"We are waiting only for camels and drivers, and it is not an easy matter to procure either, the drivers especially, seeing that every day seems to make them more extortionate and intractable. In consequence of the horror which Joseph now has of a camel, I have been obliged to procure him another sort of conveyance. It is a donkey, strong enough to carry his hulking body, but so small that his rider's legs almost touch the ground and make the animal appear six-footed. Joseph objects to the very mention of a bûrnus ever since his mishap, and he has invented for himself a fanciful costume, which, when he is mounted on his ass, gives him a resemblance to Sancho Panza. Please do not on that account, attempt to confound his master, physically, with Don Quixote, although, morally, I should be flattered by the comparison. "Miss Beatrice Poles will have nothing to say to camel, horse, mule, or ass. 'I have my feet,' she says, 'they are quite enough for me, and I am only too happy to make use of them. You will never have to wait for me, for I shall go ever so much faster than you. A caravan, in these parts, is just like a lot of tortoises marching in single file, one after another.' "Our camels, twenty in number, will therefore be reserved for our two interpreters, the three Nubian women-servants, and our personal luggage, the remainder of the luggage having, as I have already told you, been sent on direct to Khartoum. Excuse all these details, they are absolutely necessary if you wish to understand our trip and to follow us. "We calculate on reaching the Nile, without hurrying ourselves, in about a fortnight. Beurman estimates the distance from Souakim to Berber at one hundred and thirteen hours' travelling, and Heuglin at one hundred and eight, much about the same thing. Schweinfurth calculates by miles, and puts it down at seventy-five. Do not forget, for it is a detail of great importance, that marine miles are meant, sixty to the degree, and representing 1,952 metres. You must not, as is so often done, confound the mile with the kilometre." CHAPTER XXXII. "We are off; the camels are loaded, and the drivers, armed with sticks, are beside them. Madame de Guéran is mounted on her mule, our two friends and myself on horseback, Joseph on his ass, and the remainder of the servants on their more gigantic steeds. Miss Poles, in a most picturesque travelling costume, with a cap on her head, a large green veil, a plaid round her body, a whole heap of useful articles pendant from a belt, her dress hooked up, and her huge feet in yellow boots and gaiters, moves to and fro, here, there, and every-where, gives a piece of her mind to one person, and an order to another, and winds up by setting out at the head of the caravan. "'Good heavens!' says Delange, 'in that get-up she will scare away all the birds, and they tell me there are some splendid specimens to be seen on the road!'