The Desert Railway. 19 



and many of its fittings were made there. It was some- 

 what devoid of cushions and elaborate fittings, which 

 was only right in so dusty a country. But as far as 

 comfort went one could wish for nothing better. Every 

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

 dining in, cars for smoking in, an excellent cuisine, and 

 even bath rooms. We 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 

 position 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 576 miles 

 from Haifa to Halfaya on the Blue Nile, including all 

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

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

 distance in 29 hours. During part of this time we 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 sweep. Sand, flat 



