herever practicable. The first home
drafts to make up for losses arrived at Darmali on the 23rd of April.
About 130 men then joined. It was thought desirable to maintain the
British battalions at their full strength, and some of them mustered
nearly one thousand strong. As the percentage of sick was continuous,
and the rate increased as the campaign progressed, the actual roll of
men "fit for duty" grew less as we neared Omdurman. Of course,
"youths," and all the "weedy ones," were in the first instance
rejected by the army doctors, and were never permitted to go to the
front. Men over 25 years of age were preferred, and it so happened
that both the Grenadier Guards and the Northumberland Fusiliers had a
high average of relatively old soldiers, and consequently few sick.
From the end of April until the end of May, dull hot days in the
Soudan, leave was granted to officers to run down to Alexandria and
have a "blow" at San Stefano, by the sea-side. There were quite a
number of deaths in the brigade shortly after the men got into camp,
the customary reaction having set in on account of the exposure and
strain precedent to the victory of the Atbara. To reduce the numbers
quartered at Darmali, the Lincolns and Warwicks, on the 19th of April,
were marched a mile farther north along the Nile, to Es Selim, where
they formed a separate encampment, the Camerons and Seaforths
remaining at the first-named place. The average daily number of sick
in the brigade at that period was 100 to 150. On one occasion there
were 190 men reported unfit for duty. Most of the cases were not of a
serious nature, and the patients speedily recovered and returned to
their places in the ranks. There was no lack of stores and even
dainties at the camps, for supplies were carried up by caravan,
escorted by Jaalin friendlies, from Berber and elsewhere. Much of the
sickness in the army was probably due to the men recklessly drinking
unboiled and unfiltered Nile water. At that season the river had sunk
into its narrowest bed, and there were backwashes and sluggish
channels full of light-green tinted water. More filters were procured,
and extra care was taken with all the water used for domestic
purposes.

In May there were route marches twice a week, the brigade going off at
5.30 a.m. and returning about 7.30 a.m., all in the cool of the
morning or such bearable temperature as there was in the 24 hours'
daily round in that month. During these exercises th