WOODING STATIONS where they could find a shelter to sleep in, for they did not appreciate the night which they had been obliged to spend on the river, and every one devoted himself to the preparation of his evening meal. In the course of talk with some of the natives I was told that at some little distance from the riverbank, in the desert, there were three British officers, but exactly what the}- were doing I could not make out. On being questioned, the engineer of the steamer said they were making a A LOAD OF WOOD FOR THE " BORDEIN."

railway, and were making men drive " sticks " into the ground ! A man was found who knew the whereabouts of their tent, and for a consideration he promised to take me there. We set out on our way through an opening m the scrub, and, after an hour's rough going in the dark, came to an open, sandy patch on which was pitched a large rectangular tent.

On coming to the front of it I saw three officers seated at a camp-table with large scale plans open before them, and it was evident that they were engaged in surveying and planning the route of the continuation of the railway 263