JOURNEY FROM ASHAKA TO MAIFONI 231 



skins. In the afternoon we reached a waterhole about nine 

 miles from Gujba, but found it dried up, except for a few 

 puddles that the boys scratched out of the mud and eagerly 

 drank up. Here we rested till sundown, when we took the 



GAIDAM OX THE RIVER YO 



road once again to complete the distance by a night march. 

 After Gabai the country began to assume a desert appearance ; 

 the bush became more sparse and dried up, and at intervals, 

 growing more frequent as we proceeded, our footsteps were 

 muflOled by the drifts of sand. The land of rivers had been 

 left far behind and we were now entering the land of wells 

 — lonely spots in the sandy plain, where the women toiled at 

 filling their water jars. We were on the edge of the Sudan 

 that sprawls its tawny length right through from the east ; and 

 when after three days of weary, monotonous marching and 

 swallowing the sand, our sore eyes beheld through the haze 

 the white walls, the camels and palms of Gaidam, and strained 



