A Barren Waste. 



21 



dom palms, the hard round fruit of which is nicknamed 

 Dervish bread, are a delight to the weary eye. From 

 this point onwards the country is less uninteresting. 

 Mimosa scrub and stunted acacia trees struggle for an 

 existence in the gritty sand, dark rocky hills rise in the 



THE RIVER BANK, OMDURM\X. 



distance, and a group of gazelles or a flock of small birds 

 may now and again be seen. 



We passed many a place made famous by conflict- 

 Berber, the Atbara with its fine bridge, Shendy opposite 

 Metemma^and at length arrived at the railway's 

 unpretending southern terminus, Halfaya, a collection of 

 a few huts upon the sand on the north side of the Blue 



