THE EGYPTIAN SUDAN himself to hiring men to come with us to dig, and he found several who were willing to work for the Government ; so soon as they were engaged they set out to walk up the river to Sauarda, where we expected to make some excavations. On the following morning the boat arrived from the south, and we got her loaded in a few hours, and started about noon. Up to that time the day had been beautiful, but the wind begn to freshen, and by one o'clock was blowing hard. We went along at a good speed, but gave up all idea of stopping anywhere for work on the way up with such a wind behind us. Our captain, one Muhammad, was an expert boatman, and he handled his craft with great skill ; he seemed to know every rock, whether sunken or visible, in that part of the river, and time after time steered us away from rocks which I felt certain would wreck us. We passed Ginnis, Kurar, and Attab on the east bank by two o'clock. Another hour brought us abreast of 'Amara, and having passed Arnitti Island and Sakiat al-'Abd, we were soon abreast of Abri, which is close to the north end of the Island of Sai. We sailed on and passed the long Island of Sai, taking of course the eastern channel, but as the wind became less strong our progress was slower. The next island we saw was Nilwitti, and after that came Wussi Island, and about five o'clock we arrived at Kubba Idris.

It was useless to attempt to continue our journey that evening, for the wind had dropped, and towing was an impossibility; we therefore stayed the night in the comfortable house of Shekh Idris, of whom more will be said later on. The Inspector and I were glad to accept his hospitality, and to be able to eat our evening meal in a place so well sheltered from the wind and cold. The evening turned out to be beautiful, for so soon as the wind dropped, the sun came out, and painted the great clouds crimson and gold, and lit up the turquoise and emerald stretches between them with living splendour. The village has many palms and other trees | along the river bank, and these and the large patches of vegetation which assumed a soft, restful green colour in the light of the setting sun, gave to the spot an indescribable beauty. It was a great shock when one turned from the luxuriant vegetation on the river bank and saw that the dreary SOdan desert was less than half a mile away, and that the greedy sand was everywhere trying 444