…the Kababish, a friendly tribe…Real children of the desert these natives looked…reminding me of a beau-ideal John the Baptist…
-With the Camel Corps Up the Nile, 1889, Lord Edward Gleichen
And John had a raiment of camel hair…
-Matthew 3:4
The drovers’ clothing was of Sudanese cotton and sheep wool, not camel hair, a Jazz Age fabric made from the underbellies of Bactrians, not dromedaries. So no, they looked nothing like John the Baptist, who carried a cross and a lamb while they carried hippo-hide whips and goatskin water bags.