THE EGYPTIAN SUDAN the barges lying in the river. The Nile itself presented a wonderful sight, for the inundation had filled all the valleys near the Islands of Philae and Bigga, and the stream poured through the defiles to the north of these islands at the rate of from six to eight knots an hour. The mountains on both banks appeared to have lost much of their height, and the great temple of Isis looked insignificant. The pylons stood out clear and sharp against a background of shiny, blackened granite rocks, and, with the deep blue of the sky, and the muddy flood which rushed by each side of Philae, presented a picture not easily forgotten.

Very soon after my arrival I was " taken over " by a Turkish officer in the Egyptian Army, who caused my kit, after it had been weighed, to be taken to the stern-wheeler Semneh; the regulations allowed me to take on board three hundred-weight of luggage, and considering how difficult questions of transport were in those days, I wondered at the Sirdar's generosity. The captain of the Semneh was in a hurry to be off, and the engineer chafed at the delay which made it necessary to blow off so much steam from his boiler. One by one four barges, loaded with stores and soldiers, were lashed to the sides of the stern-wheeler, two each side, and soldiers on their way to the front filled the body of the steamer from the boiler, which is near the bows, to the engines, that are set aft. Never did I see craft so crowded, and it seemed impossible for a steamer so heavily laden to make headway against such a current. So soon as the mails were on board, a scrutiny of the passengers took place, and tickets were demanded by the officer who had brought me on board. I never expected to be asked for a ticket, and no one had thought of supplying me with one, and but for the fact that I had with me a private note from Captain Pedley, whose signature was known to the examining officer, I believe I should have been made to disembark. Subsequently he explained to me that he knew I was an abu antika, or " father of antiquities," i e., one whose business or profession was connected with antiquities, and that it had been his duty on one or two occasions to turn off the steamers those who under the pretence of being archaeologists had tried to force their way into the Siidan without the Sirdar's permission. When he was satisfied that all the passengers were what they professed 72