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D e d i cat i o n
To my students
Mariëlle Hoefnagels
An Introduction for Students Using This Textbook
I have been teaching nonmajors biology at the University of Oklahoma
since 1997 and over that time have encountered many students who fear
science in general and biology in particular. The complexity, abstrac-
tions, and unfamiliar terms can be overwhelming, and some students
believe they can’t do well because they’re just not “into science.” In
writing this book, I have focused on students and what you need to be
successful in a nonmajors biology class.
In my experience, a big part of the problem is that many students just
don’t have the right study skills—they focus too much on superficial learn-
ing such as memorizing definitions, but they don’t immediately grasp the
power of understanding the material. I’ve created the following features to
help you make the transition from memorizing to understanding.
• Learn How to Learn Each chapter in this book contains a tip
that focuses on study skills that build understanding. Don’t try to
implement them all at once; choose one that appeals to you and
add more as you determine what works best for you.
• What’s the Point? This brief introduction helps explain the
importance of the chapter topic. A new feature for this edition is
What’s the Point? Applied, which appears near the end of each
chapter and builds on the chapter’s content by explaining a wide-
ranging topic that is relevant to your life.
• Summary Illustrations Created specifically for the summary,
these figures tie together the material in a visual way to help you
viii
learn relationships among the topics in the chapter. See if you
can explain the relationships in your own words, then go back to
review any sections you have trouble explaining.
• Progress Bars The bars found at the bottom of most pages should
help you keep in mind where you are in the chapter’s big picture.
• Why We Care These boxes reinforce the applications of specific
topics to the real world.
• Burning Question In this feature I answer questions from
students who are either in my classes or who have written to me
with a “burning question” of their own.
• Miniglossaries Most chapters now have one or more miniglossaries,
brief lists of key terms that help you define and distinguish between
interrelated ideas. You can use the miniglossaries to create flashcards,
concept maps, and other study aids.
• Media icons These new icons direct you to resources that can
help you understand difficult topics.
• Connect® The content in this textbook is integrated with a wide
variety of digital tools available in Connect that will help you learn
the connections and relationships that are critical to understanding
how biology really works.
I hope that you enjoy this text and find that the study tips and tools help
you develop an understanding of biology.
Mariëlle Hoefnagels
 Author’s Guide to Using This Textbook
This guide lists key chapter features and describes some of the ways that I use them in my own classes.

Learn How to Learn study tips help

students develop their study skills.
Each chapter opens with one study tip.
I present a Study Minute in class each week,
with examples of how to use these study tips.

Investigating Life boxes focus on what

introductory science students need: an
understanding of the process of science, an ability
to interpret data, and an awareness of how scientific
research contributes to our understanding of evolution.
Each box describes a real experiment focusing on an
evolutionary topic related to the chapter’s content. The
studies touch on concepts found in other units; you can
encourage students to draw a concept map illustrating
the relationships between ideas. You might also use the
case as a basis for discussion of the nature of science.
Assignable Connect activities contain questions
focused on the process of science, data interpretation,
and how the study contributed to our understanding of
evolution.

What’s the Point? and What’s

the Point? Applied boxes help
relate chapter topics to life
outside the classroom.
These boxes can be used as a starting
point for traditional lecture or as the
basis for class discussion.

ix
 Write It Out and Mastering Concepts
questions are useful for student
review or as short in-class writing
assignments.
I compile them into a list of Guided Reading
Questions that help students focus on material
I cover in class. I also use them as discussion
questions in Action Centers, where students can
come for additional help with course material.

Burning Questions cover topics that

students wonder about.
Every chapter in the book answers one or more
Burning Questions, encouraging readers to ask
questions of their own. I ask my students to write
down a Burning Question on the first day of
class. I answer all of them during the semester,
whenever a relevant topic comes up in class.

Figure It Out questions

reinforce chapter concepts and
typically have numeric answers
(supporting student math skills).
Students can work on these in small
groups, in class, or in Action Centers.
Most could easily be used as clicker
questions as well.

Pull It Together concept maps and chapter

summary illustrations help students see the
big picture.
After spending class time discussing the key points in
constructing concept maps, I have my students draw
concept maps of their own.

x
 Author’s Guide to Using Digital Tools

McGraw-Hill LearnSmart® is a popular tool that helps

students learn material ahead of class and practice with
it afterward.
I assign LearnSmart before each week’s lectures and let my students
practice with it all they want throughout the semester. You can assign
any sections you want and adjust the amount of detail depending on
how much time you expect students to spend on the assignment.
Reports show which topics students struggled with, so your in-class
time can be spent more productively.

SmartBook® measures what

students know and then
highlights the content they
most need to study.
SmartBook predicts when students are
likely to forget specific information and
revisits that content to promote long-
term memory.

Connect® Insight provides at-a-glance

reports that illustrate which topics need
additional review prior to the exam.
Reports can help assess overall class performance
or data for a specific student, using several different
criteria.

McGraw-Hill Connect® question banks contain integrative

activities that can be sorted by Bloom’s Level, Topic, Section,
or Learning Outcome.
I assign Connect homework assignments using interactive questions before each exam.
This edition features new question sets based on the tutorial animations my team
created for this book. Unit-level integrative questions are also new to this edition.

xi
 Tutorial animations walk students step-by-step
through difficult topics using art from the
textbook.
These animations are integrated into the eBook for student
review but can also be used in Connect assignments or
downloaded for use in presentations. A complete list of
tutorial animation topics can be found inside the back cover.

You can use McGraw-Hill Tegrity® to record

your lectures and make them available
to students in Connect as a first step to
learning your content or as review.
Whether your course is traditional, fully online, or a
hybrid, your students can access your content when it
works for them.
Students can search your lecture by key term and go
right to that point in your lecture to review.

Use McGraw-Hill Create™ to develop course

material that matches what you do in the
classroom.
Create lets you select the chapters you want to use, arrange
them to follow your syllabus, combine material from other
sources, and upload your own notes.
You can choose the delivery method that best suits you and
the students you teach.
http://create.mheducation.com

