, we found to be a deep
depression of about 1200 feet, cut out of the central limestone
plateau. On the north and east the drop was almost precipitous, and it
was really a wonderful engineering feat to get a railway down it at
all--only accomplished by means of unusually steep gradients and sharp
curves.

The floor of the oasis is, for the most part, just as bare and
desolate as the plateau above, but here and there are patches of green
round the Artesian wells, which were the only sources of water. Except
for the surroundings of the village of Khargeh itself, where there are
a number of splendid wells, a small shallow brackish lake, and
considerable date and fruit groves, no watered patch in the northern
half of the oasis is more than half a mile long and a few hundred
yards wide. The usual patch round a well would include a few
date-palms, perhaps an apricot tree, and an acre or two of Bersim, the
clover of the country, and a kind of Lucerne.

The groves of Khargeh produce great quantities of excellent dates, and
a considerable trade is done with the Nile Valley in rush matting,
made chiefly in the southern portion of the oasis, at Boulak and
Beris.

Points of interest were the half-buried and utterly filthy village of
Khargeh, the Persian Temple near Railhead in a very fair state of
preservation, and the Roman Fort near Meherique. This was still
remarkably intact--a large square with bastions at the four corners,
and built of mammoth bricks--about 60 feet high, with walls 12 feet
broad even at the top.

The only notable natural feature was Gebel-el-Ghenneiem, which was
just a portion of the original limestone plateau left standing. Its
slopes were full of various sorts of fossils--sea-urchins and the
like--so that evidently the sea had been there at one time. From its
flat top one had a wonderful panorama of the desert.

War, with a No-Man's-Land of eighty miles and a very doubtful enemy at
the far end, is war at its very best--even though we did have only
marmalade and nothing but marmalade. But no war is without its
horrors--these came about once a month in the shape of inspecting
generals, who ordered us to raze our defences and build fresh and
proper ones--not a bad game in sand, where you do anyhow see some
result for your labours.

[Illustration: IN THE VILLAGE OF KHARGEH.
_To face page 34_]

[Illustration: CAPTAIN TUKE ON "JOSEPH."
_To face page 34_]

Every other week a squadron would go off to ei