…the telegraph poles and wires which here come striding along the edge of the desert and vanish southward with messages for Nubia and the Soudan.
-A Thousand Miles Up the Nile, Amelia Edwards, 1877
The downed wire drooping from tipped poles gave notice we were soon to reach the Nile. I was surprised the metal had not been scavenged. Mustapha’s camel got tangled and bolted. There must have been a functioning network elsewhere because two days later I sent a telegram home from the Dongola post office. Arrived Nile Day 20. Halfway To Cairo. More To Come.