an hour and a half, and required
the most strenuous exertions of the soldiers. No accident, however,
occurred, and the six other vessels accomplished the ascent on
successive days. In a week the whole flotilla steamed safely in the open
water of the upper reach.

And now for a moment it seemed that the luck of the expedition had
returned. The cholera was practically extinct. The new gunboat Zafir
was nearly ready at Kosheh, and her imposing appearance delighted and
impressed the army. On the 23rd of August all the seven steamers which
had passed the Cataract arrived in a stately procession opposite the
camp. Almost at the same time the wind changed to the north, and a
cool and delicious breeze refreshed the weary men and bore southward
to Suarda a whole fleet of sailing boats laden with supplies, which had
been lying weather-bound during the previous six weeks at the head of
the rapids. The preparatory orders for the advance tinkled along the
telegraph. The North Staffordshire Regiment were, to the intense relief
of officers and men, warned to hold themselves in readiness for an
immediate move. The mounted troops had already returned to the front
from the camps in which they had been distributed. At last the miserable
delay was over.

From Kosheh to Kerma, the first Dervish position, the distance by river
is 127 miles. A study of the map shows that by land marches this can be
shortened by nearly forty-one miles; thirty miles being saved by cutting
across the great loop of the Nile from Kosheh to Sadin Fanti, and eleven
miles by avoiding the angle from Fereig to Abu Fatmeh. From Kerma
to Dongola, which latter town was the objective of the expedition, a
further distance of thirty-five miles must be traversed, making a total
of 120 miles by land or 161 by river. The long desert march from Kosheh
to Sadin Fanti was the only natural difficulty by land. Although the
river from Kosheh to Kerma is broken by continual rapids, it is, with
one interval, freely navigable at half Nile. The Amara Cataract, ten
miles beyond Kosheh, is easily ascended by sailing boats with a fair
wind, and by steamers without assistance. From Amara to the Kaibar
Cataract stretches a reach of sixty-five miles of open water. The Kaibar
Cataract is, during the flood, scarcely any hindrance to navigation; but
at Hannek, about thirty miles further on, the three miles of islands,
rocks, rapids, and broken water which are called the Third Cataract are,
exce