CHAPTER XXXI 
THE NORTHERN GATEWAY OF SUDAN 
Khartoum to Egypt 
Sudan lies desert-beset. From no direction is there 
access save across ioo-league deserts—unless, indeed, 
the traveller approaches, as by a back-door, from Central 
Africa and the Equator. 
The Eastern Gateway (Chapter II.), as a study in 
desolation, was striking - enough—in places even appal¬ 
ling—but the approach by way of Egypt easily sur¬ 
passes it. No single day’s journey within my experience 
ever impelled sensations such as did this one—the 
Northern Gateway of Sudan. 
“A region of emptiness, howling and drear, 
Which man hath abandon’d from famine and fear ; 
Which the snake and the lizard inhabit alone, 
With the twilight bat from the hollowed stone ; 
Where grass, nor herb, nor shrub takes root, 
Save poisonous thorns that pierce the foot ; 
A region of drought where no river glides, 
Nor rippling brook with ozier’d sides, 
Where reed-girt pool nor mossy fountain, 
Nor shady tree, nor cloud-capt mountain 
Is found to refresh the aching eye. 
But the barren earth and the burning sky, 
And the blank horizon round and round, 
Without a living sight or sound, 
Tell to the heart in its pensive mood 
That this —is Nature’s solitude. 
A ‘still small voice’ comes through the wild, 
(Like a father consoling his fretful child) 
Which banishes bitterness, wrath, and fear, 
Saying—‘ Man is Distant , but God is Near? ” 
[Pringle.] 
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