MEHEMET EFFENDL 43 we were given ample assurance that the " illimitable waste" business does exist in some parts of the continent. We had a capital little interpreter, Mehemet Effendi, who had travelled over most of the Soudan, and some of his stories of the desert were thrilling very. I particularly remember his describing to us the desert between Korosko and Abu Hamed, which he said was ankle-deep in loose sand the whole way (230 miles). It is the desert where Mehemet Ali lost a whole army from thirst, and their ghosts are supposed to haunt it ; at all events, our friend swore that the last time he journeyed across he was disturbed at night by ghostly trumpetcalls from the desert, mingled with faint words of command and the tramp of phantom feet. He was a well-educated man, having been brought up in Marseilles and lived in Italy for some time ; he was therefore not generally liable to his countrymen's superstitions, in fact, he owned he never believed in djins or spirits before ; but he was perfectly certain that over and over again he saw white-coated columns in the distance, disappearing