A DESERT WELL a hunt after the camel, during which the animal showed such wickedness and cunning that it seemed quite possible to believe, with the natives, that "devils" sometimes make camels their dwelling-places ; but finally he was captured. After a four hours' ride we turned off to the right, and passing over a series of low stony hills for two hours more, we came to the famous Btr, or desert " well," which is about one hour's distance from Masawwarat as-Sufra.

There is a shorter way by two hours to the Wadi as-Sufra, but Lieut. Lord was emphatic about the interest which attached to the well, and we therefore took the longer and more difficult way. As we drew near to the well we saw enormous numbers of sheep and goats, and some very fine cows of a rich tawny brown colour, with big patches of white on their backs and sides. They had the large soft eyes which we see in ancient Egyptian pictures of the cow of the goddess Hathor, and the creatures stood in great contentment by the sides of the shallow troughs made in the ground, from which they had been drinking. The sight of so many sheep, goats, and cows in the desert, about twenty miles from the river, was to me extremely surprising, and I was more astonished still when the natives told me that the tribes pasture their flocks in the mountain valleys and plains, where grass grows after the rains, some twenty miles still further eastwards.

Generally speaking, the flocks go from one to three days' journey from the well, according to the season of the year, and they return and drink every few days. So soon as we arrived the shekh of the well came and greeted Lieut. Lord with respect and friendliness mingled, and it was evident that he liked that very popular officer as much as every one else does in the Sudan. The shekh next drove away, with scant ceremony, a party of men who were seated under a good shady tree, and made us take their places, and when we had eaten our meal we set off with a guide for Masawwarat as-Sufra.

After an hour's ride over very rich ground, thickly covered with grass, shrubs, and small trees, we came to a place where the track forked, and taking the path on the right we arrived in a few minutes at a mass of ruins which covered some acres of gound. The buildings stand at the head of the valley, 327