brought on in the boats, and on being questioned in the evening, told the following story. He was one of the soldiers of the Mudir, and had been taken prisoner at Ambukol by the Shagiyeh, and sold to Haddai in the previous summer. When Haddai was killed, he was taken to Mograt—not to the island, but to the mainland on the left bankwhere he worked for a man named Moham

med el Amin, a dervish. In the evening of the 25th, hearing the English were near, he escaped, and travelled by the left bank till he got opposite our boats in the morning. He said that at Shamkiyeh there were assembled Suleiman Wad Gamr with the Monassir, and Wad Abu Hegel with the Robatab, and many men from Berber under Lekalik, all under the chief command of Abu Hegel; that at this place the river passes through a narrow passage between rocks, and there is an old fort on each bank; that they had fortified the rocks with stonework, and occupied these old forts, and intended to dispute the advance of our

boats. They had no artillery, and but few rifles, but they were numerous,-far more numerous than our force, and had all either swords or spears. They had heard of Kirbekan, and knew that Moussa Wad Abu Hegel and many dervishes had been. killed. They knew also that Khartoum had fallen, and Gordon had been killed. They told the people that Gordon was killed because he refused to become a Mussulman, and that the English, when they saw so many dervishes, would all throw their arms into the river from fear. They had heard, he said, of our returning; and when he left their camp the previous night, they were loading up provisions on camels, with the intention of following us.

On our way down, we saw signs of a hasty retreat having been made from Sherri island. There were a few native boats, all of which we destroyed, as we had done all we could find coming up the river; and there were some rough rafts. The whaler abandoned by Captain Peel on the 16th

was found hauled up, and the stores that had been left with her were gone. Several

natives were seen watching us from behind distant rocks, but we were in no way molested.

265

CHAPTER XVI.

RUNNING THE RAPIDS-BACK TO HAMDAB.

THE boat officers had decided that it would 26th Feb. be impossible to pass down the left-bank channel by which we had ascended the Sherari rapid; and accordingly we had turned out of the left-bank channel, and our bivouac on Sherri island was on a central channel between Sherri and Sherari, at the head of a rapid. In the descent of the river a different nature of channel had to be sought from that best suited for ascent. ascending, wherever the river became too swift for rowing, passages had to be sought through which the boats could be hauled or tracked, and these necessarily were never in mid-stream, but always close to the bank,

In

either of the main shore or of an island.

A

very great rush of water was to be avoided ; and in consequence of these requirements, the passage by which the boats ascended a rapid was generally very shallow, and frequently only a narrow channel among rocks. To attempt to descend by such passages as these would be to court certain destruction for the boats; and the main point was to find sufficient depth of water, no matter how swift or turbulent the stream. Consequently, as a rule, the descent was in mid-stream of that channel which, in their upward journey, the boat officer had noted as most likely to be full of water.

I had originally intended to make the battalions in turn take the onerous duty of furnishing the rear-guard; but on considering the question, I decided to make the advanced guard and rear-guard permanent, chiefly because any other arrangement involving the transposition of battalions in the order of the column might involve delay. Having selected Colonel Hammill to com