S THE EGYPTIAN SUDAN a crazy thing, and seemed to have been built up of odd bits of wood of different sizes and thicknesses nailed together at random, and how the mass of rags, of all sizes and colours, which served as a sail, held together was marvellous. No load, however, seemed able to sink the boat, and I have seen twenty-three men, eight women and children, a couple of donkeys, and several bags of fodder in it at one time. Oil any other river the boat would have foundered, and all its passengers would have drowned, but the special providence which watches over native concerns in that country never permitted such a thing to happen, to my knowledge.

As the river fell the boat often stuck on a mudbank, and then the captain and many of his passengers would jump into the water, take off their garments and throw them into the boat, and, having pushed her off, swim contentedly to shore. On one occasion the captain had managed to refloat his boat without any help, and as he was jumping in, many of the passengers raised a cry, and we heard the click of a crocodile's teeth ! For several days afterwards passengers were very chary about getting into the water to shove off the boat when it ran aground For the first few days after my arrival at the camp I was occupied in getting together the tools necessary for the work to be done at Gebel Barkal, and in making arrangements for living in a village across the river, for it was out of the question to attempt to return to the camp each night. Some delay was caused by the illness of the man I had hired as a servant, and I could neither take him with me nor leave him without attention. I engaged him at Haifa, and his testimonials were excellent, but I had reason to believe after we had started that they referred to some other man, and that my man had either hired or stolen them. He had been a servant in Cairo, and had learned to drink intoxicating liquors, and at every place where the boat stopped on the way up he went ashore, and enjoyed a carouse in some Greek's shop. When he arrived at Merawi he was suffering from fever, and as he continued to get worse Colonel Wingate made arrangements and sent him back to Haifa.

There was some difficulty in finding another servant, but at length this was overcome, and a sais, or groom, was found who was ready to leave the delights of a camp life and go with me.

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