FROM THE ATBARA FO WAD HAMED 493 having a continual supply of decent bread by the following means. Let him order a quantity of thick, flat cakes to be made of ordinary bread dough. When these are thoroughly baked they must be gradually dried either by artificial heat or by the sun, if its rays are strong enough, until every particle of moisture is dried up. Bread thus desiccated will last for months, and when it is wanted a lump is sprinkled with a little water, and one finds nice spongy bread for breakfast instead of the hard and monotonous biscuit. Mrs. Theodore Bent first taught me this breadlore, and when I explored Sokotra in companywith herself and her husband, we took several sacks of these flat cakes, and were in consequence never without nice fresh bread.

In the interval between breakfast and midday we got through a good deal of work in the way of letter-writing or telegraphing. If one had nothing to do oneself there was always a certain psychological interest attaching to the study of one’s fellow-correspondents and their mysterious movements. One of them, after a successful prowl for news, would appear walking towards his tent with an air