CAMP AT MERGE welcomed the sunrise ; as we wie some miles from the river there was no damp in the air, and we escaped the bitter cold which is always felt in a camp pitched close to the Nile, even when there is no vegetation near. The first two or three hours of the day were generally pleasant, but from eleven in the morning to three in the afternoon the heat was tremendous. The hill on which the pyramids stand is of stone, and by noon the air near the surface was moved into waves by the heat reflected from it, as by a heated furnace. The only thing to do then was to take refuge in some pyramid chapel, but even there the absence of moving air would make the atmosphere inside it stifling. Towards sunset a breeze would often begin to blow from the north, but when, as was frequently the case, the gentle breeze turned into a strong wind, we were glad to seek the shelter of the tents. Occasionally the absence of wind would tempt Captain Lewin to arrange for us to dine in the open air, but more often than not we were driven into our tents by the wind by nine o'clock. When the weather is propitious nothing is more lovely than a Sudan night, especially if there be a moon. The whole desert becomes flooded with brilliant white light, the rugged face of the desert disappears, the shrubs and small trees turn into shapes of mystic beauty, and the whitish blue of the sky casts a reflection of soft beauty over the remote stretches of the desert which are filled with dimly seen silver-grey mountains, and turns them into Fairyland. At certain times of the month several reaches of the river, which were many miles away, revealed themselves by moonlight, and when seen under these circumstances they looked like lakes of silver mingled with white fire. When there is no wind the " outgoings of the morning and evening " are things of great beauty, but in a strong, continuously blowing north wind, the deserts of the Sudan are unbearable. In February, 1903, a fierce wind blew from the north for three days, and on the third day we could not see the sun ; the air was filled with sand to such a degree that we felt as if we were shut in by walls of sandstone, and the fine sand got into the food and water, and filled the eyes, and ears, and nostrils, and made life most uncomfortable. For several days after the gale had blown itself out, the atmosphere was charged with fine dust stirred up from the desert, and though this made the sunsets 335