292 SERVICE AND SPORT IN THE SUDAN 



feet high and more, stand in solitary state hke monster 

 pyramids. Often the plain which harbours them is 

 thickly strewn with large stones, which make walking 

 a penance. A spoon cut by a cheese knife across 

 its centre is the nearest description of their shape ; 

 the steep crescent being furthest from the wind, the 

 long slope to it. Often they are close together, the 

 spur of one buried in the slope of the other, forming 

 a tedious barrier. When scattered they are generally 

 about a mile apart. They must be continually on the 

 move, for the sun shining on the moving sand used to 

 form a halo round them. 



From the terabil, which we soon reached, I located 

 the blockhouse at the oasis. My guide had gone a bit 

 too far to the south. 



Terabil (singular, Tarbul) is the name given to a 

 collection of conical hummocks of sand from five to 

 fifty feet high, the sides of which have a slope of about 

 fifty degrees, and one of which is covered with brush- 

 wood — Selim {acacia, chrcnbergi), if there is water in 

 the vicinity, and Kitr {sterculia cinera, or acacia mel- 

 lifera) in other cases. Sometimes there are as many 

 as thirty hummocks in one bunch, and in every tenth 

 bunch or so water is to be found very near the surface. 

 We made our way towards the blockhouse over a 

 level bit of sand, which carried the footprints made by 

 innumerable camels long ago. 



Bir el Nakhla (the well of the palm trees) consists 

 of a narrow valley between two small rises. On one 

 of these was some halfa grass and one palm tree, then 

 red with locusts, who swarmed on it. My men made 



