44 WITH THE CAMEL CORPS UP THE NILE.

to the accompaniment of the ghostly music aforesaid This happened just in the region where their bones are now covered with the shifting sands !

Let me remark by the way that it is rash for an Upper Nile traveller to trust to the names of villages marked on the most official maps ; I did, and with no result, for the natives knew not the names. Eventually I discovered that the names vary from one generation to another. It happens thus : there are no real villages at all, only districts full of isolated or clustered huts scattered here and there along the banks ; the head man of the district calls it after himself, wherefore the name only lasts till he dies and the next man gets it. For instance, there is a village marked as Ras Dulgo, whereas Ras Dulgo is a district eight miles long. Again, we one day asked the way to Absarat ; no one knew, as Absarat's grandson reigned in his stead, and had forgotten the name of his grandfather. Yet again, we asked the way to Faridi, and the gentleman himself was pointed out to us !

Eventually we arrived opposite Dongola on the 26th November, having been exactly a fortnight on the march, two days of which had been spent