hite troops so checked the enthusiasm of the
newcomers, that these decided to return with the rest.

CHAPTER XXI: THE ADVANCE TO THE PRAH

A large body of natives were now kept at work on the road up to the
Prah. The swamps were made passable by bundles of brushwood thrown into
them, the streams were bridged and huts erected for the reception of the
white troops. These huts were constructed of bamboo, the beds being made
of lattice work of the same material, and were light and cool.

On the 9th of December the Himalaya and Tamar arrived, having on
board the 23d Regiment, a battalion of the Rifle Brigade, a battery
of artillery, and a company of engineers. On the 18th, the Surmatian
arrived with the 42d. All these ships were sent off for a cruise, with
orders to return on the 1st of January, when the troops were to be
landed. A large number of officers arrived a few days later to assist in
the organization of the transport corps.

Colonel Wood and Major Russell were by this time on the Prah with their
native regiments. These were formed principally of Houssas, Cossoos,
and men of other fighting Mahomedan tribes who had been brought down the
coast, together with companies from Bonny and some of the best of
the Fantis. The rest of the Fanti forces had been disbanded, as
being utterly useless for fighting purposes, and had been turned into
carriers.

On the 26th of December Frank started with the General's staff for the
front. The journey to the Prah was a pleasant one. The stations had been
arranged at easy marches from each other. At each of these, six huts
for the troops, each capable of holding seventy men, had been built,
together with some smaller huts for officers. Great filters formed
of iron tanks with sand and charcoal at the bottom, the invention of
Captain Crease, R.M.A., stood before the huts, with tubs at which the
native bearers could quench their thirst. Along by the side of the road
a single telegraph wire was supported on bamboos fifteen feet long.

Passing through Assaiboo they entered the thick bush. The giant cotton
trees had now shed their light feathery foliage, resembling that of an
acacia, and the straight, round, even trunks looked like the skeletons
of some giant or primeval vegetation rising above the sea of foliage
below. White lilies, pink flowers of a bulbous plant, clusters of yellow
acacia blossoms, occasionally brightened the roadside, and some of the
old village clearings were