146 FROM BINDER, AND NILE TO NILE easiest mode of progression, greatly to Abid's delight, for he expressed aversion to my arrival in camp on a baggage camel, saying that only " Greeky merchants " did that, and that it was out of the question on the score of dignity.

The kittir bush ceased, and open plains followed ; then came the dried-up plantations of dhurra, a few tukls, then more, until quite a populous centre appeared. Farther on was a long line of regular poles which brought Europe within speaking distance, and the wires led me on to the mamui'ia, the post-office, and then the White Nile I had left weeks ago.

A swarm of donkeys appeared on the bank, followed by a welcome sight—a British soldier, a corporal of the Royal Engineers, just off on some weeks' journey south to inspect a few hundred miles of telegraph-wire.

The ten miles' walk in the morning had been refreshing, though Abid expressed his opinion that Englishmen were unwise to walk so much, as is their habit, particularly when they could just as well ride—a truly Oriental reason. The corporal required two looks at the travel-stained tramp, in clothes worn into holes by camel-riding and crawling, disfigured with soil and black ash, boots with the surface scratched off them, and a three days' beard ; so it was a matter of relief to feel that one was not taken for a peripatetic Greek merchant, and to hear the words : " You seem to have had a hard journey across."