xii
Changes by Chapter
Chapter 1 (Scientific Study of Life):
Added Burning Question called “Are viruses alive?”; new illustration of
emergent properties; added two photos to illustrate homeostasis; added
illustrations of the taxonomic hierarchy and the anatomy of an evolu-
tionary tree; clarified relationships among eukaryotes in evolutionary
tree; clarified relationships among hypotheses, theories, and facts; ex-
plained the distinction between science and technology; added What’s
the Point? Applied essay about what biologists do.
Chapter 2 (The Chemistry of Life):
Developed new figure showing isotopes of carbon; added new art show-
ing the difference between a neutral H atom and an H+ ion; rearranged
section on bonds to place ionic bonds before covalent bonds; revised
figure to better show the partial charges on O and H in water; added fig-
ure showing the major “connector” groups in organic molecules; added
figure showing denatured proteins; moved lipids to end of section on
organic molecules; clarified figure showing dehydration synthesis in
lipids; changed the term “sterol” to the more general term “steroid”;
added a figure to show why saturated fats are solid but unsaturated fats
are liquid; new Investigating Life box on color-changing insects; added
What’s the Point? Applied essay about nutrition labels; new summary
figure showing monomer subunits of three polymers.
Chapter 3 (Cells):
Wrote new study tip on interpreting images from microscopes; clari-
fied the distinction between cytoplasm and cytosol in narrative and art;
clarified that prokaryotes are typically one-celled, whereas eukaryotes
may be unicellular or multicellular; simplified Burning Question about
artificial cells; developed new figure on ribosomes; improved figure of
lysosomes to show digested substances being released into cell; new
Investigating Life on magnetosomes; added What’s the Point? Applied
essay explaining how understanding cell structure is useful in medi-
cine; new summary figure showing characteristics of prokaryotes and
eukaryotes.
Chapter 4 (The Energy of Life):
Revised figure on potential/kinetic energy to provide more examples;
clarified that heat is lost to the surroundings or to the environment; add-
ed new figure showing redox reactions being analogous to gift-giving;
developed new figure showing ATP synthase as an example of facili-
tated diffusion; added What’s the Point? Applied essay explaining what
a person can do to increase his or her metabolic rate; new summary
figure showing the interaction between enzymes, ATP, and membrane
transport; new miniglossary on energy.
Chapter 5 (Photosynthesis):
Clarified the idea that photosynthesis produces many types of carbohy-
drates, not just glucose; improved description of photosystems, reaction
centers, and antenna pigments; simplified illustration of photosystem;
clarified the subheadings for the section describing the light reactions;
improved paging; updated Investigating Life on photosynthetic slug to
incorporate new research; new Burning Question titled “Does air have
mass?”; clarified the description of C4 photosynthesis; new miniglos-
saries on leaf anatomy and light reactions; added What’s the Point?
Applied essay on how photosynthesis affects Earth’s ecosystems.
Chapter 6 (How Cells Release Energy):
Simplified figure introducing cellular respiration; clarified that heat is
lost to the surroundings or to the environment; explicitly named the
“transition step” that generates acetyl CoA from pyruvate; made many
other small changes to art and narrative to enhance clarity; new mini-
glossaries on mitochondrion anatomy and aerobic respiration; new
Burning Question on hibernation; added What’s the Point? Applied
essay about what happens to the body when food is limited.
Chapter 7 (DNA Structure and Gene Function):
Added a paragraph to section 7.1 explaining the connection between
proteins and traits; improved DNA structure illustration by labeling hy-
drogen bonds and adding context with a cell, chromosome, and gene;
improved section 7.2 to provide more background information; extended
the use of the cookbook analogy to the sections on transcription, transla-
tion, eukaryotic gene expression, mutations, and viruses; clarified the
roles of the promoter and the template strand; mentioned epigenetics
in the section on the regulation of gene expression; new miniglossaries
on protein synthesis and viruses; mentioned that mutations can occur in
promoters and in protein-encoding genes; clarified passage describing
the types of mutations; new figure comparing a virus to a cell; improved
illustration of prions and mad cow disease; new Burning Question ex-
plaining why we get sick more often in the winter; added What’s the
Point? Applied essay about the importance of proteins to human health;
added three new summary figures showing protein synthesis, types of
RNA, and how mutations generate alleles.
Chapter 8 (DNA Replication, Binary Fission,
and Mitosis):
Improved “What’s the Point?” essay; tweaked definition of apoptosis to
avoid the implication that it occurs only as a part of development; ex-
tended the cookbook analogy from chapter 7 to this chapter; improved
xiii
xiv Changes by Chapter
illustration of DNA replication; new figure showing other ways pro-
karyotic cells acquire new DNA; new Burning Question on whether all
cells divide at the same rate; new miniglossaries for chromosomes and
cell division; added What’s the Point? Applied essay explaining the re-
lationship between cell division and human height; revised summary
figure showing chromatids and chromosomes; added summary figure
summarizing the cell cycle.
Chapter 9 (Sexual Reproduction and Meiosis):
Improved description of homologous chromosomes; improved illustra-
tions for clarity (crossing over, nondisjunction); new miniglossary on
variability in meiosis; new table comparing asexual and sexual repro-
duction; new Investigating Life on the advantages of sexual reproduc-
tion; added What’s the Point? Applied essay about conjoined and para-
sitic twins; improved summary figure on the sexual life cycle.
Chapter 10 (Patterns of Inheritance):
Numerous changes to art, narrative, and paging to improve clarity; re-
inforced the connection between genes, alleles, proteins, and traits in
multiple places throughout the narrative and end-of-chapter questions;
clarified that a recessive allele is typically nonfunctional (rather than
implying that all recessive alleles are nonfunctional); added miniglos-
saries on tracking inheritance, gene linkage, dominance relationships,
and modes of inheritance; explicitly defined “hybrid”; new figure
illustrating how gene linkage changes the ratio of genotype and phe-
notype classes in a cross involving two genes; new figure depict-
ing the many ways that Marfan syndrome can affect the phenotype;
new Why We Care on the genetic and environmental causes of obe-
sity; added What’s the Point? Applied essay on testing fetal DNA for
genetic diseases; new summary figure showing a light bulb analogy
for inheritance patterns.
Chapter 11 (DNA Technology):
Made numerous small changes to art and narrative to improve clarity;
simplified DNA sequencing figure and improved consistency with cur-
rent sequencing methods; added figure showing complete DNA profiles
from a crime scene and from three suspects; added Burning Question
on uses of DNA profiling; new Investigating Life on the spread of genes
from transgenic crops to weeds; added What’s the Point? Applied essay
about the first time investigators used DNA evidence to solve a murder;
new summary figure defining several DNA technologies/tools.
Chapter 12 (Forces of Evolutionary Change):
Improved paging to make better use of chapter’s space; simplified the
presentation of Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium and added a second Figure
It Out question to help students work through Hardy-Weinberg prob-
lems; incorporated Punnett square into figure depicting heterozygote
advantage; added a second photo depicting intrasexual selection; added
Why We Care box on artificial selection in dogs; added miniglossa-
ries for terms related to evolution and mechanisms of evolution; added
What’s the Point? Applied essay explaining how evolution among bac-
teria and viruses affects disease treatment.
Chapter 13 (Evidence of Evolution):
Updated geologic time scale to replace Tertiary Period with Neogene
and Paleogene Periods; added Write It Out question, plus a practice
question in the summary figure, to help students better understand ra-
diometric dating; added plant example to convergent evolution figure;
improved illustration for box explaining the evolutionary origin of hic-
cups; added What’s the Point? Applied essay about the similarities be-
tween humans and chimpanzees; added summary figures illustrating
how researchers use multiple lines of evidence to build evolutionary
trees and illustrating the differences between homologous, vestigial, and
analogous structures.
Chapter 14 (Speciation and Extinction):
Added new miniglossaries on macroevolution, speciation and
extinction, and biological classification; expanded figure on allopatric
speciation in pupfish; expanded Why We Care box on recent species
extinctions; new Burning Question on why evolution happens more
rapidly in some species than in others; added figure illustrating
similarities and differences between organisms sharing a kingdom
versus those sharing a family; clarified and reorganized narrative
describing cladistics; added figure illustrating ancestral and derived
characters; added What’s the Point? Applied essay explaining how
humans influence speciation and extinction; new summary figure
reinforcing how to read a phylogenetic tree.
Chapter 15 (Evolution and Diversity of Microbial Life):
Added art showing the differences between prokaryotic and eukaryotic
cells; added art illustrating the similarities and differences between Bac-
teria and Archaea; added miniglossary for terms related to prokaryotes;
added art showing aerobic and anaerobic habitats; added art showing
dikaryotic cells; new Why We Care on moldy food; added “white nose
syndrome” in bats as an example of a fungal disease; new Investigat-
ing Life on bioluminescent algae; eliminated many scientific names that
would be unfamiliar to students; added What’s the Point? Applied essay
about diseases caused by bacteria, protists, and fungi; new summary
figure showing microbes in a selection of habitats.
Chapter 16 (Evolution and Diversity of Plants):
Made numerous small changes to clarify and improve the organization
of the narrative and art; new Burning Question on aquatic plants; new
miniglossary of plant reproduction terms; new Why We Care on gluten;
added What’s the Point? Applied essay about herbal remedies.
Chapter 17 (Evolution and Diversity of Animals):
Added image of Ediacaran organism; improved overall animal phylo-
genetic tree to better differentiate between characteristics and group
names; improved phylum-specific phylogenetic trees to better illustrate
evolutionary relationships; new Burning Question called “Are there re-
ally only nine kinds of animals?”; added illustration of metamorphosis
in insects; combined hagfishes and lampreys as jawless, fishlike chor-
dates; added photos of hagfishes and lampreys; clarified the diversity of

reptiles; added photos of early hominin fossils and evidence of culture;
simplified and updated terminology related to human evolution; clari-
fied the distinction between human (genus Homo) and hominin; added
miniglossary of human evolution; added What’s the Point? Applied
essay about unexpected animal products in our foods.
Chapter 18 (Populations):
Improved several figures (life table, density-dependent versus density-
independent factors, and opportunistic versus equilibrium life histories);
added Burning Question on counting animals in the open ocean; moved
the material on opportunistic and equilibrium life histories closer to the
material on survivorship curves; new Why We Care on controlling pest
populations; new Investigating Life on how toxic, dark waters influ-
ence life history strategies in Atlantic mollies; added What’s the Point?
Applied essay about the projected growth of the human population; new
summary figure showing population growth curves and age structures.
Chapter 19 (Communities and Ecosystems):
Improved illustration showing the seasons to include an explanation
of why temperature falls with distance from the equator; improved
illustration showing convection cells on Earth; improved illustration
showing rain shadow; improved illustration showing relationship
between temperature, moisture, fire, and biomes; new illustration
showing relative distribution of world water resources; used zebra
mussels as example for competitive exclusion; new examples for re-
source partitioning and coevolution; new figure showing why otters
are a keystone species; new miniglossary on community diversity and
succession; replaced DDT figure with a figure showing biomagnifica-
tion of mercury; new Why We Care box on biomagnification of mer-
cury in songbirds; added eutrophication (plus a figure) to the section
on nutrient cycling; added What’s the Point? Applied essay explaining
how gardening affects ecosystems; new summary figure showing how
climate produces patterns of biomes.
Chapter 20 (Preserving Biodiversity):
Improved diagram showing relationship between nutrients in the Mis-
sissippi River watershed and the Gulf of Mexico’s Dead Zone; added
table listing air pollutants; added diagram explaining how acid precipi-
tation forms; updated data on CO2 in the atmosphere; split the Burn-
ing Question box on helping the environment into several small boxes,
placed near where the tips are relevant; new Investigating Life on loss of
genetic diversity in alpine chipmunks affected by global climate change
in Yosemite; added What’s the Point? Applied essay about Biosphere 2
in Arizona; new summary figure using HIPPO as an acronym for threats
to biodiversity.
Chapter 21 (Plant Form and Function):
Added new miniglossaries on plant anatomy and plant transport; new
illustration of woody and herbaceous plants; added art illustrating pa-
renchyma, collenchyma, and sclerenchyma cells; clarified illustrations
of stem and root cross sections and of shoot apical meristem; new Burn-
ing Question box on fruits and vegetables; new Investigating Life box
Changes by Chapter xv
on ants that defend plants; added What’s the Point? Applied essay about
nutrients in the fruits and vegetables we eat; new summary figure show-
ing how xylem and phloem function together.
Chapter 22 (Reproduction and Development of
Flowering Plants):
Omitted some terminology; improved labeling on anatomy figures;
improved illustration comparing seeds of monocots and eudicots; im-
proved illustration showing apical dominance; added What’s the Point?
Applied essay about the culinary and botanical definitions of fruit; new
summary figure illustrating how hormones affect plant development;
new summary table summarizing tropisms.
Chapter 23 (Animal Tissues and Organ Systems):
New miniglossary on animal anatomy and physiology; reworked Burn-
ing Question to focus on artificial organs for a better fit with the chap-
ter content; moved material on thermoregulation from chapter 28 to this
chapter; moved parts of the material on skin to sensory system and im-
mune system chapters; moved Investigating Life on the origin of fur and
feathers from chapter 28 to this chapter; added What’s the Point? Applied
essay describing how organ systems interact while a person runs a mara-
thon; new summary figure illustrating organ system interactions.
Chapter 24 (The Nervous System and the Senses):
New Burning Question on the speed of nervous system communication;
new art showing the resting potential; simplified art depicting the action
potential; new miniglossaries on nervous system communication and
the senses; added photo showing synapse between neuron and muscle
cell; added photo of the blood-brain barrier; new table summarizing the
types of sensory receptors; added information on hearing aids and co-
chlear implants; new Burning Question on ear infections; new Investi-
gating Life on mouse responses to scorpion venom; added What’s the
Point? Applied essay explaining that the brain filters sensory stimuli;
new summary figure illustrating the senses.
Chapter 25 (The Endocrine System):
New miniglossary on hormones and responses; strengthened the con-
nection between the nervous and endocrine systems; new Burning
Question on chronic stress; new Figure It Out emphasizing endocrine
control of cortisol levels; improved figure showing relationship between
obesity and diabetes; added What’s the Point? Applied essay about en-
docrine disruptors in the environment.
Chapter 26 (The Skeletal and Muscular Systems):
Numerous small improvements to art; new miniglossary for the skeletal
system; clarified diagram of the human muscular system by adding a
rear view; added ATP more comprehensively to the figure showing the
sliding filament model of muscle contraction; added What’s the Point?
Applied essay about prosthetic limbs; added tendon, ligament, joint,
bone tissue, and cartilage tissue to summary figure to make it more
comprehensive.
xvi Changes by Chapter
Chapter 27 (The Circulatory and Respiratory Systems):
Improved paging; reworked first section to clarify definition of circula-
tory system; improved illustrations of blood composition, ABO blood
testing, and heart anatomy; added Burning Question on bruises; added
miniglossary on circulation; added Figure It Out on breathing rate; re-
worked and expanded the Why We Care box to include more illness-
es; added What’s the Point? Applied essay about competitive breath-
holding; added graph of gas composition of inhaled and exhaled air to
summary figure; made Pull It Together figure more comprehensive.
Chapter 28 (The Digestive and Urinary Systems):
Changed chapter title to reflect transfer of material on thermoregula-
tion to chapter 23; improved paging throughout chapter; improved the
explanation of the digestive system’s role in maintaining homeostasis;
new figure showing the functions of the teeth; new figure showing a nu-
trition label; new figure showing water inputs and outputs for kangaroo
rat and human; new Why We Care boxes (Kidney Failure, Dialysis, and
Transplants; Urinary Incontinence); expanded Why We Care box on the
unhealthy digestive system; new miniglossary summarizing digestive
fluids; new Investigating Life on oral bacteria associated with ancient
cultures; added What’s the Point? Applied essay explaining why gut
microbes are vital to human health; two new summary figures, one for
the digestive system and one for the urinary system; improved Pull It
Together to better emphasize blood’s role.
Chapter 29 (The Immune System):
New illustration presenting an overview of the immune system; added
narrative/figure illustrating skin anatomy to better explain skin’s role
in innate defenses; improved figure showing innate defenses, adding a
more realistic context and differentiating between external and internal
innate defenses; made numerous changes to narrative and art to clarify
the roles of T cells and B cells in immunity; new miniglossary on adap-
tive immunity; reworked and improved the figure showing the differ-
ence between the primary and the secondary immune responses; im-
proved illustration of AIDS-related illnesses; added What’s the Point?
Applied essay about the risks and benefits of vaccination; made Pull It
Together figure more comprehensive.
Chapter 30 (The Reproductive System):
New chapter opening photo; made numerous small changes to art and
narrative to clarify the material; added more detailed frontal view of
female reproductive anatomy; combined contraception and STDs into
one section on reproductive health; new figure illustrating where each
method of contraception works; new Burning Question on predicting
the timing of ovulation; added What’s the Point? Applied essay about
intersex conditions; added spot illustrations and a development calendar
to improve summary figure.
Acknowledgments

