milked in the morning the enclosures are opened, and the whole herd is let out. They all proceed straightways to a well, where they are watered in troughs, hollowed out of the trunks of trees, and when they have finished drinking and are all collected together, an old ox taking the lead, shows them the way and the whole drove follows him. It is astonishing how accurately they follow their leader, who frequently conducts them to a pasture situated at a distance of two hours’ march from the village, and brings them all safely back again. The most remarkable part of the affair, however, is that they always re-assemble at the well punctually at half an hour before sunset, whether they have been one mile or eight miles distant. I observed this fact at the village of Ledet, where I met the cattle at a distance of eight miles from the huts, and, to my great astonishment, saw no herdsman. On my arrival in the village I asked what this meant, and was told that it had been the custom from time immemorial, to allow the cattle to go unattended to pasture in this village, as it is in many others; and that an animal very rarely strayed. In order to be the better able to look after a beast which might possibly be lost, a circumstance, however, of very rare occurrence, it is only necessary to observe the direction the herd takes in wandering out in the morning. I was told that, a few months before my arrival, a cow belonging to this place was missing when the herd returned. As the animal did not come back in the night, the owner mounted a camel with the first dawn of day, provided himself with a supply of bread and water sufficient for four days, and rode out in the direction the cattle had taken on the former day. Having arrived at the place of pasture he traversed it in all directions, until he came upon the track of a camel and a cow, which he followed up during two whole days, until it brought him to an encampment of the Kubbabeesh, where he found his lost cow alive; nor did he experience the slightest difficulty about its restitution. The cows are milked throughout the country twice daily, once in the morning at sunrise, and again in the evening, but they yield very little milk, which in an hour’s time turns sour and thick. The baskets made of rushes, into which the cows are milked, can never be washed thoroughly clean, and are probably the chief cause of the deterioration of the milk; it is consequently impossible to keep it for any length of time. Butter is quickly made, and without any difficulty. As soon as the necessary quantity of milk is obtained it is put into leathern bags, which are fastened to a piece of wood, and shaken about for some time until the butter is ready. A small yellow fruit is sometimes added to the milk, and greatly accelerates the butyration.