BAGRAWIYA first, and I heated some water which had been passed through the Berkefeld filter, and began to wash the accretions from the eyehds.

In a short time the eyelids were cleared, but the child, who lay on his back, howled continuously ; a little cocaine mixed in a tube and poured on the eyelids gave him great relief, and very soon after this he was asleep. The simple folk were very pleased, and the gift of a few dozen tabloids of different kinds for future use evoked warm expressions of gratitude ; but the chief need of our visitors was not medicine, but food, and clothing in which to wrap their bodies during the cold nights.

Life at the shekh's clearing was pleasant enough, but it was difficult to see how I was to get back to the river Atbara, where at that time the railway ended, for no one knew when the steamers which plied between Atbara and Khartum would pass the clearing, and I had no authority to signal for one to stop. To obtain camels or donkeys was impossible, for there were none in the neighbourhood, and the shekh had neither the power nor the desire to facilitate my departure, for he wished me to stay with him indefinitely. Fortunately, however, the young Engineer officers, who had given me such valuable information as to the position of the pyramids, remembered the difficulty in which I was likely to be placed, and Lieutenant Midwinter most kindly sent the Burden on from her last stopping-place to fetch me. Thus whilst we were sitting in the clearing one afternoon, having made all preparations for passing the night there, the evening meal being actually in the saucepan, the beat of paddles sounded on the still air, and soon after the steamer was sighted. When she had tied up, an orderly landed and brought me a message from Midwinter to the effect that I was to embark on the Burden and to come and stay with him that night. The orderly was followed by the friendly engineer and several of the crew, and in less than half an hour the tent was struck, the saucepan with our dinner in it taken off the fire, the water-pot and all else were transferred to the steamer, and I was trying to thank the shekh for his kindness. Money he absolutely refused to take, saying, correctly enough, that it was useless, as there was nothing to buy, but he approved highly of a Swedish razor—for at that time he had shaved off his beard and was cultivating a moustache—a supply of 279