he army of invasion, both the flying corps and the flotilla
of gunboats, advanced upon Abu Hamed towards the end of August.
Major-General Hunter carried the place by storm. Berber was found to be
deserted, and was occupied on September 5th. Hunter burned Adarama and
reconnoitred on the Atbara. The gunboats bombarded Metammeh and reduced
the place to ruins. The sirdar, General Kitchener, then went on a
mission to Kassala, where he found the Italians anxious to evacuate.
He thereupon made an agreement whereby the Egyptians should occupy
the place, which was accordingly accomplished under Colonel Parsons on
Christmas Day, 1897. Disagreements among the dervishes prevented them
from making any concerted defence, and early in 1896 Kitchener renewed
the advance and captured the dervish stores at Shendy on March 27th. The
zeriba or camp of Mahmud was attacked and stormed with great loss to the
dervishes on the 5th of April.

On the date scheduled beforehand by Lord Kitchener, just after the
annual rains had refreshed the country, the Anglo-Egyptian army made its
final advance upon Khartum. There were ten thousand British troops and
fifteen thousand Egyptians. The forces were concentrated at Wady Hamed,
sixty miles above Omdurman, from which point they bombarded the city
with shells filled with deadly lyddite, and the mosque and tomb of the
late Mahdi were destroyed. At length the entire army advanced to within
four miles of Khartum. On September 2nd the cavalry and a horse battery
reached Kasar Shanbal. From this point they saw the whole army of the
califa, consisting of from forty to fifty thousand men, advancing to
confront them from behind the hills. The Anglo-Egyptians advanced to
meet the dervishes disposed in the form of a horseshoe, with either end
resting upon the banks of the river. At intervals along the whole line
of the army were field-pieces and Maxims, and the gunboats were within
reach to aid in shelling the enemy. The British soldiers then built
a square sand rampart called a zarilea, and their Egyptian allies dug
defensive trenches.

On the front and left the dervishes came on in great strength, but, when
the Maxims, the field-guns, and the repeating rifles opened fire upon
them, at a comparatively close range, a frightful havoc was the result.
All who remained to fight were immediately shot down, and the whole
field was cleared in fifteen minutes. The dervishes retreated behind the
hills, and were joined by f