Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-05-04
THE MODERN NILE.
What the Traveller Sees From Alexan.
dria to Omdurman.

From the London Standard
Travelling by the ordinary methods you
may go from Alexandria to Khartoum in
about six days. Easily and smoothly you
swing through the fertile cotton fields of
the delta, and its populous cities and viii
lagos, prosperous but dirty, and at Cairo
you settle down into a most comfortable
sleeping car for the night journey to Luxor.
Early next morning you are in the cane
fields of upper Egypt. with the river close
on one side and the desert on the other.
At Luxor you must change to the narrow
gauge for Assouan, and there is time to
refresh yourself with bath and breakfast
and to look across at the plain of ThebeS
and the valley Of the tombs of the kings,
or to ride a donkey out to Karnak. From
Luxor to Assouan it is hot and dusty
enough, and you are glad to rest there for
the night Next day you embark at Shell
lal. above the dam, for Wady Halfa leis-
urely voyage Of three days. 1t is a most
beautiful reach of the river; the hills come
down to the water in bold rugged outlines,
showing to perfection in the pure, dry
desert air. The effect Of the dam is clearly
seen as far as korosko First of all. at
Shellal the boat is moored amid grove of
palm strees, the temples of Philae are
kneedeep in water and the Nubian villages
look quaint enough as they stand on the
edge of the desert. forlornly mourning their
strip of cultivated land, most of which the
greedy reservoir has swallowed
The boundary between Egypt and the
Soudan, settled by the convention Of 1899,
runs along the twenty-second parallel; not
for beyond this is the frontier town of
Halfa. There is no mstaking the signs of
British rule. The whole place is rigidly
clean, an extraordinary contrast to the
filth of the Egyptian villages. The streets
are we'll laid out and scrupulously swept,
and shady avenues of trees are springing
up. Halfa Is the railway terminus of the
Soudan. 1t is twenty-eight hours to
Khartoum. Nothing can be more COM
Portable than the well-appointed sleeping
train, which runs twice week Start
across the Baynda desert. most desolate
and forlorn of countries. The stations have
no names, but are known merely by their
numbers. In the morning you come to
Abu Hamed-back to the Nile once more.
Here was the scene of one of the stiffest
fights in the Soudan campaign, when Gen
eral Hunter made his dash from korki, and
here are the graves Of the white officers of
the 10th Soudanese Battalion, round which
the black soldiers who died with them keep
ghostly watch and ward forever, and so
redeem the credit of the regiment which
came back from the battle without its
leader
From here onward the journey is full of
interest Berber is springing up again
Then comes the Atbara, with its famous
bridges. and then Matiner, where there Is
this year camp of exercise for the Egyp-
tan army. The camp had most business
like appearance Just as we arrived q
train came steaming in with battalion of
infantry, all in full marching order; it was
exactly like a regiment detraining at the
front in real war. Shendy Is the Crewe of
the Soudan, and. an hour or two later we
ran into the terminus at Halfaya.