, and we hastened on, passing some places where there
were interesting ruins without stopping, and at last anchored here at
Wadee Halfeh.

Miss Roper has been even more diligent than before in trying to teach
Rahaba, who has looked very sad ever since we left Mahatta. To-day Miss
Roper has been telling her the story of our Saviour's birth, and of his
being laid in a manger; and how he, the King of glory, came to suffer
and die for us sinners. Rahaba listens, but she shakes her head. She
tries to understand and learn anything that Miss Roper teaches her. But
it is only to please her mistress that she does this; and as yet she is
no nearer to being a Christian than when she was in her own country.

Directly after breakfast this morning we hired donkeys to take us to the
second cataract. All was still and silent as we rode over the loose,
shifting sand of the desert. Nothing living was to be seen. We passed
some skeletons of dromedaries which had been bleached by the sun and
wind. They made the silence and desolation seem the greater. After
riding for about an hour and a half we came to the first rocky islands.
About an hour more brought us to the Rock of Abousir.

[Illustration: PAPYRUS ON THE NILE.]

The view here was indeed grand. The second cataract covers a space of
about seven miles in length. The river bursts its way among numberless
rocky islets. Some of these are so small that they are hardly more than
large stones; some are rocks of considerable size; others are larger,
islands of rock and sand. Between them all the rapids rush headlong,
throwing up their foam on every side. There are trees on some of the
islands, and five of the largest at the northern extreme of the cataract
are inhabited. Far off to the south we saw what looked like a dark-blue
cloud, and were told that it was the mountains of Dongola. We wished
that we could have gone to them.

On the side next the cataract the Rock of Abousir is like a straight
wall. On the desert side it is a succession of crags. We found the names
of various celebrated travellers on these rocks, amongst others that of
Belzoni. We gazed at them with a thrill of interest, and lingered long
looking at the beautiful view and scanning the names of the travellers,
great and small, who had visited the rock. What would we not have given
at that moment to go farther and track the grand river to its source!
But it was impossible! We must turn back at this point and begin our
ho