ously between stern walls of
rock. These dark gorges present many perils to the navigator. The most
formidable, the Bab-el-Kebir, is only thirty-five feet wide. The river
here takes a plunge of ten feet in seventy yards, and drops five feet at
a single bound. An extensive pool above, formed by the junction of two
arms of the river, increases the volume of the water and the force of
the stream, so that the 'Gate' constitutes an obstacle of difficulty and
danger which might well have been considered insurmountable.

It had been expected that in the beginning of July enough water would
be passing down the Second Cataract to enable the gunboats and steamers
waiting below to make the passage. Everything depended upon the rise of
the river, and in the perversity of circumstances the river this year
rose much later and slower than usual. By the middle of August, however,
the attempt appeared possible. On the 14th the first gunboat, the
Metemma, approached the Cataract. The North Staffordshire Regiment from
Gemai, and the 6th and 7th Egyptian Battalions from Kosheh, marched to
the 'Gate' to draw the vessel bodily up in spite of the current. The
best native pilots had been procured. Colonel Hunter and the naval
officers under Commander Colville directed the work. The boat had been
carefully prepared for the ordeal. To reduce, by raising the free-board,
the risk of swamping, the bows were heightened and strengthened, and
stout wooden bulwarks were built running from bow to stern. Guns and
ammunition were then removed, and the vessel lightened by every possible
means. A strop of wire rope was passed completely round the hull, and to
this strong belt the five cables were fastened--two on each side and
one at the bow. So steep was the slope of the water that it was found
necessary to draw all the fires, and the steamer was thus dependent
entirely upon external force. It was luckily possible to obtain a
direct pull, for a crag of black rock rose above the surface of the pool
opposite the 'Gate.' On this a steel block was fixed, and the hawser was
led away at right angles until it reached the east bank, where a smooth
stretch of sand afforded a convenient place for the hauling parties.
Two thousand men were then set to pull at the cables, yet such was the
extraordinary force of the current that, although the actual distance in
which these great efforts were necessary was scarcely one hundred yards,
the passage of each steamer occupied