Wady Haifa. 17 



constant and hearty calls for aid from above, one could 

 well believe that the crew ascribed this good fortune to 

 the will of Allah and his Prophet rather than to their 

 own exertions. 



So we passed rocky Korosko, Ibrim perched on the 

 top of a high and precipitous cliff, the wonderful rock 

 temple Abu Sirnbel, and in four days from Assouan 

 arrived at Wady Haifa. 



Once a miserable village, Haifa now boasts of great 

 workshops fitted with all the necessary machinery and 

 appliances to keep in repair, and even to manufacture, 

 everything connected with a railway, and the new town 

 has been appropriately termed a miniature Crewe. From 

 Haifa the wonderful railway which bridges 230 miles 

 of waterless desert originated, and from Haifa to an ever 

 increasing distance each day, with marvellous regularity 

 during its construction, ran two trains with construction 

 materials, and water and food for the great army of 

 workers at railhead. In eleven months from its com- 

 mencement all difficulties, and there were many, were 

 overcome, and a railway which the best authorities 

 had dubbed as the idea of a lunatic was com- 

 pleted. The journey from Haifa to Abu Hamed 

 formerly occupied some ten days. It is now possible by 



this '' short cut " across the desert to accomplish it in 



b2 



