"I asked Périères to narrate to you our adventure with the Arabs, and to depict for your benefit the dance of the bayaderes. He had to deal with stirring scenes and picturesque effects, and, being a literary man, could impart to them both interest and colouring. For the present, however, there is nothing to do but to send you a few sketches of the country through which we have been passing for the last few days, and that is a work which I can safely undertake without the risk of boring you. Do not expect anything from me but a sort of itinerary, some passing notes of our journey from my pen, or, rather, my pencil, jotted down at the road-side, with my knees for a table, and at the end of a long day's march. "Only, my dear fellow, you may rely upon my being always matter-of-fact and veracious, for I am not up to either invention or exaggeration, even for the sake of pleasing or interesting you. And, besides, you may easily verify my accounts by consulting those of the travellers who have passed along the same route, from Souakim by Berber to Khartoum, Combes in 1834, Beurmann in 1860, Heuglin in 1864, Schweinfurth in 1866, and bear in mind that Berber is called El-Mecheref by the English, and El-Mecherif by the Germans. "I omit altogether the other routes taken from Souakim to Khartoum, for some travellers have reached the Nile from the south, without touching at Berber. Werne in 1841, Baker in 1861, and Lejean in 1864, went down the Red Sea as far as Massouah, and reached Khartoum by Keren, Kassala and the Blue Nile. "All these districts, you must know, are under Egyptian rule, and form part of Eastern or Egyptian Soudan. No very extraordinary adventures can, consequently, be expected just yet, but they will come later on, at least we will hope so. There is a time for all things, says the proverb. Have patience, and as soon as ever the unforeseen and the marvellous afford scope for soul-stirring description, I will yield the pen to Périères and you shall be happy. "For the time being we have only to deal with a country already half-civilized, where Turkish and Egyptian customs prevail, where there is a talk of constructing a railway, and where, horrible to relate, the telegraph is in full swing. So you see, we are not yet amongst the savages, and you would not thank me for discounting the interesting things in store for you. "On the 6th November, 1872, we landed at Souakim, where, thanks to the Governor, Muntas-Bey, a charming man, by-the-way, we were enabled to lodge both ourselves and our servants in a tolerably presentable brick house.