It takes an army of people to make a textbook, and while I don’t work
with everyone directly, I greatly appreciate the contributions of each per-
son who makes it possible.
Matt Taylor continues to be my right-hand man, participating in
every stage of book development; in addition, he has seamlessly inte-
grated the book’s approach into our digital assets. His hard work, exper-
tise, and eye for detail have improved every chapter in large and small
ways. In addition, Emily North has scrutinized every illustration and
page layout, contributing a valuable student perspective to this book.
I appreciate the help of my colleagues at the University of Okla-
homa, including Dr. Doug Gaffin and Dr. Jim Thompson. Helpful col-
leagues from other institutions include Dr. Rob Byrne, Dr. Tammy Gou-
let, and Dr. Leslie Jones.
I thank publisher Michael Hackett for his support and friendship.
Brand manager Chris Loewenberg is always friendly, helpful, and fo-
cused on developing the best possible product. I appreciate marketing
manager Chris Ho for her bright, articulate, and competitive attitude.
Anne Winch, the greatest developmental editor in the history of publish-
ing, is amazing, and I can’t imagine doing this work without her. April
Southwood keeps the entire production team moving forward with good
humor. Emily Tietz and photo research coordinator John Leland provide
outstanding service in photo selections. Designer Trevor Goodman has
helped make the book look beautiful. Jane Peden has been helpful in
arranging travel, processing payments, ordering books, and doing many
other small things that make life easier. Finally, I appreciate my friends
Michael Lange (now retired) and Patrick Reidy, without whose support
I would not be writing textbooks at all.
MPS produced the art and composed the beautiful page layouts. I
appreciate their artistic talent and creative ideas for integrating the nar-
rative with the illustrations. In addition, Sandy Windelspecht from Rico-
chet Creative Productions and Dr. Sue Edwards have done an amazing
job transforming our storyboards into wonderful tutorials.
My family and friends continue to encourage me. Thank you to my
parents, my sister, and my in-laws for their pride and continued support.
I also thank my friends Kelly Damphousse, Phil Gibson, Ben and Angie
Holt, Karen and Bruce Renfroe, Ingo and Andrea Schlupp, Clarke and
Robin Stroud, Matt Taylor and Elise Knowlton, Mark Walvoord, and Mi-
chael Windelspecht. Sidecar the cat occasionally turns up at the office as
well. Finally, my husband Doug Gaffin is always there for me, helping
in countless large and small ways. I could not do this work without him.

Reviewers
Sylvester Allred Yvonne E. Cole Jennifer Foulk
Northern Arizona University Saint Louis Community College– Montgomery County Community College
Paul Assanah Florissant Valley Swapan Ghosh
Prince George’s Community College Susan Cordova Indiana State University
Sarah Bales Central New Mexico Community College Tamar Goulet
Moraine Valley Community College Jason Cox University of Mississippi
Hirendra Nath Banerjee Indiana University Southeast Paul Hapeman
Elizabeth City State University Joy Cox University of Florida
Molly Baxter Indiana University Southeast Jill Harp
Southeastern Community College Scott Crousillac Winston Salem State University
Wilbert Butler Louisiana State University Kevin Hollis
Tallahassee Community College Douglas Darnowski Ivy Tech Community College–
Robert Stephen Byrne III Indiana University Southeast Sellersburg
California State University–Fullerton Lewis Deaton Jessica Hopkins
Marilyn Caldwell University of Louisiana–Lafayette Flathead Valley Community College
Saint Louis Community College– Danielle M. DuCharme Mashagae Hunte-Brown
Florissant Valley Waubonsee Community College Drexel University
Aaron Cassill Angela Foster Diana E. Hurlbut
University of Texas–San Antonio Wake Tech Community College Irvine Valley College
Reggie Cobb Brandon Foster Evelyn Jackson
Nash Community College Wake Tech Community College The University of Mississippi

