The traveller coming by the desert who cannot forego comfort must be provided with…tents for himself and servants, a camp bed with curtains, mosquito nets, blankets, wax candles, pack thread and needles, lined or double umbrellas, a small carpet, and a supply of bottled water for his own use- for the water of the Desert may not suit the taste or expectations of everyone.
-Sir J.Gardner Wilkinson, Topography of Thebes and General View of Egypt, 1835
Sir Gardner also suggested buying gifts- the smaller, the better- for shaikhs and other notables one might meet in the middle of nowhere, for “they would only consider greater presents as proofs of greater ignorance in the person who made them.” But that was not my experience at all. The proof of my greater ignorance was merely an inability to remount my camel after dismounting in order to greet them face to face.