in ten miles of the Hadendowah country than during
the whole of the first part of our journey. Flocks of sheep, goats and
oxen passed us coming to the wells, or going to some pasturage up in
the hills, but few natives came near us, and there were no signs of
habitation anywhere. The wells we now passed were mere water holes
similar to those met with up country in Australia. The flocks of the
natives would hurry down at eventide and drink up all the water that
had percolated through the sand during the day, befouling the pools in
every conceivable way. Natives seem to revel in water contaminated by
all kind of horrors. They wash the sore backs of their camels, bathe
their sheep and drink from the same pool. At one large hole round
which a number of natives were filling their girbas we halted, and
procured some of the liquid, which was muddy and tepid, but
wholesomer. A native caravan had camped near by and the Hadendowah
escort of spearmen crowded round us.

The Fuzzy Wuzzy is a much more pleasant object when seen through a
binocular than when he is close to you. His frizzy locks are generally
clotted with rancid butter, his slender garment is not over clean. He
is a very plucky individual, as we know, thrifty, and lives upon next
to nothing, but many live upon him. Several graybeards came up to
salute their sheikh, who was traveling with us, and this they did by
pressing his hand many times, and bowing low, but they glanced at us
with no amiable eyes, and suddenly turned away. There was no absolute
discourtesy; they simply did not want to be introduced. Probably they
remembered the incident at Tamai, where many of their friends were
pierced with British bullets. So they slung their shields, trailed
their spears and turned away.

My camel had much improved by gentle treatment and I was able to ride
on ahead. Just as I neared the narrow neck of the Tamai Pass, two men
and a boy climbed down toward us from a small guard house, on a lofty
rock to our left. My camel man and I instinctively came to a halt, for
the manner of the comers, who were fully armed, was impressive. They
confronted us and immediately began questioning my camel man, after
much altercation, during which I quietly leaned over my saddle and
unbuttoned my revolver case, for they looked truculent and somewhat
offensive. My camel man mysteriously felt about his waist belt, and
eventually handed something to the foremost native, whereat he and his
companion