olG UGANDA AND THE EGYPTIAN SOUDAN.

Another phenomenon served to impress this march upon our minds. Weary and thirsty as we were, all at once our eyes were delighted by a scene of great beauty. Shadowy battlements enclosed stately domes and tall minarets, which raised their towering forms to heaven; gardens of surpassing loveliness surrounded giant palaces, and islands lay bathed in lakes of clear and limpid water. This was enough to fill our minds with admiration and urge us onward to reach as soon as possible the wonderful city. But we had been forewarned, and acting on previous advice, I raised my gun to fire. As I did so, the city seemed to tremble as if it feared its existence was in danger. And so it was, for even while I aimed at it, it vanished and was seen no more. A few minutes afterwards a new city sprang up in another direction, but we turned from the disappointing phantom and continued our way until we reached a lovely, and a real, acacia wood. Here we halted for the night in a model Arab encampment, where from all directions the light of campfires shining through the encircling bushes came inupon us.

The Arabs in this district retire during the harif to pastures far distant from the Nile, but follow the water back again, till in the dry season the riverbanks are very thickly populated. The huts are very primitive, being either made of branches simply, or formed out of sticks into a low framework, over which a mat is thrown. An oblong building, or