312 SERVICE AND SPORT IN THE SUDAN 



boulders through which we threaded our way. A few 

 hundred yards to the north was the rocky plain that 

 would have been our lot had we struck a little more 

 north. To the south the sandy level lost itself in the 

 horizon, broken in one place by a yellowish hill. In 

 front was a long low ridge with a fairly high hill 

 some miles to the south of it. Where we crossed 

 the ridge was a small hill composed entirely of white 

 quartz — the pieces of which, when detached, showed 

 red or green below ground. Here we met some 

 ordinary house-flies. 



When we at last sighted J. Tundub on the Nile our 

 shouts of delight were somewhat parched, as, having 

 miscalculated our distance, we were out of both food 

 and water. However, forty miles or so is not much 

 of a journey. Our camels caught the infection and 

 bowled along. In a few hours the mountain, which 

 had loomed blue and distant as Rip Van Winkle's 

 earlier in the day, took shape. J. Ali Bursi was 

 another landmark. My guide was one of the police 

 who in dervish times smuggled European goods 

 to the south by tracks thus far into the desert. We 

 soon had entered the hills that run along the river, 

 having passed a pair of sand-dunes en route. Before 

 doing so we passed the fresh tracks of a wild sheep. At 

 sundown we caught sight of the palm-trees of Delgo 

 from the top of a hill. A level plain covered with 

 scattered thorn-bushes was crossed, and we reached 

 the river some hours later. 



Thirsty as we were my Arabs, desert ones, would 

 not go down to the river to get water, frankly admit- 



