CHAPTER IV.

March to Dongola Ghosts in the desert Crossing the river Shabadud.

SOME days we went for more than thirty miles, at other times not more than twelve ; but both men and animals were grateful for an occasional day's rest vouchsafed unto them. After a time one gets pains in the back and loins from perpetual riding ; speaking for myself, I found I got very slack in the legs on dismounting, and could not sleep at all well, camels playing a large part in my frequent nightmares. This condition of affairs, though, luckily, did not last more than a week.

As I remarked before, the country was chiefly rocky and gravelly, our road leading from point to point on the river, generally straight across country. Sometimes the glimpses of the Nile were excessively pretty, sometimes uninteresting in the extreme. Although we hardly ever came across real deep sandy ground,