Underfoot, on the sand, in scanty patches, grow tussocks of coarse grass and prickly plants; among them _tasmir_, _taruma_, _thelult_, _tatite_, _afazo_, and _alwat_.[8] These plants were essential to the life of the camp, for they meant food and contentment to the camels, whose huge numbers roamed the country-side, rapidly eating down whatever growth could be found within reach. As to the food of the future: no camel had trekked into camp without a big load of dry, harsh tussock-grass on either side, gathered from the most favourable places _en route_: and those bales, which every animal will carry at the start, are the camel-food that must serve throughout the journey on the desert. The departure for Bilma was delayed. On the day appointed to start news reached camp that a lot of _Kel-Ferouan_ Tuaregs, on the way back from Hausaland, were not yet in. It was also known that there were some stragglers on the way. So that during the few days of camp-life that followed our arrival at Tabello others trekked in, as we had done, with their lines of fodder-loaded camels swelling the numbers, until 7,000 animals were the total on the eve of departure—a mighty cavalcade, and one of the largest caravans of modern times. It represented, massed into one narrow area, the greater part of the wealth of a land that has no wealth if reckoned to the square mile of its vastness and general desolation. At a fair valuation each animal is worth £15 per head, making the total value of the _Taralum_ £105,000. Owing to this value, which, besides being monetary, represents the cream of the transport stock of the whole region, whose loss would be irreparable, precautions to protect the caravan are taken, each year, by the French Administration of the Territoire du Niger. Wherefore a force of _Meharists_ had been sent from the south to join the _Taralum_ at Tabello and act as an escort while crossing the desert. In addition, every native with the caravan is armed with weapons of war of some sort—rifle, sword, or lance; while some even carried the remarkable oryx-hide battle-shield that is peculiar to the Tuaregs. All are familiar with the danger of raids in the Sahara, and many have experienced them and fought before. The date of departure of the _Taralum_ is an event in the Sahara as notable as Christmas Day in civilised countries. It is fixed by tribes who know nothing of printed calendars, and the appointed date is: “Two days after the new moon _Ganni Wazuwirin_ (the October-November moon). On this occasion, because of the delay already referred to, the great caravan started two days late. On the 25th of October, at the first streak of dawn, the dark, gaunt forms of lines of camels, bulkily loaded with fodder, and food and water for a severe journey, could be just discerned at the mouth of a hill track, leading east out of Tabello river-bed.