abbits, and a few hyenas; the antelopes would stand about twenty paces
off, prick up their ears, and look inquisitively at the strange caravan.

It was quite cool when we left Omdurman, but now the weather had quite
changed, and we felt it oppressively hot; we saw mirages constantly, and
were often deceived by them. Our camels and ourselves now began to
suffer. I was much struck by the change in the appearance of these
animals; the high, fat hump and thick neck they had in Omdurman had both
grown to half the size. At first we had the greatest difficulty in
holding them in; now they were so tired that we had to keep flogging
them all the time; their feet had got so worn that treading on a stone
made them jump sideways, and to ease them we four men alternately
dismounted and led them for some distance.

Our track lay across a broad plain, dotted about with small shrubs, and
as we passed one of these, Ahmed noticed a snake, scared by our
approach, trying to escape; he at once killed the reptile with a blow of
his sword, then stretched out its body and jumped over it three times in
a most excited way. Thereupon the guides congratulated each other,
saying there was now nothing more to fear, and that we had conquered our
enemies. This exhibition of courage on the part of the guides pleased me
greatly. Once more we mounted and made our way towards Abu Hamed, where
we intended to take water for the last time before entering the great
Nubian desert.

The next night another snake episode occurred, but it ended rather
differently. We were going across a stony place, when the leading camel
suddenly swerved to one side, and we heard a hissing sound, which we
knew must be a snake, but it was too dark to attempt to catch it. This
greatly alarmed the Arabs, who looked upon it as an evil omen, and
curiously enough, when close to Abu Hamed, an event did occur which
quite confirmed their superstitions.

The next day, at about nine o'clock in the morning, we sighted the
mountain which was our landmark indicating the place at which we
intended to water. We anticipated reaching it in three hours, and there
we intended to rest whilst the Arabs took the camels down to water; but
somehow we went too far to the east, did not discover our mistake for
some time, and it was midnight instead of midday when we reached the
hill. This hill is shaped rather like two skittles, between which the
road runs, and the wind, blowing through this narrow funn