Page:Suakin, 1885.djvu/62

, in the sweltering heat of that foul harbour, the air filled with dust and the sickening odours from the fœtid swamps around, with the shouts of the niggers as they slaved in a state of nudity, and with the roar of steam and the scrunch and rattle of a hundred donkey-engines!

Those were days not easily to be forgotten; there were stirring times coming, and we all worked cheerily and merrily enough as we looked forward to the day of the general advance, and the chance of a good fight with Osman Digna and his hardy followers.

The most disagreeable part of the work at Quarantine Island was unloading the camels. These long-suffering creatures are by no means sweet at any time, more especially after having been crowded up in the hold of a ship, where red mange has spread among them, and where fleas and ticks have multiplied innumerably. Our camels were from all parts. The finest to look at were those from India. They were much taller than either the Egyptian or the Berbera camels, some of them being nine feet to the top of the hump, and were able to carry heavier loads; but for all this they were nothing like so handy as the Berbera camels with their Aden drivers. We could form these up in