On the western side of the Egyptian valley lies a great dry ocean of sand, called the African Sahara…a plateau near the coast is of sufficient height to condense passing clouds into rain. As the natives say, “There is a hole in the sky overhead.”
-Adventures in Morocco, Gerhard Rohlfs, 1874
When we left the herd to catch the Aswan ferry, avoiding arrest by the Egyptians, it became cloudy, strange to see after forty days of blue sky. It rained at Wadi Halfa and we knew the drovers were miserable. When we met again at Binban and asked about the Matar, the Rain, I heard them answer, Al-Jaw, Weather, was Shitty, but what they maybe said was, Al-Jaw Kān Bishitti, the Weather was Wintry, even though they may also have said, Bishtiki, Complaining.