CHAPTEE XVIII. 
KHARTOOM TO CAIRO — THE GHERRI PASS — RUINS AT SCENDI — 
THE PYRAMIDS AND RUINS OF MEROE — THE RIVER ATBARA 
— THE TOWN OF BERBER — SCENES ACROSS THE DESERT — 
THE VILLAGE OF ABOO AHMED — THE FALSE SEA, OR BAHR 
BELAMA — NATRON WELLS — EXTRAORDINARY NATURAL TUN- 
NEL — KOROSKO — CAIRO — ENGLAND. 
We rowed down stream till midnight of the 15 th 
April, and lay-to for the remainder of the night at 
Halfaya. Here Ali Bey and the sheikh of the place 
appeared, bringing us a present of two sheep. We 
all dined together, and afterwards our generous friend 
Ali Bey took leave of us, and returned on horseback 
to Khartoom, having left an aide-de-camp to escort 
us to Berber. Our crew rowed incessantly till sunset. 
About Halfaya the banks are either of hard shelving 
sand or perpendicular clay, and low solitary hills are 
generally in sight. The river was again mud-colour, 
and surprised us with being so narrow — not more 
than a hundred and eighty yards wide. On the left 
bank grew tamarisks, a species of willow, and several 
other plants we had not met with on our previous 
journey. While at Khartoom I had an opportunity 
