430 
THE RIVER OF ASSES. 
cold, owing to north winds; but, sheltered by the 
walls of the small flat-roofed houses, we rested com- 
fortably on the cots lent us by the people. From 
Grin'ceneet'a we made twenty-two miles in eleven 
hours, to stages to a point in the desert beyond 
Aboo Ban, resting during the heat of the day at Wadi 
Khumar — the bed of a stream then dry. Here there 
is a bend in the Nile, and we were able to fill all 
our water-sacks afresh. This route was over ground 
strewn with splinters, and ridged with quartz and 
clay-slate dykes. Some of the rocks were cobalt blue, 
ringing when struck, and bearing marks of having 
been combed down with rain. Wadi Khumar (which 
signifies the river of asses) derives its name from being 
the spot where wild donkeys and zebra come to drink. 
We rested under some palm-trees in rich foliage, be- 
side the Nile, which, at this point, runs rapidly over a 
bed of rock, divided into several courses. After leav- 
ing the river, the march became dreary and desolate ; 
not a sign of a human being ; all a waste of heavy 
sand, dreary valleys in the hollows, and splintered 
black rock on the heights. We lay down at night in 
a country filled to the tops of the hills with w T hite 
sand, not a tree nor a drop of water to be seen, and a 
kind of fearful stillness everywhere around ! How- 
ever, there never was a desert that had not some 
living thing to show — some insect, bird, or animal. 
Several tiny ariel appeared as we passed the peaked 
height of Aboo Ban. In the morning we set off over 
the sand on foot to keep us warm, but it proved 
such heavy plodding work that, after some miles, we 
mounted the camels and descended from the plateaux 
of sand to the Nile at Bagcere, where we made our 
