There are five wells at Halaib, all within a few hundred metres of the fort. The water is very hard, and exerts a very strongly aperient action on those unused to it, though the Arabs of the place consider it very good. A small Government garden near the fort contains a few small date palms, but there is no other cultivation. There is a sort of bazaar, where one can buy clothes, sugar, dates, fat, etc., but the supplies are small and there was no flour to be got when I was there. Eggs can be purchased from the Arabs, who possess a few fowls, and excellent fish can be got very cheaply from the fishermen. For a daily wage of eight piastres a fisherman supplied me with as much fresh fish daily as I and my men could eat. Sheep can be got from the hills at a day’s notice, a good fat one costing L.E. 1. Firewood has to be brought in from the mountains, and any European making a stay at the place would do well to send to Bir Kansisrob or Bir Frukit for pure water at the same time. The people are very friendly, but only a few speak Arabic. There is a _kuttab_ where boys learn to read and write Arabic under the tuition of a sheikh from Suakin, so that Arabic may perhaps be more spoken after another generation. There are two islands a little north of Halaib, both low and sandy. The larger one, called =Geziret Halaib el Kebir=, is nearly triangular, with sides about three and a half kilometres long. It can be reached easily by wading across a narrow channel in low states of the sea. On it is the grave, marked by a wooden cross, of Lieut. Stewart, R.N., who lost his life in a fight with Dervishes here in 1886. The smaller island lies further north; it is called =Geziret Kwolala=[104] on account of its nearly circular shape.