WARS OF THE NINETIES. 24 bold slopes and precipices of Ferkeh Mountain,

close to the villageof the same name.

The whole distance fromAkasha toFerkeh is

about eighteen miles. The desert route was fairly easyground for an army to traverse. The river route, thanks to the difficult pass near Sarkamatto, must have seemed to the Dervishes almost impossible. This was doubtless one reasonwhy the Sirdar chose it for his main line ofadvance, for surprise was of the essence of his plan. Had the Dervishes received warning of his approach, and retired without lighting, he

would have missed

the place over the lowhills,betweenwhich and the Nile there was a broad strip of fairly level groundrunningsouthward for miles.

The enemy was known to be about 4,000 strong, picked men, a considerable part of the

force beingformed of the Jehadia or black rifle- men,regularly drilled troopsunder Arabofficers.

The rest of the force was made up of Baggara, Jaalin, andDongolese tribesmen, allarmed with sword or spear, and many having besides Remington rifles. There were some hundreds

ofhorsemen and camel-men. The riflemenhad an abundant supply the chance he was seeking of striking a blowthat shouldbreak up their army and clear the country of

them right up to Suarda.

of ammunition, but as they neverhadany target practice they were apt to waste it by firing over the heads of their adver- saries. The Emir Hammuda Idris ap- pears to have been actuallyin command, though a letter from Wad Bishara at Dongola, transferring the command to Os- man Azrak on ac- count of Hammuda's

long inactivity, had reached Ferkeh just before the fight.

His plan was to at- tack in two columns. MajorBurn-Murdoch, his cavalry com- mander,was to march bv the desert route,

with a force, chiefly mounted,composedas

follows:—

The horse battery (6 Krupp 7^ centi- metre guns, throwing aQ^-pound shell). There are t wo tracks leading from Akasha to Ferkeh, which we may dis- tinguish by calling

Machine - gun sec- tion of the North Staffordshire regiment (2 Maxims). Seven squadrons of Egyptian cavalry (800 one the "desert route"and the other the "river route." Both start by the same sandy valley, the Ferkeh Khor, which runs nearly south out of the semicircle of rocky hills that surrounds Akasha. About a mile from the start another sandy valley, Khor Shargosheh, strikes off to

the right towards the Nile, and at this point the river route begins. It runs across the rocky broken ground between DalMountain and the Nile, touching the river bank at three points.

At the last of these, north of the ruined and deserted village of Sarkamatto, it runs for some distance along anarrow shelf of rock above the rushingwatersof theDalCataract;thenitreaches Ferkeh by a stretch of low ground between the river and the hills. The desert route winds through the sandy valleys to the east of Dal Mountain, the two routes uniting under the

sabres).

Major Tudway's Camel Corps (670 rifles).

The 12th Soudanese infantry (under Major Townshend,the defender of ChitraT, 717 officers andmen,mounted on baggage camels till they reached the scene of action.

In all, there were about 2.500 men in the desert column. Captain Broadwood, who had done so muchgood service in scouting over the

same ground, acted as its guide in the night march. Burn-Murdoch's orders were to be in position on the hills east of Ferkeh by half-past

four on the Sunday morning, an hour at which it is still dark in the Soudan. He was to keep well back, so as to be out of the lineof fire of the river column, which was to attack Ferkeh from the north. He was to open uponFerkeh