Remarks on Water Transport.
As will be gathered from the map on [Plate III,] water supplies are seldom more than two days’ march apart in this part of Egypt. For the ordinary traveller it will therefore be usually an ample provision to carry four days’ supply; in special cases, where it is desired to camp for any purpose remote from water sources, special provision will of course have to be made. There is seldom any trouble with the Arabs about their own water, as when their supplies run short one or two camels can always be detached from a caravan to fill their skins from the nearest well, and they are always content to travel day and night for this purpose. With regard to the quantity of water to be carried, I found ten gallons per European per day to be ample, including water for cooking and for one’s personal servants. Water is best carried in rectangular galvanized iron tanks, each holding ten gallons, fitted with a good brass or wooden plug; two of these carried horizontally make a light camel load, and on the march one can add a little in the shape of tents or bedding to the load. I have tried the barrel-shaped galvanised steel tanks used by the mining companies, which hold sixteen gallons each and are easily carried vertically, a pair forming a camel load; but I have found them much more liable to damage than the smaller rectangular tanks, and do not recommend them for regular desert travel.