahommed and I agreed that a strong solution
of salt and water should be administered, which was easier said than
done. While the poor brute lay with his long neck stretched upon the
sand, moaning, groaning and breathing heavily, we mixed a bag of
salt--all we had--with half a bucket of water, and after endless
trouble--for our patient was most recalcitrant--poured the contents down
his throat.

[Illustration: Interior of Rest House, Mukak.]

[Illustration: The Rest House at Sahib Chah.]

We had some moments of great anxiety, for the animal was taken with a
fit. He fell on his side, his legs quivered three or four times, and for
one moment we really thought our remedy had killed him. The medicine,
however, had the desired effect, and about an hour later the camel was
again as lively as a cricket, and we were able to continue.

The reader may perhaps gauge what the loss of a camel would have been
when he is told that between Sher-i-Nasrya, Sistan, and Nushki--a journey
of some 500 miles--neither camels nor any other mode of conveyance are,
under ordinary circumstances, to be procured.

We passed a conical hill, by the roadside, which had thick deposits of
gypsum on the south-east side of its base, while on the north-west
side the process of petrification of the sand was fully illustrated. The
thin surface layer when moist gets baked by the sun, and thus begins its
process of solidification; then another layer of sand is deposited on it
by the wind and undergoes the same process, forming the thin, horizontal
strata so common in the section of all these hills. The lower strata get
gradually harder and harder, but those nearer the surface can be easily
crumbled into sand again by pressure between one's fingers.

These were the main altitudes registered on the day's march: Plain, 3,220
feet; 16 miles from Mukak, 3,200 feet; while a