A HrXAWAY CAMEL. 315 been cut down to secure a wider and better path.

Trees become larger as one approaches the Kile, and there is a marked change in the character of the vegetation, the thorn bushes being replaced to a great extent by brush and grass.

There are a great many scorpions and snakes about here; two of our camels were bitten, which made them lame for some time afterwards. The snake-bites are fatal to man after a very short time.

Parties of ten and twenty galabbahs often passed us on the road.

We waited a day at Abou Kurat for the camels to be changed. The road led us for a few hours along the top of an immense sandbank, from which we had a good view of the country. It was flat on the north, south, and south-west, and only broken in the south by the towering height of Gebel Araskol. To the east stretched a long expanse of grey mud, which in the harif is covered by the river. Leaving this elevation we entered a burning plain where, overpowered by the intense heat, we sat down to rest, letting the caravan go forward.

Our camels did not like being left behind, and I became the victim of their restlessness, for on attempting to mount, my steed was up and off before I was seated on its back. By a desperate effort however I clung to it, and managed to keep hold while the animal went at tremendous speed until he overtook the caravan. It was not a very pleasant experience for me.