ATBARA The train pulled up a few yards from where the rails abruptly came to an end, and an orderly took me to the office of the Commandant, Captain W. S. Swabey, who told me what facilities could be afforded to me. The Sirdar did not wish me to go further south than Wad Habashi, about 55 miles from the Atbara, but I was free to go where I liked north of that village. Means of transport I was to find for myself, for every camel in the service was employed on military business. Captain Swabey thought that some means of sending me up the river might be found after he had made some inquiries, and in the meantime he kindly gave me a hut to live in near the Atbara Fort, and I was free to look about the camp for some hours.

The river Atbara ' was a source of interest, for preparations were being made for building a temporary bridge across it for the transport of railway material ; the foundations for the pillars had already been laid, and a few supports set on them. The bridge which now carries the railway is of iron, and has six spans of 200 fjpet each : the rock on which the piers rest is about 30 feet below the bed of the river. The ayerage width of the Atbara is about 450 yards,' arvd in the rainy season it is from 25 to 30 feet deep. For several months of the year it is perfectly dry, and Sir Samuel Baker says that when he saw it in June, 1861, it was " a mere sheet of glaring sand ; in fact, a portion of the desert "through which it flowed." In some years the course of the river is marked by a number of shallow pools which are found at long intervals. From the beginning of March to early in June the last 150 miles of its course is dry. The storm period in Abyssinia lasts from the middle of May to September, and by the end of June the Atbara has become a deep, swift stream. About this time the storms are terrific. " Every '' ravine becomes a raging torrent ; trees are rooted up by the "mountain streams swollen above their banks, and the Atbara " becomes a vast river, bringing down with an overwhelming "current the total drainage of four large rivers—the Settite, " Royan, Salaam, and Angrab—in addition to its own original " volume. Its waters are dense with soil washed from most fertile * The natives make all the vowels short. In Amharic the last vowel is long Atbara.

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