xvii
xviii Acknowledgments

Scott Johnson Jamie C. Moon Missouri State University

Wake Technical Community College University of North Florida Deemah Schirf
Anthony Jones Christine Morin The University of Texas Health Science
Tallahassee Community College Prince George’s Community College Center at San Antonio
Ragupathy Kannan Scott Murdoch Jennifer Scoby
University of Arkansas– Moraine Valley Community College Illinois Central College
Fort Smith Rodney K. Nelson Erica L. Sharar
Arnold Karpoff University of Arkansas–Fort Smith Irvine Valley College
University of Louisville Trent Nguyen Del William Smith
Jefferey Kaufmann Tarrant County College–Trinity River Dixie State College
Irvine Valley College Campus Jennifer Smith
Bobby Lewis Brandi Norman Triton College
Elizabeth City State University University of North Carolina–Pembroke Ayodotun O. Sodipe
Delia Lister Judith D. Ochrietor Texas Southern University
Pittsburg State University University of North Florida Ronald Tavernier
Cynthia Littlejohn Igor V. Oksov State University of New York–Canton
University of Southern Mississippi Union County College Jeff Taylor
Suzanne Long Jennifer O’Malley State University of New York–Canton
Monroe Community College Saint Charles Community College Jeffrey Thomas
Eric Lovely Bruce Parker Queens University of Charlotte
Arkansas Tech University Utah Valley University Sue Trammell
Jose Maldonado Marcia Pierce John A. Logan College
El Paso Community College Eastern Kentucky University Michael Troyan
Cindy Malone Steve Pollock Pennsylvania State University
California State University Northridge Louisiana State University Muatasem Ubeidat
Mark Manteuffel Roger Ramsammy Southwestern Oklahoma State University
Saint Louis Community College– Palm Beach State College Thomas Vogel
Florissant Valley Stanley Rice Western Illinois University
Lisa Maranto Southeastern Oklahoma State University Chris Wendtland
Prince George’s Community College Darryl Ritter Monroe Community College
Elizabeth Mays Northwest Florida State College Leslie Whiteman-Richardson
Illinois Central College Justin N. Rosemier Virginia State University
Lance McBrayer Lakeland Community College James T. Williams
Georgia Southern University Yelena Rudayeva Maysville Community & Technical College
Jennifer Metzler Palm Beach State College–Central Brett Woods
Ball State University Lynn Rumfelt University of Wisconsin–Whitewater
Paula Miles Gordon State College Mary Zets
Pulaski Technical College Michael Rutledge University of North Carolina–Pembroke
J. Jean Mitchell Middle Tennessee State University Brittany Ziegler
Northwest Florida State College Georgianna Saunders Minnesota State University–Mankato
Detailed Contents
Brief Contents v | About the Author vi | An Introduction for Student’s Using This Textbook viii | Author’s Guide to Using
Digital Tools xi | Changes by Chapter xiii | Acknowledgments xvii
UniT 1 Science, Chemistry, and Cells
1 Scientific Study of Life 2
1.1 What Is Life? 3
A. Life Is Organized 5
B. Life Requires Energy 5
C. Life Maintains Internal
Constancy 6
D. Life Reproduces Itself, Grows,
and Develops 6
E. Life Evolves 7
1.2 The Tree of Life Includes Three Main Branches 9
1.3 Scientists Study the Natural World 10
A. The Scientific Method Has Multiple
Interrelated Parts 10
B. An Experimental Design Is a Careful Plan 12
C. Theories Are Comprehensive Explanations 13
D. Scientific Inquiry Has Limitations 14
E. Biology Continues to Advance 16
Burning Question Are viruses alive? 8
Why We Care It’s Hard to Know What’s Bad for You 15
Burning Question Why am I here? 16
Investigating Life The Orchid and the Moth 16
2 Chemistry of Life 20
2.1 Atoms Make Up All Matter 21
A. Elements Are Fundamental Types
of Matter 21
B. Atoms Are Particles of
Elements 22
C. Isotopes Have Different Numbers
of Neutrons 23
2.2 Chemical Bonds Link Atoms 24
A. Electrons Determine Bonding 25
B. In an Ionic Bond, One Atom Transfers Electrons
to Another Atom 25
C. In a Covalent Bond, Atoms Share Electrons 26
D. Partial Charges on Polar Molecules Create
Hydrogen Bonds 28
2.3 Water Is Essential to Life 29
A. Water Is Cohesive and Adhesive 29
B. Many Substances Dissolve in Water 29
C. Water Regulates Temperature 30
D. Water Expands As It Freezes 30
E. Water Participates in Life’s Chemical Reactions 31
2.4 Cells Have an Optimum pH 32
2.5 Cells Contain Four Major Types of Organic
Molecules 33
A. Large Organic Molecules Are Composed
of Smaller Subunits 33
B. Carbohydrates Include Simple Sugars and
Polysaccharides 34
C. Proteins Are Complex and Highly Versatile 36
D. Nucleic Acids Store and Transmit Genetic Information 38
E. Lipids Are Hydrophobic and Energy-Rich 40
Why We Care Acids and Bases in Everyday Life 34
Burning Question What does it mean when food is “organic”
or “natural”? 35
Why We Care Sugar Substitutes and Fake Fats 42
Burning Question What is junk food? 43
Investigating Life Infected Insects Go Green 44
3 Cells 48
3.1 Cells Are the Units of Life 49
A. Simple Lenses Revealed the First
Glimpses of Cells 49
B. Microscopes Magnify Cell
Structures 49
C. All Cells Have Features in
Common 51
3.2 Different Cell Types Characterize Life’s
Three Domains 52
A. Domains Bacteria and Archaea Contain
Prokaryotic Organisms 52
B. Domain Eukarya Contains Organisms
with Complex Cells 53
xix
xx Contents
3.3 A Membrane Separates Each Cell from Its
Surroundings 54
3.4 Eukaryotic Organelles Divide Labor 56
A. The Nucleus, Endoplasmic Reticulum,
and Golgi Interact to Secrete Substances 57
B. Lysosomes, Vacuoles, and Peroxisomes
Are Cellular Digestion Centers 59
C. Mitochondria Extract Energy from Nutrients 60
D. Photosynthesis Occurs in Chloroplasts 60
3.5 The Cytoskeleton Supports Eukaryotic Cells 62
3.6 Cells Stick Together and Communicate
with One Another 64
Burning Question Is it possible to make an artificial cell
from scratch? 55
Why We Care Most of Your Cells Are Not Your Own 57
Investigating Life Bacterial Magnets 65
4 The Energy of Life 68
4.1 All Cells Capture and Use
Energy 69
A. Energy Allows Cells to Do Life’s
Work 69
B. Energy Is Converted from One
Form to Another 70
4.2 Networks of Chemical Reactions
Sustain Life 71
A. Chemical Reactions Absorb or Release Energy 71
B. Linked Oxidation and Reduction Reactions Form Electron
Transport Chains 71
4.3 ATP Is Cellular Energy Currency 72
A. Energy in ATP Is Critical to the Life of a Cell 72
B. ATP Represents Short-Term Energy Storage 73
4.4 Enzymes Speed Reactions 74
A. Enzymes Bring Reactants Together 74
B. Many Factors Affect Enzyme Activity 74
4.5 Membrane Transport May Release Energy
or Cost Energy 75
A. Passive Transport Does Not Require
Energy Input 76
B. Active Transport Requires
Energy Input 78
C. Endocytosis and Exocytosis Use Vesicles
to Transport Substances 79
Why We Care Enzymes Are Everywhere 74
Burning Question Do hand sanitizers work? 75
Investigating Life Does Natural Selection Maintain
Cystic Fibrosis? 80
5 Photosynthesis 84
5.1 Life Depends on
Photosynthesis 85
5.2 Photosynthetic Pigments
Capture Sunlight 86
5.3 Chloroplasts Are the Sites of
Photosynthesis 87
5.4 Photosynthesis Occurs in Two Stages 88
5.5 The Light Reactions Begin Photosynthesis 89
A. Light Striking Photosystem II Provides the Energy
to Produce ATP 90
B. Electrons from Photosystem I Reduce NADP+ to
NADPH 91
5.6 The Carbon Reactions Produce Carbohydrates 92
5.7 C3, C4, and CAM Plants Use Different Carbon
Fixation Pathways 93
Burning Question Why do leaves change colors in the fall? 89
Burning Question Does air have mass? 91
Why We Care Weed Killers 93
Investigating Life Solar-Powered Sea Slugs 95
6 How Cells Release Energy 98
6.1 Cells Use Energy in Food to
Make ATP 99
6.2 Cellular Respiration Includes
Three Main Processes 100
6.3 In Eukaryotic Cells, Mitochondria
Produce Most ATP 101
6.4 Glycolysis Breaks Down Glucose to Pyruvate 102
6.5 Aerobic Respiration Yields Much More ATP than
Glycolysis Alone 103
A. Pyruvate Is Oxidized to Acetyl CoA 103
B. The Krebs Cycle Produces ATP and Electron
Carriers 104
C. The Electron Transport Chain Drives ATP Formation 105
6.6 How Many ATPs Can One Glucose Molecule
Yield? 106
6.7 Other Food Molecules Enter the Energy-Extracting
Pathways 107
6.8 Fermentation Generates ATP Only in Glycolysis 108
Why We Care Some Poisons Inhibit Respiration 103
Burning Question What happens during hibernation? 107
Investigating Life Hot Plants Offer Heat Rewards 109

UNIT 2 DNA, Inheritance, and Biotechnology
7 DNA Structure and Gene
Function 112
7.1 DNA Is a Double Helix 113
7.2 DNA Stores Genetic Information:
An Overview 115
7.3 Transcription Uses a
DNA Template to Build
RNA  116
7.4 Translation Builds the Protein 118
A. Translation Requires mRNA, tRNA,
and Ribosomes 118
B. Translation Occurs in Three Steps 119
C. Proteins Must Fold Correctly after
Translation 120
7.5 Protein Synthesis Is Highly Regulated 121
A. Operons Are Groups of Bacterial Genes That Share
One Promoter 121
B. Eukaryotic Organisms Use Many Methods to Regulate
Gene Expression 121
7.6 Mutations Change DNA  123
A. Mutations Range from Silent to Devastating 123
B. What Causes Mutations? 124
C. Mutations Are Important for Many Reasons 125
7.7 Viruses Are Genes Wrapped in a Protein
Coat 126
A. Viruses Are Smaller and Simpler
than Cells 126
B. Viral Replication Occurs in Five Stages 127
7.8 Viruses Infect All Cell Types 128
A. Bacteriophages May Kill Cells Immediately or
“Hide” in a Cell 128
B. Some Animal Viruses Linger for Years 129
C. Viruses Cause Diseases in Plants 131
7.9 Drugs and Vaccines Help Fight Viral
Infections 131
7.10 Viroids and Prions Are Other Noncellular
Infectious Agents 132
Why We Care Poisons that Block Protein Production 120
Burning Question Is there a gay gene? 125
Burning Question Why do we get sick when the weather
turns cold? 128
Investigating Life Clues to the Origin of Language 133
Contents xxi
8 DNA Replication, Binary Fission, and
Mitosis 138
8.1 Cells Divide and Cells Die 139
A. Sexual Life Cycles Include
Mitosis, Meiosis,
and Fertilization 139
B. Cell Death Is Part of Life 140
8.2 DNA Replication Precedes Cell
Division 141
8.3 Bacteria and Archaea Divide by Binary Fission 142
8.4 Replicated Chromosomes Condense as a Eukaryotic
Cell Prepares to Divide 143
8.5 Mitotic Division Generates Exact Cell Copies 145
A. DNA Is Copied during Interphase 145
B. Chromosomes Divide during Mitosis 146
C. The Cytoplasm Splits in Cytokinesis 148
8.6 Cancer Arises When Cells Divide out of Control 148
A. Chemical Signals Regulate Cell Division 148
B. Cancer Cells Lose Control of the Cell Cycle 149
C. Cancer Treatments Remove or Kill Abnormal Cells 149
D. Genes and Environment Both Can Increase Cancer Risk 150
Burning Question Do all human cells divide at the same rate? 145
Why We Care Skin Cancer 150
Investigating Life Cutting Off a Tumor’s Supply Lines in
the War on Cancer 150
9 Sexual Reproduction and
Meiosis 154
9.1 Why Sex? 155
9.2 Diploid Cells Contain Two
Homologous Sets
of Chromosomes 156
9.3 Meiosis Is Essential in Sexual
Reproduction 157
9.4 In Meiosis, DNA Replicates Once, but the Nucleus
Divides Twice 158
9.5 Meiosis Generates Enormous Variability 160
A. Crossing Over Shuffles Alleles 160
B. Chromosome Pairs Align Randomly during
Metaphase I  161
C. Random Fertilization Multiplies the Diversity 162
xxii Contents

9.6 Mitosis and Meiosis Have Different Functions:
A Summary 162
9.7 Errors Sometimes Occur in Meiosis 164
A. Polyploidy Means Extra Chromosome Sets 164
B. Nondisjunction Results in Extra or Missing
Chromosomes 164
Burning Question If mules are sterile, then how are
they produced? 160
Why We Care Multiple Births 164
Investigating Life Evolving Germs Select for Sex in Worms 167
B. X Inactivation Prevents “Double Dosing”
of Proteins 184
10.8 Pedigrees Show Modes of Inheritance 186
10.9 Most Traits Are Influenced by the Environment
and Multiple Genes 188
A. The Environment Can Alter the Phenotype 188
B. Polygenic Traits Depend on More than
One Gene 189
Burning Question What does “recessive” really mean? 174
Burning Question Is male baldness really from the female side
of the family? 186

