fine, rendered more so perhaps by the contrast with the sterility of the adjacent landscape.
Deep gorges, foaming rapids, wooded islands, and sandy or pebbly beaches are passed in constant succession. Here and there a small village, in the midst of a minute area of cultivation and surrounded by groves of date-palms, gives a pleasing idea of peace and calm amidst the turmoil of the general surrounding. Occasionally the remains of old fortresses are visible upon the crags. Some of these correspond with the advent of the Mamelukes, but others are of fax older date, constructed by the Bosnian soldiers despatched by the Sultan of Turkey to the King of Ethiopia in the fifteenth century. Among the many beautiful spots in this portion of the Nile Valley may be instanced Dulgoh, with its Rhine-like scenery; Khaibar, with its wall of black granite spanning the river-channel, and flanked at either end by the Keddain hills; Dal, with its noble rapids and green islands; and Sarras, the former frontier station, with its picturesque reach of river.
At 2,500 miles from its sources at the equator the Nile emerges from the long rapids of the Second Cataract and passes Wadi Haifa, the terminus of the Soudan Railway. In its course from Khartoum to this point the fall in the bed-levels has been as much as 850 feet. From Wadi Haifa to the First Cataract, a distance of 200 miles, the river is open, and navigable throughout the year. This region is that of Nubia proper—a country of rocky hills and golden-coloured sand, with occasional stretches of cultivation, and many date-palms. The colour of the sand is one of the most striking features of Nubian scenery. By daylight it has a peculiarly warm orange tint, which makes the black of. the rocks show up sharply, and by the light of a Nubian moon it seems to glow with a ruddy hue, resembling a snow-field, just tinged by the rays of the rising sun. Throughout this reach of river tiny villages may be observed perched among the rocks, well above water-level. Below them, on the narrow
