in many directions. The camel,
who has been the bearer of Egyptian traffic for generations, still does
a large share of the transport. A good camel is expensive, but a man who
owns one is sure of a livelihood, for he works backwards and forwards
across the great solitudes, eating his handful of dates or grain, and
drinking the water he carries with him, if he is not lucky enough to
camp near a well. Oddly enough camels are not represented on the
wall-drawings of the ancient Egyptians, and though it is true they were
probably not to be found in the country in the very earliest times, yet
they were certainly introduced as early as the horse, who is often shown
in battle-scenes.

[Illustration: MEN OF THE BISHARIN TRIBE.]

What rivets our attention directly it comes into sight is an encampment
of low mat huts like beehives right out in the midst of the sand.

"Those belong to the Bisharin," says the same fair-haired, keen-faced
man who had first spoken; "tribe of fuzzy-wuzzies! They extend right
away from here to the Red Sea. Live on raw grain mostly. Quaint lot!"

Some of the men from the camp are standing near the railway line, so we
can see them well; they are very tall and extremely handsome, with
well-cut features and well-proportioned figures. Their hair is cut
exactly after the fashion of the palm trees, with a tuft standing up in
the middle and two tufts dropping away from it on each side. These men
are quiet enough now that they have learnt the British power, but not so
long ago they were inflamed with fanatical hatred.

You have heard of the dervishes who were killed in thousands at
Omdurman, outside Khartoum, in the great battle at which Lord Kitchener
won his title when he freed the Soudan from the power of the Mahdi? Now,
having seen the Bisharin, you can imagine what dervishes looked like.
For they dressed their hair in the same way, they wore the same
dirty-white garments, and as they came yelling onward at a run,
brandishing their weapons, it must have taken some courage for the
Egyptian soldiers to meet them steadily.

All the men in the carriage with us are going on up to Khartoum and
beyond. They are soldiers, administrators, and Government officials, men
whose lives are passed on the outposts of civilisation, and who carry
the British ideals of cleanliness, honesty, and straight-dealing far
into the desert; but they do not talk about it, as Kipling says they
speak:--"After the use of the English