10 Patterns of Inheritance 170

Why We Care The Origin of Obesity 188
Investigating Life Heredity and the Hungry Hordes 190
10.1 Chromosomes Are Packets of
Genetic Information:
A Review 171
11 DNA Technology 196
10.2 Mendel’s Experiments
Uncovered Basic Laws 11.1 DNA Technology Is Changing
of Inheritance 172 the World 197
A. Dominant Alleles Appear to Mask Recessive 11.2 DNA Technology’s Tools Apply
Alleles 173 to Individual Genes or Entire
B. For Each Gene, a Cell’s Two Alleles May Be Identical Genomes 198
or Different 174
10.3 The Two Alleles of a Gene End Up in Different A. Transgenic Organisms Contain DNA from
Gametes 175 Other Species 198
A. The Simplest Punnett Squares Track the Inheritance B. DNA Sequencing Reveals the Order
of One Gene 175 of Bases 201
B. Meiosis Explains Mendel’s Law of Segregation 176 C. PCR Replicates DNA in a Test Tube 202
D. DNA Profiling Detects Genetic
10.4 Genes on Different Chromosomes Are Inherited Differences 203
Independently 178
A. Tracking Two-Gene Inheritance May Require Large 11.3 Stem Cells and Cloning Add New Ways to Copy
Punnett Squares 178 Cells and Organisms 205
B. Meiosis Explains Mendel’s Law of Independent A. Stem Cells Divide to Form Multiple
Assortment 178 Cell Types 205
C. The Product Rule Replaces Complex Punnett B. Cloning Produces Identical Copies of
Squares 178 an Organism 206

10.5 Genes on the Same Chromosome May Be Inherited
Together 180
A. Genes on the Same Chromosome
Are Linked 180
B. Linkage Maps Derive from Crossover
Frequencies 181
10.6 Gene Expression Can Alter Phenotypic Ratios 182
A. Incomplete Dominance and Codominance Add
Phenotype Classes 182
B. Inheritance Patterns Are Often Complicated 182
10.7 Sex-Linked Genes Have Unique Inheritance
Patterns 184
A. X-Linked Recessive Disorders Affect More Males
than Females 184
11.4 Many Medical Tests and Procedures Use DNA
Technology 208
A. DNA Probes Detect Specific Sequences 208
B. Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis Can Screen Embryos
for Some Diseases 208
C. Genetic Testing Can Detect Existing Diseases 209
D. Gene Therapy Uses DNA to Treat Disease 210
E. Medical Uses of DNA Technology Raise Many
Ethical Issues 210
Burning Question Is selective breeding the same as genetic
engineering? 198
Burning Question What are the uses of DNA testing? 205
Why We Care Gene Doping 211
Investigating Life Weeds Get a Boost from Their Transgenic
Cousins 212
 Contents xxiii

UniT 3 Evolution and Diversity

12 Forces of Evolutionary Change 216

12.1 Evolution Acts on
Populations 217
12.2 Evolutionary Thought Has
Evolved for Centuries 218
A. Many Explanations Have Been
Proposed for Life’s
Diversity 218
B. Charles Darwin’s Voyage Provided a Wealth of Evidence 219
C. On the Origin of Species Proposed Natural Selection as an
Evolutionary Mechanism 220
D. Evolutionary Theory Continues to Expand 222
12.3 Natural Selection Molds Evolution 223
A. Adaptations Enhance Reproductive Success 223
B. Natural Selection Eliminates Poorly Adapted Phenotypes 224
C. Natural Selection Does Not Have a Goal 224
D. What Does “Survival of the Fittest” Mean? 225
12.4 Evolution Is Inevitable in Real Populations 226
A. At Hardy–Weinberg Equilibrium, Allele Frequencies
Do Not Change 226
B. In Reality, Allele Frequencies Always Change 227
12.5 Natural Selection Can Shape Populations
in Many Ways 228
12.6 Sexual Selection Directly Influences Reproductive
Success 230
12.7 Evolution Occurs in Several Additional Ways 231
A. Mutation Fuels Evolution 231
B. Genetic Drift Occurs by Chance 231
C. Nonrandom Mating Concentrates Alleles Locally 233
D. Migration Moves Alleles Between Populations 233
Why We Care Dogs Are Products of Artificial Selection 220
Burning Question Why doesn’t natural selection produce one
superorganism? 226
Why We Care The Unending War with Bacteria 229
Investigating Life Size Matters in Fishing Frenzy 234
13 Evidence of Evolution 238
13.1 Clues to Evolution Lie in
the Earth, Body Structures,
and Molecules 239
13.2 Fossils Record Evolution 214
A. The Fossil Record Is Often
Incomplete 241
B. The Age of a Fossil Can Be
Estimated in Two Ways 242
13.3 Biogeography Considers Species’ Geographical
Locations 243
A. The Theory of Plate Tectonics Explains Earth’s
Shifting Continents 243
B. Species Distributions Reveal Evolutionary Events 244
13.4 Anatomical Comparisons May Reveal Common
Descent 245
A. Homologous Structures Have a Shared
Evolutionary Origin 245
B. Vestigial Structures Have Lost Their Functions 245
C. Convergent Evolution Produces Superficial
Similarities 246
13.5 Embryonic Development Patterns Provide
Evolutionary Clues 246
13.6 Molecules Reveal Relatedness 248
A. Comparing DNA and Protein Sequences May Reveal
Close Relationships 248
B. Molecular Clocks Help Assign Dates to
Evolutionary Events 249
Burning Question Does the fossil record include transitional
forms? 241
Why We Care An Evolutionary View of the Hiccups 248
Investigating Life Evolving Backwards 250
14 Speciation and Extinction 254
14.1 What Is a Species? 255
A. Linnaeus Classified Life Based on
Appearance 255
B. Species Can Be Defined Based on
the Potential to Interbreed 255
14.2 Reproductive Barriers Cause
Species to Diverge 256
A. Prezygotic Barriers Prevent Fertilization 258
B. Postzygotic Barriers Prevent Development of
a Fertile Offspring 258
14.3 Spatial Patterns Define Two Types of Speciation 259
A. Allopatric Speciation Reflects a Geographic Barrier 259
B. Sympatric Speciation Occurs in a Shared Habitat 260
C. Determining the Type of Speciation May Be Difficult 261
14.4 Speciation May Be Gradual or May Occur in Bursts 262
14.5 Extinction Marks the End of the Line 263
14.6 Biological Classification Systems Are Based on
Common Descent 265
A. The Taxonomic Hierarchy Organizes Species into Groups 265
B. A Cladistics Approach Is Based on Shared Derived
Traits 265
xxiv Contents

C. Cladograms Depict Hypothesized Evolutionary

Relationships 266 16 Evolution and Diversity of
D. Many Traditional Groups Are Not Clades 267 Plants 300
Burning Question Can people watch evolution and speciation 16.1 Plants Have Changed the
in action? 258 World 301
Why We Care Recent Species Extinctions 264 A. Green Algae Are the Closest
Burning Question Why does evolution occur rapidly in some Relatives of Plants 301
species but slowly in others? 267
B. Plants Are Adapted to Life on
Investigating Life Birds Do It, Bees Do It 268
Land 303
16.2 Bryophytes Are the Simplest
15 Evolution and Diversity of Microbial Plants 306

Life 272
15.1 Life’s Origin Remains
Mysterious 273
A. The First Organic Molecules
May Have Formed in a Chemical
“Soup” 274
B. Clays May Have Helped
Monomers Form Polymers 275
C. Membranes Enclosed the Molecules 276
D. Early Life Changed Earth Forever 276
15.2 Prokaryotes Are a Biological Success Story 277
A. What Is a Prokaryote? 277
B. Prokaryote Classification Traditionally Relies on Cell
Structure and Metabolism 278
C. Prokaryotes Include Two Domains with Enormous
Diversity 280
D. Bacteria and Archaea Are Essential to All Life 281
15.3 Eukaryotic Cells and Multicellularity Arose More
Than a Billion Years Ago 284
A. Endosymbiosis Explains the Origin of Mitochondria
and Chloroplasts 284
B. Multicellularity May Also Have Its Origin in
Cooperation 286
15.4 Protists Are the Simplest Eukaryotes 287
A. What Is a Protist? 287
B. Algae Are Photosynthetic Protists 287
C. Some Heterotrophic Protists Were Once Classified
as Fungi 289
D. Protozoa Are Diverse Heterotrophic Protists 290
15.5 Fungi Are Essential Decomposers 292
A. What Is a Fungus? 292
B. Fungal Classification Is Based on Reproductive
Structures 293
C. Fungi Interact with Other Organisms 294
Burning Question Does new life spring from simple molecules
now, as it did in the past? 276
Why We Care Antibiotics and Other Germ Killers 282
Burning Question Why and how do algae form? 285
Why We Care Preventing Mold 296
Investigating Life Shining a Spotlight on Danger 297
16.3 Seedless Vascular Plants Have Xylem and Phloem
but No Seeds 308
16.4 Gymnosperms Are “Naked Seed” Plants 310
16.5 Angiosperms Produce Seeds in Fruits 312
Burning Question Do all plants live on land? 303
Burning Question What are biofuels? 304
Why We Care Gluten and Human Health 312
Investigating Life Genetic Messages from Ancient Ecosystems 314
17 Evolution and Diversity of
Animals 318
17.1 Animals Live Nearly
Everywhere 319
A. What Is an Animal? 319
B. Animal Life Began in the
Water 319
C. Animal Features Reflect Shared
Ancestry 320
D. Biologists Also Consider Additional Characteristics 322
17.2 Sponges Are Simple Animals That Lack
Differentiated Tissues 323
17.3 Cnidarians Are Radially Symmetrical, Aquatic
Animals 324
17.4 Flatworms Have Bilateral Symmetry and Incomplete
Digestive Tracts 325
17.5 Mollusks Are Soft, Unsegmented Animals 326
17.6 Annelids Are Segmented Worms 327
17.7 Nematodes Are Unsegmented, Cylindrical
Worms 328
17.8 Arthropods Have Exoskeletons and Jointed
Appendages 329
A. Arthropods Have Complex Organ Systems 329
B. Arthropods Are the Most Diverse Animals 330
17.9 Echinoderm Adults Have Five-Part, Radial
Symmetry 334
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 CHAPTER XIV

