NO. 6 STATION given a worn and ancient appearance, but a wrecked truck, a wheel broken off an axle, a stray sleeper, or a kerosene can, stood out like scars on the face of the sandy plain. It was impossible not to pity the station officials who lived in huts made of railway sleepers covered with palm-leaf matting to keep out the keen night WATERING TANK AT NO. 6 STATION IN THE ABU-HAMED DESERT.

The water is pumped up from a well.

wind, and were literally giving their whole time to the working of the Sirdar's railway. Their natural fatalism must have served them in good stead at this time.

We reached No. 6 Station, 127 miles from Wadi Haifa, and 1,555 feet above sea level, a few hours after sunrise, and there we were again obliged to stop for a considerable time ; the damage done by the sand in the night made it necessary to 245