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[Page 4]
mystery of the east. At noon the sky becomes as burnished brass. The un-lidded space though supreme for the whole day is at that period a scourging conqueror of the world. His near presence overhead is a shock of light that blinds as it falls like a curse upon the sand. At one the western quarter of the sky is a furnace of orange fire.
At night the great dome lifts to a diviner altitude and is mantled with purple velvet through which sharp points of glory are cut by the steel of stars. And thereunder, as though thrown to its place and poised mysteriously glows, like a slender jewel of gold, the crescent moon.
In the day time there is to be seen here a fragment of Egypt that cannot be called remarkable, yet it is not unworthy of being briefly sketched. Alongside the railway line, occupying an extensive area, lies the Australian camp, a conspicuous enough sight but one devoid of beauty consisting, as it does of thousands of white bell tents