T HERE had been a complete change in the officials of the oasis

since we had last been there. The new doctor—Wissa by name
—came round to call the day after my arrival. He was a Copt.
He belonged to a rich family, owning large landed estates in the
neighbourhood of Assiut.
He spoke English almost perfectly, for like so many Egyptians he
was a born linguist. He was, I believe, almost equally at home with
French and German. His people being very well-to-do had given him
an excellent education, part of which he had received in England and
other European countries.
Like all the Egyptians who have been educated in Europe, he was
an interesting mixture of East and West—and a very curious
compound it was. He talked most learnedly on the subject of
medicine, and appeared to have especially studied such local
diseases as “dengue” and “bilharsia.” Whenever I allowed him to do
so, he gave me most racy accounts of his life as a medical student in
Europe.
But he was an ardent treasure seeker, and his favourite topic of
conversation was occultism and magic, in all of which he had the
native Egyptian’s profound belief. He, the Senussi sheykh, Ahmed el
Mawhub, and the ’omda of Rashida, had formed a sort of partnership
to search for treasure, agreeing to divide equally between them
anything that they found.
He told me a good deal about the Mawhub family of the Senussi
zawia at Qasr Dakhl. He said they were entirely neglecting their
religious work in order to make money, and had then only got five
pupils left in the zawia at Qasr Dakhl, where formerly they had had
great numbers. Old Sheykh Mohammed el Mawhub, who was well
over seventy, had just started, he said, for Kufara with one servant
and three men, who had been sent from that oasis to fetch him.
Wissa professed to have collected information from some
unknown source of treasure that was hidden in many places in or
near the oasis. One place in which he said it was to be found was in
a stone temple eighteen hours’ journey to the west of the village of
Gedida. I afterwards met a native who said he had ridden out and
found this place, so probably it exists—the temple, not the treasure.
He was clearly badly bitten with the treasure-seeking mania.
He was, of course, the possessor of a “book of treasure.” In the
triangle between Mut, Masara and Ezbet Sheykh Mufta there is, he
said, an old brick building on a white stone foundation covered by a
dome, known as the Der el Arais—I saw this place afterwards. In it,
under the dome, the book said, is a staircase with seven flights of
steps, at the bottom of which is a passage seven cubits long. At the
end of the passage is a monk—painted, Wissa thought, on the wall.
The book said that there is an iron ring let into the floor near his feet,
and that by pulling the ring a door would be caused to appear—this
Wissa concluded to be a trap-door. Below is a flight of steps, which
the book said must be descended without fear. At the bottom of the
stair is a small chamber in which a king is buried.
The king has a gold ring with a stone in it on his finger. This is a
magic ring, and if it is immersed in water, which is then given to a
sick person, he will at once be cured, no matter what the nature of
his malady may be. In the chamber there is also a clock that goes for
ever, and in addition a sagia (wheel for raising water) that contains
the secret of Zerzura.
After I had got to know him better, he one day suggested that “as I
was looking for Zerzura,” we should join together to search for the
Der el Arais. He offered to let me keep the wonderful clock and
sagia, and any treasure we might find, if I would only let him have
the ring. With the help of that magic ring he felt certain that he would
become the greatest doctor in the world—yet this was a man who
had taken a diploma at the Qasr el ’Aini Hospital, spent a year at St.
Thomas’s, six months at the Rotunda, and another six studying
medicine between Paris and Geneva—and he wanted to cure his
patients with a magic ring!
On leaving Dakhla, as he was an unusually capable native doctor,
he was appointed to Luxor. Here he got into trouble. His sister
contracted plague, and Wissa, without notifying the authorities, as he
should have done, took her into his house, where he seems to have
neglected the most elementary sanitary precautions. The last I heard
of him he was, perhaps naturally, again in disgrace, and was on his
way to take up an appointment at Sollum, where delinquents of his
kind are sent when there is no room for them in the oases.
All this just shows what inestimable benefits an unusually
intelligent native will reap from a highly expensive European
education!
I had several times noticed in Mut a man dressed like a Tripolitan
Arab in a long woollen blanket, but had never been able to get a
good look at him, as he always avoided meeting me. On one
occasion, when he saw me approaching, he even turned back and
slunk round a corner to get out of my way.
Meeting Wissa one day, I asked him if he knew this Maghrabi
Arab. He replied that he was not really an Arab at all, but a native of
Smint, in Dakhla, and that he was a local magician he had often
spoken to me about, who only wore the Tripolitan dress for effect, as
the Western Arabs are noted as being the best sorcerers.
This man was a member of the Senussi—or as it was usually
expressed “he followed the Sheykh.” I found that he was staying with
Shekyh Senussi, the Clerk in Mut, and by a curious coincidence
Qway also happened to be living in the same house.
I gathered that Qway was in the position of an honoured guest, for
nearly every time I saw him he dilated upon Sheykh Senussi’s
kindness to him. At times he became almost sentimental on the
subject, declaring that he was like a brother to him. The reason for
Qway’s affection evidently being that his camel, of which he was so
proud, was being fed on the fat of the land and that he apparently
was getting unlimited tea. This rapprochement between Qway and
the Senussi, added to the rather secretive manner in which it was
going on, made me suspect that this lavish hospitality had some
ulterior object, though it was difficult to see what they were planning.
There were signs, too, that the Senussi were endeavouring to get
round my other men, for when I went one morning to look at the
camels, I saw an unpleasant-looking, pock-marked Arab skulking
about in the yard to which Abd er Rahman had moved them to
protect them from the wind—or the afrit. He kept dodging about
behind the beasts and making for the entrance to the yard, evidently
trying to avoid being seen. When I called him up and spoke to him,
he told me he had come from “the north,” and tried to give the
impression that he had recently left Assiut.
But on questioning Abd er Rahman about him afterwards I found
that he was one of Sheykh Ahmed’s men, who had come down from
his ezba in charge of two camels on some mysterious errand, the
nature of which was not quite clear. Abd er Rahman, when I told him
that he looked a disreputable scoundrel, was loud in his praise.
I managed to elicit one useful piece of information from him, as he
told me that, owing to most of the camels belonging to the Senussi
having gone with old Mawhub, on his journey to Kufara, they only
had three left in the oasis. This was rather welcome news, as I was
afraid that they might go out and tamper with the depots I was
intending to make in the desert.
 CHAPTER XV

