THE EGYPTIAN SUDAN between Haifa and Sarras ; the body had never been painted or varnished since it left the maker's hands, and the fact that the sides held together and clung to the frame spoke volumes for the excellence of the work which had been put into it in the first instance. Large numbers of tourists had travelled in it, and every British officer in the Sudan at that time knew it well. At one end of it was a small compartment in which a large waterpot was kept, and along each side of the remaining portion was a low bench, which served as a seat by day and a bed by night.

Most of the glass in the windows was broken, and the frames were so loose that when the coach was in motion they rattled incessantly. This coach had been in many an accident, and everywhere bore on its body marks of its experience. It was, nevertheless, a means of conveyance for which to be most thankful, as every one who has travelled on camel or donkey through that awful region of rocks, sun, and sand, the Batn al-Hagar, will admit, for it afforded protection from the scorching heat of the day, and from the bitter cold which comes in the Sudan between midnight and dawn. When one remembers how glad every one who was accustomed to caravan travelling, from the Sirdar downwards, was to avail himself of *' Yellow Maria," the complaints of those who travel from Halta to Khartum in luxurious trains at a uniform speed of twenty-five miles an hour, with food, cool drinks, lavator}' accommodation, electric light, electric fans, always at hand, seem unreasonable.

Shortly after noon a bag of official documents for the Sirdar, General Sir H. Kitchener, was committed to my care, and the picturesque guard of the train, whose dress consisted of one shoe, one boot, and parts of a pair of trousers, and the body of a shirt, having taken both them and me under his charge, the train started.

For a few miles we ran at a speed of about fifteen miles an hour, and the gradient was very slight, but as soon as the line ran into the hills, our pace slackened, and it became evident that the train-load was a heavy one. One by one, however, the curves and gradients were overcome, and at times, when it was possible to catch a glimpse of the river, the view was charming. From the elevation of the ' See the " Report on the Blackened Rocks of the Nile Cataract. 1905," published by the Egyptian Government.

88 J