p SARRAS line the traveller could look down at the little villages which the natives had built wheresoever the Nile had deposited sufficient mud to enable them to grow dhurra, and though the houses were mere hovels, the fact was not conspicuously apparent from a distance.

In places the waters of the Nile were a mile wide, and the river appeared to be much larger than it is really, for it was the season of its flood, and hundreds of rocks and small islands and sandbanks were submerged. On some of the larger islands there were vegetation, trees, shrubs, &c., and their vivid green was in striking contrast with the polished blackened granite rocks below, and the blue sky above, and the bright yellow sand which streaked the sides of the rugged banks that led down to the water-side. In places a very few palms were seen, but these striking characteristics of Nile scenery were, and still are, wanting in this portion of the Nile Valley, for the Dervishes cut down every palm they could in order to starve the Barabara into joining their ranks.

This act was a peculiarly cruel one, for the dwellers in the Cataracts can grow very little dhurra, for the simple reason that there is no mud to grow it on. A run of three hours brought us to Sarras, where we stopped for some time. The engine needed water and a certain amount of oiling and cleaning, and the soldiers on the train who were on their way to the front took the opportunity to light fires and cook their dinners, which they intended to eat at sunset. The scene was an interesting one, and even the civilian could see what a surprising change had come over the Egyptian soldier since the British occupied Cairo on September 15th, 1882. Years of hard work and drill under Grenfell, Kitchener, Rundle, MacDonald, Hunter, Maxwell, Lewis, and other indefatigable officers, had produced a fighting machine which had learned not only to do as it was told, but to do it at the proper time; and good rations, suitable uniforms, and regular pay, without vexatious deductions and pilferings on the part of his superior officers, had produced a man who had confidence in his officers, and was now ready to respect himself. The Egyptian soldier in 1897 knew that his brothers in arms had fought side by side with British troops against the Dervishes at Ginnis and had conquered, and that without the help of British troops they had destroved 89