Our party consists of several commercial travellers, bound for the Sudan and Central Africa; two missionaries who are going up the Sobat River; a capitalist, largely interested in land development enterprises about Khartum, and several people who are on their way to the Blue Nile to hunt big game. Although we are far away in the wilds of Nubia, with nothing but desert on each side, most of us appear in evening clothes at dinner. Our meals are served in courses with half-a-dozen changes of plates, knives, and forks. Here is our bill of fare for one day. At seven this morning, while I was yet in bed, my black boy appeared and handed me a cup of hot tea, with two sweet crackers on each side of the saucer. At eight o’clock the bell rang for breakfast in the dining room. The meal consisted of fried fish fresh from the Nile, bacon and eggs, bread and butter and jam, with tea or coffee. At one o’clock came luncheon, a bountiful meal of rice, giblets, chicken, mutton chops, and fruit, with bread and butter and cheese. Coffee, of course. At eight o’clock we had dinner, and the menu was as follows: An excellent soup, then a boiled fish just out of the Nile, followed by a salmi of pigeons, roast lamb and mint sauce, with potatoes and string beans. Then there was a course of tomato salad, and after that a pudding and fruit. I do not find travel in Africa at all cheap. If one travels along the Nile he must expect to spend about fifteen dollars a day, the cost increasing as he goes up the river. My trip from Shellal to Khartum and back by rail and steamer, a distance not very much greater than from New York to Chicago, will be one hundred and fifteen dollars, or about six cents per mile, and I shall pay at Khartum a hotel rate of at least five dollars per day. If one attempts to travel economically he must expect many discomforts. On this boat first-class passengers only are carried. We have some second- and third-class passengers, but they stay on a low barge which we tow alongside. This barge has a flat deck of rough boards covered by a roof. The people carry their own bedding and lay it down on the boards. They must supply their own food, and as the servants of the first-class passengers, and natives, who are far from clean, travel in that way, the company is not desirable. Besides, it is very cold at night, and those who sleep on the decks have the desert breezes blowing over them all night long. It is cooler here than in Egypt, although we are nearer the Equator. I have a woollen blanket on my bed, with a heavy travelling rug on top of that, but still I am none too warm. In the early morning I wear an overcoat on deck, although at noon it is so hot out of the breeze that I would fain take off my flesh and sit in my bones.