MARCHING IN THE DESERT. 3 1 officer, writing home after reaching Korti (on the 12th of January) said : " I will just give you a rough outline of our journey across more than three hundred miles of desert. We left Wady Haifa at daybreak on the nth December about one hundred strong, and about one hundred and fifty camels, and marched fifteen miles that day to Gemai, which is just at the foot of the Great Cataract (fourteen miles long). We marched by the river that day, and so had a grand view of the cataract. You must not think that the water falls in one great mass, because it does not. The river at this spot is about three-quarters of a mile wide, and for fourteen miles it is studded with innumerable rocks, and the force of the current coming down on them causes the water to rush over them in volumes, forming awful whirlpools, the noise of which we could hear a long time before we saw them. Well, we reached Gemai about four that afternoon, and camped for the night, and slept the sleep of the just (and tired). The next day we continued our march along the river to Sarras, nineteen miles; the next day to Semneh, and there we entered the desert. Our first day's march after leaving Semneh was very rough, over mountains of black rock, just as if huge pieces of stone had been piled up promiscuously; and over these we had to pick our path, one after the other, and leading our camels, as it was impossible to ride them over such a rough road. However, we got over it all right, after losing one camel, which fell down and could not get up again. We continued our journey after that for some days, and very warm we found it, I assure you. We were always up an hour before daybreak, and away as soon as the sun showed; and there we would continue on in the saddle from six a.m. until five at night, with the sun pouring down on us straight overhead, and beneath us loose sand as far as the eye could reach. The sun seems to rise out of the sand, and go down into the sand again.

So we travelled on for days and weeks, only touching the river now and then—about every three days—to get fresh water and to water our camels; and what joy there was when the river came in view, after being parched with thirst. I have often felt as if I