THE EGYPTIAN SUDAN from the Atbara to Khartum. The three officers were Lieutenant E. C. Midwinter, R.E., D.S.O., Lieutenant G. C. M.

Hall, R.E., and Lieutenant W. R. G. Wollen, R.E. They received me most kindly, and gave me accurate information about the pyramids I wished to reach, and told me how to get there. This was most fortunate for me, for no one on the steamer knew the whereabouts of the pyramids, and I was as much in the dark about their exact position as Cailliaud had been eighty years before. The natives of the Sudan call the pyramids larabtl, and as I had always used the common Egyptian word ahrdtn in making inquiries about them, they may have failed to understand what I meant. Midwinter, however, knew the exact spot on the river which was nearest the pyramids, for it corresponded with mile 44 from Atbara on his plan, and he sent word to the captain of the Burden that he was to stop at this place and land me and my baggage. When travelling in the Sudan in those days I met with many surprises, but one of the greatest was coming suddenly across three young officers seated quietly in a tent in the open desert, and working out by night the route of a railway through the desert of the Island of Meroe, which less than nine months previously had been in the possession of the Dervish leader Mahmud. The responsibility, of course, rested with the Sirdar, but he selected his men, and invariably got the best results out of them.

Early next morning the Burden continued her journey, and two or three hours later we were passed by the stern-wheeler which was carrying Lord Cromer to Khartum to discuss with the Sirdar on the spot the system under which the Sudan was to be ruled. The only member of his party visible was Mr. Harry Boyle, Lord Cromer's lynx-eyed Oriental Secretary, who seemed surprised at the condition of the Burden and her passengers, as he well might be. In the course of the morning we stopped at another station for wood, and about noon we arrived at the place on the east bank where I was to land. This was not easy, for the bank was steep, and the dhurra came down to the water's edge; it was almost the only sign of cultivation which I had seen for miles. Just as the tent was landed an old man appeared at 264 I i