the stream and passed through the gorge, dragging up with them the whole
fleet of barges and gyassas. The northern end of the narrow passage had
been guarded by the five Dervish forts, which now stood deserted
and dismantled. They were well built, and formed nearly a straight
line--four on one bank and one on the other. Each fort had three
embrasures, and might, when occupied, have been a formidable defence to
the cataract.

Threshing up against the current, the gunboats and stern-wheelers one
after another entered the gorge. The Nile, which below is nearly a mile
across, narrows to a bare 200 yards. The pace of the stream becomes more
swift. Great swirls and eddies disturb its surface. High on either
side rise black, broken, and precipitous cliffs, looking like piles of
gigantic stones. Through and among them the flood-river pours with a
loud roaring, breaking into foam and rapids wherever the submerged rocks
are near the surface. Between the barren heights and the water is a
strip of green bushes and grass. The bright verdant colour seems the
more brilliant by contrast with the muddy water and the sombre rocks.
It is a forbidding passage. A few hundred riflemen scattered Afridiwise
among the tops of the hills, a few field-guns in the mud forts by the
bank, and the door would be shut.

The mounted forces marched from Wad Hamed at dawn on the 27th and,
striking out into the desert, skirted the rocky hills. Besides the 21st
Lancers and nine squadrons of Egyptian cavalry, the column included the
Camel Corps, 800 strong, and a battery of Horse Artillery; and it was
a fine sight to see all these horsemen and camel-men trotting swiftly
across the sand by squadrons and companies, with a great cloud of dust
rising from each and drifting away to the northward.

The zeriba of the camp at Royan had been already made and much of the
ground cleared by the energy of the Soudanese division, which had been
the first to arrive. An advanced depot was established at Royan island
which was covered with white hospital tents, near which there was a
forest of masts and sails. The barges and boats containing the stores
and kits awaited the troops, and they had only to bivouac along the
river-bank and shelter themselves as quickly as possible from the fierce
heat of the sun. The dark hills of Shabluka, among and beneath which
the camp and army nestled, lay behind us now. To the south the country
appeared a level plain covered with bush and o