ges
to Shendi.

When the Sirdar heard of the evacuation of Adarama he immediately
determined to assure himself of the fact, to reconnoitre the unmapped
country in that region, and to destroy any property that Osman might
have left behind him. On the 23rd of October, therefore, a flying column
started from Berber under the command of General Hunter, and formed as
follows: XIth Soudanese (Major Jackson), two guns, one company of the
Camel Corps, and Abdel-Azim and 150 irregulars. Lightly equipped, and
carrying the supplies on a train of 500 camels, the small force moved
rapidly along the Nile and reached the post at the confluence on the
24th, and arrived at Adarama on the 29th, after a journey of eighty-four
miles. The report that Osman Digna had returned to the Nile proved to be
correct. His former headquarters were deserted, and although a patrol of
sixty of the Camel Corps and the Arab irregulars scouted for forty miles
further up the river, not a single Dervish was to be seen. Having thus
collected a great deal of negative information, and delaying only to
burn Adarama to the ground, the column returned to Berber.

It was now November. The Nile was falling fast, and an impassable rapid
began to appear at Um Tiur, four miles north of the confluence. The
Sirdar had a few days in which to make up his mind whether he would keep
his gunboats on the upper or lower reach. As in the latter case their
patrolling limits would have been restricted, and they would no longer
have been able to watch the army at Metemma, he determined to leave them
on the enemy's side of the obstruction. This involved the formation of a
depot at Dakhila ['Atbara Fort'], where simple repairs could be executed
and wood and other necessities stored. To guard this little dockyard
half the 3rd Egyptian battalion was moved from Berber and posted in a
small entrenchment. The other half-battalion followed in a few weeks.
The post at the confluence was gradually growing into the great camp of
a few months later.

A regular system of gunboat patrolling was established on the upper
reach, and on the 1st of November the Zafir, Naser, and Metemma, under
Commander Keppel, again steamed south to reconnoitre Mahmud's position.
The next day they were joined by the Fateh, and on the 3rd the three
larger boats ran the gauntlet of the forts. A brisk artillery duel
ensued, but the Dervish aim was, as usual, erratic, and the vessels
received no injury. It was observe