24 Bird Hunting on the White Nile. 



at which the Blue Nile, with its clear dark blue waters, 

 joined with the White Nile, the waters of which are 

 heavily charged with sand and have a whitish appear- 

 ance. As we passed over the line of junction, the idea 

 of the shadow still prevailed, and so definitely was the 

 thick grey water separated from the clear dark water 

 that no mixing appeared to be taking place. We 

 steamed across the united rivers, which form the Nile 

 of Egypt, and tied up to the bank at Omdurman along- 

 side three of the gunboats which had played so impor- 

 tant a part in the '' river war.'' Near by stood the works 

 where many an old steamer, which most engineers would 

 have broken up for scrap iron — one at all events dating 

 from Gordon's days — has been miraculously patched up 

 and made to work again. 



There was much to be done at Omdurman, and the 

 dust and heat as well as the extent of the place by no 

 means facilitated matters. The town is a most be- 

 wildering place. It is built on a fairly flat piece of bare 

 desert about six miles long by an average of two miles 

 wide. This piece of desert is a mass of low mud houses 

 surrounded by compounds and separated by high walls. 

 A few broad straight roads, which are mere sand, and 

 innumerable narrow winding alleys, intersect the col- 

 lection of huts and compounds, while here and there is 