A S soon as the camels had been got into good condition I sent
Qway, Abd er Rahman and Ibrahim off with the caravan loaded
with grain, which the two Sudanese were to deposit at Jebel el
Bayed, the hill we had reached at the end of our last journey the
season before.
Ibrahim had not been with me at all the previous season and, as
Abd er Rahman had never even been within sight of the hill, as I had
sent him back to Mut to bring out more water on the journey on
which I reached it, I arranged that Qway should ride with them as far
as the edge of the plateau, where he was to give Abd er Rahman
directions to take him to Jebel el Bayed. Here, however, he was to
leave the caravan and to ride west along the tableland and come
back and report what he had seen.
Abd er Rahman, following the directions given him by Qway,
easily found Jebel el Bayed, and left the grain to form the depot in
the neighbourhood. Qway himself rejoined the caravan on their way
back just before reaching Mut, so they all returned together.
Qway, of course, had done practically nothing. It was difficult to
see the best way of dealing with him. I could, of course, have
discharged him, but drastic remedies are seldom the best, and to
have done so would only have had the effect of playing straight into
the hands of the Senussi, as he was a magnificent guide and they
would have at once gained him as a wholehearted recruit. As he
unfortunately knew the whole of my plans, the better scheme
seemed to be to keep him with me and to tie him up in such a way
that he could do no harm. In the circumstances I thought it best to
send Sheykh Suleyman a letter, asking him to let me have Abdulla
and the best hagin he could find. This, at any rate, would ensure my
having a guide if Qway went wrong; and I hoped by stirring up a little
friction between him and Abdulla to make the latter keep an eye
upon his actions.
Soon after the return of the caravan the mamur left and I went
round to see him off. On the way I looked into the enclosure where
the camels were housed, and again caught Sheykh Ahmed’s pock-
marked camel-man hobnobbing with my men, and saw that he was
stabling his two camels in the neighbouring yard.
On reaching the mamur’s house I found him in a great state of
excitement. The post hagan, with whom he was going to travel, had
omitted, or forgotten, to bring any camels for his baggage. The
mamur was in a terrible state about this, saying that he might have to
send in to the Nile Valley for beasts before he could leave, and that
he was due there himself in six days.
This was an opportunity too good to be lost. I told him there were
two unusually fine camels in the yard next to my caravan, and
suggested that as a Government official going back to the Nile on
duty, he had the power to commandeer them and their drivers, and
suggested that he should do so. No petty native official can resist the
temptation to commandeer anything he has a right to in his district—
it is a relic of the old corrupt Turkish rule. The mamur jumped at the
idea and departed shortly after with a very sulky camel driver and
two of the finest camels owned by the Senussi. It was with great
relief that I saw the last of that pock-marked brute and his beasts, for
their departure left the Senussi with only one camel until in about a
month’s time, when old Mawhub was due to return from Kufara. I
went back to my rooms feeling I had done a good morning’s work,
and effectually prevented the Senussi from getting at the depot I was
making near Jebel el Bayed.
Abdulla, whom I had asked Sheykh Suleyman to send, did not
turn up on the day I had expected; but a day or two afterwards Nimr,
Sheykh Suleyman’s brother, arrived in Mut on some business and
came round to see me. Gorgeously arrayed with a revolver and
silver-mounted sword, he looked a typical bedawi—he certainly
behaved as one. He drank about a gallon of tea, ate half a pound of
Turkish Delight and the best part of a cake that Dahab had made,
and topped up, when I handed him a cigarette box for him to take
one, by taking a handful. He then left, declaring that he was very
mabsut (pleased) with me and promising to send Abdulla along as
soon as he could, and to see that he had a good hagin. As he went
downstairs he turned round, looking much amused, and asked how I
was getting on with Qway!
While dressing one morning I heard Qway below greeting some
old friend of his in the most cordial and affectionate manner; then I
heard him bring him upstairs and, looking through the window, saw
that Abdulla had arrived at last. Qway tapped at the door and, hardly
waiting for me to answer, entered, beaming with satisfaction and
apparently highly delighted at the new arrival—he was an admirable
actor.
Abdulla looked taller and more “feathery” than ever. With a native-
made straw hat on the back of his head and his slender waist tightly
girthed up with a leather strap, he looked almost girlish in his
slimness. But there was nothing very feminine about Abdulla—he
was wiry to the last degree.
He carried an excellent double-barrelled hammer, ejector gun,
broken in the small of the stock it is true, but with the fracture bound
round and round with tin plates and strongly lashed with wire. His
saddlery was irreproachable and hung round with the usual
earthenware jars and leather bags for his food supply.
His hagin was a powerful old male and looked up to any amount
of hard work. I told him to get up on his camel and show me his
paces. Abdulla swung one of his legs, which looked about four feet
long, over the cantle of his saddle and seated himself at once
straight in the seat. He kicked his camel in the ribs and at once got
him into a trot. The pace at which he made that beast move was
something of a revelation and augured well for his capacity as a
scout. He was certainly a very fine rider.
But when I made him take off the saddle I found, as is so often the
case with bedawin camels, the beast had a sore back. There was a
raw, festering place under the saddle on either side of the spine.
 As Abdulla had a hard job before him, I had to see his camel put
right before he started, so we went off to a new doctor, who had
come to take Wissa’s place, to buy some iodoform and cotton-wool,
and proceeded to doctor the hagin. But it was clear that it would take
some days to heal.
It made, however, no difference as it turned out. For the caravan
was unable to start as four ardebs[3] of barley that I had ordered
from Belat, never turned up. The barley question was becoming a
serious one; but by dint of sending the men round Mut from house to
house I managed to buy in small quantities, of a few pounds at a
time, an amount that when put together came to about three ardebs,
with which I had for the moment to be content.
The sores on Abdulla’s hagin having sufficiently healed, I packed
the whole caravan off again into the desert. Abd er Rahman and
Ibrahim as before were to carry stores out to the depot at Jebel el
Bayed. Abdulla’s work was to go on ahead of the caravan, following
directions to be given him by Abd er Rahman, as I was afraid Qway
might mislead him, till he reached Jebel el Bayed. There he was to
climb to the top of the hill, whence he could see the one I had
sighted in the distance the season before. This lay in practically the
same line from Mut as Jebel el Bayed itself. Having in this way got
its bearing, he was to go on to the farther hill, which he was also to
climb and make a note of anything that was to be seen from the
summit. He was then—provided the country ahead of him was not
inhabited—to go on again as far as he could along the same bearing
before returning to Dakhla.
I asked Abdulla how far out he thought he would be able to get. In
a matter-of-fact tone he said he thought he could go four, or perhaps
four and a half, days’ journey beyond Jebel el Bayed before he
turned back. As he would be alone in a strange desert, I doubted
somewhat if he would even reach Jebel el Bayed. But I did not know
Abdulla then.
There really was nothing much for Qway to do, but, as I thought it
better to send him off into the desert to keep him out of mischief, I
told him to ride west again along the plateau.
 Qway was rather subdued. Abdulla’s arrival had considerably
upset him, in spite of his efforts to disguise the fact. He objected
strongly to his going on ahead of the caravan to scout, but I declined
to alter the arrangement. So to keep Abdulla in his place, Qway, with
the usual high-handed manner of the Arabs, when dealing with
Sudanese, collared a water tin of his for his own use. On hearing of
this I went round to the camel-yard and gave Abdulla back his tin,
and pitched into Qway before all the men. Having thus sown a little
discord in the caravan, I told them they had to start in the morning.
I went round again later in the day and found all the Sudanese
having their heads shaved by the village barber and being cupped
on the back of their necks, preparatory for their journey. The cupping
they declared kept the blood from their heads and made them
strong!
This operation was performed by the barber, who made three or
four cuts at the base of the skull on either side of the spine, to which
he applied the wide end of a hollow cow’s horn, pressed this into the
flesh and then sucked hard at a small hole in the point of the horn,
afterwards spitting out the blood he had thus extracted. It seemed an
insanitary method.
The Sudanese were all extremely dark. Abd er Rahman and
Ibrahim even having black, or rather dark brown, patches on their
gums. Their tongues and the palms of their hands, however, showed
pink. Abdulla was even darker. He came up to my room the evening
after his cupping and declared that he was ill. There was nothing
whatever the matter with him, except that he wanted pills and eye-
drops because they were to be had for nothing. But I made a
pretence of examining him, took his temperature, felt his pulse, and
then told him to show me his tongue.
The result of my modest request was rather staggering. He shot
out about six inches of black leather, and I saw that not only his
tongue was almost black, but also his gums and the palms of his
hands as well. He was the most pronounced case of human
melanism I ever saw.
 Sofut.
Sand erosion producing sharp blades of rock very damaging to the soft feet of a
camel. (p. 87).

The Descent into Dakhla Oasis.

This cliff was several hundred feet in height, but the sand drifted against it and made
the descent easy. (p. 36).
 A Made Road.
Made roads are practically unknown in the desert. This one was notched out of the
side of the slope and led to the site of an unknown oasis, where treasure was said to
be hidden. (p. 205).
 CHAPTER XVI

