April 1, 1901.] 



KNOWLEDGE. 



77 



was only right iu so dusty a coi^itiy. But as far as 

 comfort went one could wish for iiotliiug better. Every 

 necessity was on the train, cars for sleeping in, cars for 

 dining in. cars for snioiiing in, an excellent ctiixiiii', and 

 even bath rooms. Wc stopped for every meal on account 

 of the jolting of the train. At first the dust was rather 

 a trial, but the quantity of it depends much upon the 

 positiou in the train which one occupies, and also upon 

 the direction of the wind. And after all one soon gets 

 accustomed to eating, drinking, and wearing dust. On 

 our journey up we accomplished the distance of o76 miles 

 from Haifa to Ilallaya on the Blue Nile, including all 

 stoppages, in 34 hours. But on the journey down iu an 

 ordinary train, which did not stop for meals, we did the 

 distance iu-li9 hours. During part of this time wo ran 

 at the rate of 40 miles an hour with an excellent 

 American engine, one of two engines which had to 

 be obtained from America, because at the time they 

 were urgently required. British engineers were fully 

 employed in a strike and could not attend to such 

 business as building railway engines. From Haifa to 

 Abu Hamed the railway runs across a bare desert far 

 from the river, which here takes a great eweej). Sand, flat 

 and monotonous, as far as the eye can reach, stretches 

 out on every side. Here and there a stunted mimosa 

 bush or a black rock rising conspicuously from the sand 

 serves but to accentuate the loneliness and barrenness of 

 the scene, while the mirage on every side tantalizes 

 the eye with its shmiug dazzling mockery. At intervals 

 along the single narrow track are " stations," so called, 

 but otherwise they are nameless being only numbered 

 one to nine. Each of these boasts of one or two tents, 

 and some tanks of water. At some are stores of coal, 

 and at two there are pumps, which bring up from deep 

 below the sand that priceless water which, with 

 ■' Kitchener's luck,'' was happed upon during the con- 

 struction of the railway, when water was so valuable for 

 men and engines that a whole month was gained by 

 these finds. At several of these stations w-o saw ravens, J 

 and at one, kites. § What induces these birds to live 

 in such forsaken spots, and upon what they feed, unless 



The River Bank, Oindiinnan, 



it is on just the scraps they can pick up round the 

 tents, and how they get water to drink, are puzzles 

 difficult to solve. 



At Abu Hamed, with its small white-washed station 

 house, the river was reached again, and here a few scraggy 



doiu 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 unintercsling. 

 Mimosa scrub and stunted acacia trees struggle for an 

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

 distance, and a gi'oup of gazelles or a Hock of small birds 

 may now and again be seen, 



Wc passed many a place made famous by coiiilict — • 

 Berbei', the Atbara with its fine bridge, Shcndy opposite 

 Metemma — and at length arrived at the railways 

 unpretending southern terminus, Ilalfaya, a collection of 

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

 Nile almost opposite Khartoum. Here we were greeted 

 by a dust storm, which is no unusual thing at Ilalfaya, 

 a fact which has given the place a nickname of much the 

 same sound but of a deeper significance. After con- 

 siderable delay we embarked on a steamer — a dahabeah 

 — which was to take us over to Omdurman, and upon 

 which we were to live during our brief sojourn there. 



X Corvus uiiihrinus, Suiidev. 



§ Milvufi aegyptius^ Gjii. 



The " Bazaur " at Khartouin. 



Steaming down the Blue Nile towards Omduriuau we 

 had a good view of Khartoum, which is built along the 

 southern bank of the river amidst a grove of palm trees. 

 It will be remembered that Khartoum was deserted, and 

 converted into little less than a heap of ruins by the 

 Mahdi, who set up his capital at Omdurman, a mere 

 village at the time of the fall of Khartoum. 



We are now reverting to the old order of things, and 

 although at present nearly all the business both official 

 and private is transacted at Omdurman, yet Khartoum 

 will soon become again the chief town and centre of the 

 Soudan. At the time of our visit few buildings in 

 Khartoum were completed, but along the bank of the 

 river houses and government oflices were springing up, 

 to say nothing of a fair-sized hotel. But the buildings 

 to which most interest attaches are the Sirdar's palace 

 and the Gordon Memorial College. The palace, which 

 had been completed and occupied for some time, is a 

 large and imposing though somewhat bald and ugly 

 structure. It is built on the spot formerly occui)ied by 

 Gordon's palace, and portions of the old foundations and 

 walls have been utilized. At a little distance from the 

 Palace a mass of scaflFolding and stone showed where 

 the Gordon Memorial College was growing into existence. 



As we neared Omdurman the shadow of a cloud seemed 

 to be hanging over part of the river, the edge of the 

 shadow being clearly defined in an uneven line even at 

 some distance. But a glance upwards showed no cloud. 

 The ragged line which seemed to mark where the shadow 



