The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1907-11-10

troad is comparatively straight, and
| II is often far of from the river amid
the sand and rocks. Such parts Of
the strip are uncomfortable.
AT times the sands are binding, the
dust fills the cars. and our eyes smart.
These dacomforts are somewhat OBJ
Waited In the firat-class cars. Ali OF
them have shutters and double win
dows to. keep out the dust, and the
lessen Mu the e sare aF VIII tie shus
ters up 1t Is almost dark In the cars,
and when down both windows give the
Interior the appearance Of twilight
the s' rays vs. are r. blindi ding and the III sun
comes through with such strength that
| It is not safe to have It strike the back
OF ones neck as he sits In the train.
Through Nubia by Rail.
found the conditions even worse
in the Nubtan Desert, which crossed
on the railroad from lady Halta ~, 70
beakest and dreariest on earth. It Is
all sand and rocks, with here and there
low thirsty mountain. The Nub!ans
themselves call 1t ''the stone belly"
must be kept closed to keep out the
Hpst. They have double windows and
shutters, and in addition wooden hoods
over the windows. in order that tho d.
rect rays of the sun may not shine In.
The cars have double roofs. and the
doors have windows OF smoked glass.
There Is so much dust that 1t comes
IN when everything 10 shut. and the
| porter brushes out the cars every
hour.
The scenery Is dreary. The only Wa
ter Is that pumped from artesian wells.
and the stone stations have no green
whatever about them. The stations
have not even name. They are known
/ by numbers: and their only inhabitants
are are the railroad employees. This Is the
condition all the way from Wadv
FIalfa to Abu Hamid. which is port
on the Nile some distance above the
fourth cataract
The soudan Military Railway.
military railway, which extends from
4 Wady Hnlfa to Halfaya The line all
told is 57s miles long, and 1t has q
| gauge Of only forty-twO inches 1t Is
4 during the war with the Mahdi. 1t was
CONSTRUCTED in less than. eighteen
months by the English engineers and
the soldiers. and is one OF the most re
markable examples Of railroad build.
5llaid at the rate of one and one-fourtt
miles per day, and Mt one time more
l than three miles were laid IN one day
The track was constructed during the
was so we'll done that trains carrying
200 tons and drawn by engines weigh
i Ing, without their tender, fifty tons
i could travel safely over It at the rate
OF twenty-five miles per hour. It was
built through a waterless desert, which
had never been mapped until the sur
lveyors went over 1t. and the survey
camp was kept about six miles in ad-
vance Of the rail head during It's con.
struction There was always danger Of
4 attacks by the Dervishes and the roac
was built through a hostile country.
To-day the cars move as smooth!
over Kitchener's tracks as they do oyel
those OF Egypt. and they give thai
n country regular connection with tht
II Sudan. There is now a train de LUXE
d connecting Khartum with Wady Halfa
and this has both sleeping and dining
cara.
sudan Sleeper. and Diners.
The sleepers are divided up into com
1 partments about seven feet square, viii
two berths to each compartment. There
lis an aisle from which the compartments
are entered. running along the sid'
OF the car. and the compartments arr
large enough to enable one to have I
, wicker chair in them. In addition t.
the berths. Each little room has al
electric fan and Is lighted by electricity
oervfre Ia 0Ond AM