T HE caravan, with Abd er Rahman and Ibrahim, returned, dead

beat, but safe. No less than four of the tanks they had taken out
filled with water had leaked and had had to be brought back. They
had had to race home by day and night marches all the way. But
they had got in all right—we had extraordinary luck in this way.
As Abdulla did not come in till two days later, I began to fear that
something had happened to him. He arrived with his camel in an
awful state. The sores on his back, which appeared to have healed
when he started, had broken out again and were very much worse
than when he first reached Mut.
His camel had gone so badly, he said, that he had not been able
to do half as much as he would have done if his mount had been in
good condition, and he was very vexed about it indeed. He had
followed Abd er Rahman’s directions and had found Jebel el Bayed
without difficulty. He had climbed to the top and seen the second hill
beyond. He had then gone on towards it—his camel going very badly
indeed—for a day and a half over easy desert, after which he had
crossed a belt of dunes that took about an hour to negotiate. Then
after another half-day he managed to reach the second hill and had
climbed to the top of it. To the south and south-west lay open desert
with no dunes, falling towards the west, dotted with hills and
stretching away as far as he could see. To the north he had been
able to see the cliff on the south of the plateau—the pass down
which we had descended into the “Valley of the Mist” being distinctly
visible, though it must have been a good hundred and twenty miles
away. After this he said he could do no more with such a wretched
camel, so he had been obliged to return. He was very apologetic
indeed for having done so little.
 It never seemed to occur to this simple Sudani that he had made
a most remarkable journey. Acting only on directions given him by
Abd er Rahman, he had gone off entirely alone, into an absolutely
waterless and barren desert, with which he was totally unacquainted,
with a very sore-backed camel and riding only on a baggage saddle
—his riding saddle had got broken before the start—but he had
covered in thirteen days a distance, as the crow flies, of nearly four
hundred miles, and more remarkable still had apologised for not
having been able to do more! He got some bakhshish that surprised
him—and greatly disgusted Qway who got none.
The fact that Abdulla saw the pass into the “Valley of the Mist”
from the top of the hill he reached—Jebel Abdulla as the men called
it—shows that the hill was of considerable height, for it, Jebel el
Bayed and the pass, lay in practically a straight line, and the desert
there was very level. The summit of the pass was about 1700 feet
high—the cliff itself being about 250 feet. But it could not be seen
from the top of Jebel el Bayed, which was 2150 feet, owing to a low
intervening rise in the ground. A simple diagram will show that, as it
was visible over this ridge from the top of Jebel Abdulla, the latter
must have been at least 2700 feet high.
Qway, of course, though excellently mounted, had done
practically nothing. There could be little doubt that he and the
Senussi were hand in glove. He was always asking leave to go to
places like Hindaw, Smint and Qalamun, where I knew the Senussi
had zawias, and the Sheykh el Afrit at Smint and Sheykh Senussi,
the poet in Mut, were his two intimate friends, and both of them
members of the Senussia.
The Senussi had always been a nuisance to travellers wanting to
go into their country. It was, however, difficult to see what they could
do. They would not, I thought, dare to do anything openly in the
oasis and, by getting rid of two out of their three camels I had rather
tied them up for the time being, so far as the desert was concerned.
So I went on with my preparations for our final journey with a fairly
easy mind, making the fatal mistake of underestimating my
opponents.
 First I engaged the local tinsmith to patch up six tanks that had
developed leaks. Then I sent Ibrahim round the town to see if he
could not find some more weapons. He returned with a neat little
battle axe, a spear and a six-foot gas-pipe gun with a flint-lock. All of
which I bought as curiosities.
We then went out and tried the gun. It shot, it is true, a few feet to
one side; but little trifles like that are nothing to a bedawi. The
general opinion of the men was that it was a very good gun indeed.
Abdulla said he had been in the camel corps and understood guns,
and undertook to put it right. He shut one eye and looked along the
barrel, then he rested the muzzle on the ground and stamped about
half-way down the barrel to bend it. He repeated this process several
times, then handed the gun back to Ibrahim, saying that he thought
he had got it straight.
I got up a shooting match between the three Sudanese to test it.
The target was a tin of bad meat at eighty yards, and Ibrahim with
the flint-lock gun, with his second shot, hit the tin and won the ten
piastres that I offered as a prize, beating Abd er Rahman and
Abdulla armed with Martini’s.
Then I set to work to buy some more barley for our journey and
difficulties at once arose. I sent Abd er Rahman and Abdulla with
some camels to Belat, but the ’omda told them he had sold the
whole of his grain; though they learnt in the oasis that he had not
been able to sell any and still had huge stores of it left.
Abd er Rahman began dropping ponderous hints about Qway, the
Senussi, “arrangements” and “intrigue”; but, as usual, declined to be
more definite. Qway, when I told him of the difficulty of procuring
grain, was sympathetic, but piously resigned. It was the will of Allah.
Certainly the ’omda of Belat had none left—he knew this as a fact. It
would be quite impossible, he said, to carry out my fifteen days’
journey with such a small quantity of grain and he thought the only
thing for me to do was to abandon the idea of it altogether.
I told him I had no intention of giving the journey up in any
circumstances. The only other plan he could think of was to buy the
grain from the Senussi at Qasr Dakhl. They had plenty—excellent
barley. I mentioned this to Dahab, who was extremely scornful,
declaring that they would not sell me any, or if they did, that it would
be poisoned, for he said it was well known that the Mawhubs
thoroughly understood medicine.
The new mamur arrived in due course. The previous one, ’Omar
Wahaby, had endeavoured to ayb me by not calling till I threatened
him. The new one went one better—he sent for me—and had to be
badly snubbed in consequence.
The natives of Egypt attach great importance to this kind of thing,
and I was glad to see that my treatment of the mamur caused a
great improvement in the attitude of the inhabitants of Mut towards
me, which had been anything but friendly before.
The mamur himself must have been considerably impressed. He
called and enquired about my men, and asked if I had any
complaints to make against them. I told him Qway was working very
badly and had got very lazy; so he said he thought, before I started,
that he had better speak to them privately. I knew I should hear from
my men what happened, so thinking it might have a good effect upon
Qway, I sent them round in the afternoon to the merkaz.
They returned looking very serious—Abd er Rahman in particular
seemed almost awed. I asked him what the mamur had said. He told
me he had taken down all their names and addresses, and then had
told them they must work their best for me, because, though he did
not quite know exactly who I was, I was clearly a very important
person indeed—all of which shows how very easily a fellah is
impressed by a little side!—il faut se faire valoir in dealing with a
native.
The mamur afterwards gave me his opinion of my men. His views
on Dahab were worth repeating. He told me he had questioned him
and come to the conclusion that he was honest, very honest—“In
fact,” he said, “he is almost stupid!”
The barley boycott began to assume rather alarming proportions.
The men could hear of no grain anywhere in the oasis, except at
Belat, Tenida and the Mawhubs, and it really looked as though I
should have to abandon my journey.
I could, of course, have tried to get some grain from Kharga, but it
would have taken over a week to fetch. It was doubtful, too, whether
I could have got as much as I wanted without going to the Nile Valley
for it, and that would have wasted a fortnight at least. I was at my
wits’ end to know what to do.
The Deus ex machina arrived in the form of the police officer—a
rather unusual shape for it to take in the oases. He came round one
afternoon to call. I was getting very bored with his conversation,
when he aroused my interest by saying he was sending some men
to get barley for the Government from the Senussi at Qasr Dakhl.
From the way in which he was always talking about money and
abusing the “avaricious” ’omdas, I felt pretty sure that he lost no
chance of turning an honest piastre; so finding that the price he was
going to pay was only seventy piastres the ardeb, I told him that I
was paying hundred and twenty, and that, if he bought an extra four
ardebs, I would take them off him at that price—and I omitted to
make any suggestion as to what should be done with the balance of
the purchase money.
As trading in Government stores is a criminal offence, I felt fairly
sure that he would not tell the Senussi for what purpose that extra
four ardebs was being bought.
The result of this transaction was that, in spite of the barley
boycott that the Senussi had engineered against me, I was
eventually able to start off again to explore the desert, whose secrets
they were so jealously guarding, with my camels literally staggering
under the weight of some really magnificent grain, bought, if they
had only known it, from the Senussi themselves!
The plan for the journey was as follows: we were to leave Dakhla
with every camel in the caravan, including the hagins, loaded to their
maximum carrying capacity with water-tanks and grain. At the end of
every day’s march a small depot was to be left, consisting of a pair of
the small tanks I had had made for the journey, and sufficient barley
for the camels and food for the men for a day’s supply. The reduction
in the weight of the baggage entailed by the making of these depots,
added to that of the water and grain consumed by the caravan on
the journey, I calculated would leave two camels free by the time that
we reached the five bushes.
Qway and Abdulla, who were to accompany the caravan up to this
point, were then to go on ahead of the caravan with their hagins
loaded with only enough water and grain to take them out to the
main depot at Jebel el Bayed. Here they were to renew their
supplies, go on for another day together and then separate. Qway
was to follow Abdulla’s tracks out to the second hill—Jebel Abdulla
as the men called it—that the Sudani had reached alone on his
scouting journey, and was to go on as much farther as he felt was
safe in the same direction, after which he was to retrace his steps
until he met the caravan coming out along the same route, bringing
out water and supplies for his relief. Abdulla’s instructions were to go
due south when he parted from Qway for two or, if possible, three
days. Then he was to strike off west till he cut Qway’s track, which
we should be following, and return upon it till he met the caravan,
which would then go on along the line of the old road we had found
to complete our fifteen days’ journey, and, if possible, push on till we
had got right across the desert into the French Sudan.
I was not expecting great results from Qway’s journey, but he
knew too much about our plans and was too useful a man in the
desert to make it advisable to leave him behind us in Dakhla, where
the Senussi might have made great use of him. Abdulla was well
armed, an experienced desert fighter, and, in spite of his “feathery”
appearance, was a man with whom it would not be safe to trifle. As
there was a considerable amount of friction between him and Qway,
owing to the Arab’s overbearing attitude towards the Sudanese in
general, I had little fear of their combining.
Abdulla, too, had special instructions to keep an eye on Qway,
and, as there was not much love lost between them, I felt sure he
would do so. While Abdulla was with him on the journey out to the
depot, and for a day beyond, Qway, I felt, would be powerless; while
if, after parting from him, he turned back to Jebel el Bayed to try and
get at the depot, he would have us on top of him, as we should get
there before him. When once the caravan had reached the depot we
should pick up all the water and grain it contained and take it along
with us following his tracks.
I had made him dependent on the caravan, by only giving him
about five days’ water for his own use, and none at all for his camel.
So long as he adhered to his programme he was quite safe, as we
could water his camel as soon as he rejoined us. But if he tried to
follow some plan of his own, he would at once run short of water and
find himself in trouble.
I felt that the precautions I had taken would effectually prevent
any attempt at foul play on his part. My whole scheme had been
thought out very carefully, and had provided, I thought, for every
possible contingency, but “the best laid plans o’ mice and men gang
aft agley”—especially when dealing with a Senussi guide.
 CHAPTER XVII

A T the start everything went well. Qway, it is true, though he did

his best to disguise the fact, was evidently greatly put out by my
having been able to produce so much barley. But the rest of the men
were in excellent spirits. Ibrahim, in particular, with the flint-lock gun
slung over his back, was as pleased with himself as any boy would
be when carrying his first gun. The camels, in spite of their heavy
loads, went so well that on the evening of the second day we
reached the bushes.
I found that a well which, without finding a trace of water, I had
dug the year before to a depth of thirty feet had silted up to more
than half its depth with sand. Here we cut what firewood we wanted,
and on the following morning Abdulla and Qway left the caravan and
went on ahead towards Jebel el Bayed.
I walked with them for a short distance as they left, to give them
final instructions. I told them that we should closely follow their
tracks. Having some experience of Qway’s sauntering ways when
scouting by himself, I told him that he must make his camel put her
best leg forward, and that if he did I would give him a big bakhshish
at the end of the journey.
He at once lost his temper. The camel was his, he said, and he
was not going to override her, and he should go at whatever pace he
choose. He was not working for me at all, but he was working for
Allah. My obvious retort, that in that case there was no necessity for
me to pay his wages, did not mend matters in the least, and he went
off in a towering rage. The Senussi teach their followers that every
moment of a man’s life should be devoted to the service of his
Creator; consequently, though he may be working for an earthly
master, he must first consider his duty towards Allah, as having the
first claim upon his services—a Jesuitical argument that obviously
puts great power into the hands of the Senussi sheykhs, who claim
to be the interpreters of the will of Allah.
Abd er Rahman, who had been watching this little scene from a
distance, looked very perturbed when I got back to the caravan.
Qway, he said, was feeling marbut (tied) and that was very bad,
because he was very cunning, and he prophesied that we should
have a very difficult journey.
The Arabs are naturally a most undisciplined race, who kick at
once at any kind of restraint. They are apt to get quite highfalutin on
the subject of their independence, and will tell you that they want to
be like the gazelle, at liberty to wander wherever they like, and to be
as free as the wind that blows across their desert wastes, and all that
kind of thing, and it makes them rather kittle cattle to handle.
Abd er Rahman was right; things began to go wrong almost at
once. The first two days after leaving Mut had been cool, but a
simum sprang up after we left the bushes and the day became
stiflingly hot. Towards midday the internal pressure, caused by the
expansion of the water and air in one of the tanks, restarted a leak
that had been mended, and the water began to trickle out of the
hole. We unloaded the camel and turned the tank round, so that the
leak was uppermost and the dripping stopped. But soon a leak
started in another of the mended tanks, and by the evening the water
in most of those I had with me was oozing out from at least one
point, and several of them leaked from two or more places.
When a tank had only sprung one leak, we were able to stop the
wastage by hanging it with the crack uppermost; but when more than
one was present, this was seldom possible. One of the tanks leaked
so badly that we took it in turns to hold a tin underneath it, and, in
that way, managed to save a considerable amount of water that we
poured into a gurba.
On arriving in camp, I took the leaks in hand and stopped them
with sealing-wax. This loss of water was a serious matter. Every
morning I measured out the day’s allowance for each man by means
of a small tin; in face of the leakage from the tanks, I thought it
advisable to cut down the allowance considerably.