_Tuesday, Dec. 27._--Started at 6.30. Mousa’s camel ran away with him to-day. It was a most comical sight, and then to end up with, when he at last reached the ground, she kicked him twice. We lunch on the bank of the river at a point called _Tondaeb_, where we leave the river for 8 hours to cut a bend. Then we have a little rivalry with another caravan that has tried to keep ahead of us, and we get ahead. We are on the desert again. In fact, it is nothing but desert all the way to Berber. We climb a high plateau called _Natayielinnus_, and camp for the night in the middle of it, at a spot covered with the most beautiful, clean, white sand, just the thing for the children to play in if they only had it somewhere in the back yard. There is a town on the river to our right called _El Karaba_. _Wednesday, Dec. 28._--Started at 7 A.M., and gradually descended from the high plateau. We have seen great numbers of partridges and two gazelles. We cross the dry bed of a river lined with palms, and strike the Nile again at the “5th” cataract. The rapids here extend for several miles. The slate formation along the bank has in some places been fused and looks much like coal. We stop for lunch at a point where we can get a good view of the cataract in both directions, called _Wady El Hamar_. Then we leave the river for about two hours, ascend another high desert plateau, and gradually descend again to an open plain, where nestles a village called Genenila. We camp for the night opposite the large, fruitful island of _Artoli_, where one of our guides lives. In the evening we receive two presents of milk.