WARS OF THE NINETIES. 72 the four battalions,twoEnglish and two Scotch, reached Kenur in record time. They had been so well trained in route-marching since their arrival in the Soudan that during their advance from the railheadto Berber they made several long forced marches, notwithstanding the excessive heat and the difficult ground, and arrived at their halting-places none the worse for their exertions, though each man carried his full kit and more than a hundred rounds ofammunition. To add to the difficulties time— not so many years ago— when it was supposedthatpicked Britishsoldierscould not move inthe Soudanunless they werecarried on camels.

On March 5 the Sirdar established his headquarters at Berber. He had now, either with him or in easy reach, four British and thirteen Soudanese and Egyptian battalions,besides the camel corps, and a considerableforce ofEgyptian cavalry and artillery. He was,therefore, ready for Mahmoud, who was not yet within striking distance.

ENGLISH TROOPS ADVANCING. GENERAL GATACRE AND MAJOR BROOKE IN THE FOREGROUND.

of these marches, the boots that they had been supplied with proved to be very ill-adapted for service in the Soudan. In the hot sand anddry air stitching of all kinds has a way of suddenly going to pieces, and hundreds of men had to tramp alongwith heels and solescoming offtheir boots. It was a most unfair test of their marching powers, but even this test they passed successfully. It was thought that Mahmoud might make a dash across the Atbara, and the British brigade, in their anxiety to be up in time for the fighting, thought nothing of weary marches by day and night, scanty sleep, and endless discomfort. We have certainly made some progress in desert-campaigning since the Thebulk of the Dervish force did not,infact, move from Shendy till the 12th. Only small scouting parties had shown themselves further north,and even the most venturousof these had not approached nearer than ten miles from the Atbara camp. Meanwhile, although the river was so low that the steamers could only move slowly and cautiously along the river, Captain Keppel,r.n.,with two ofhisgunboats,had made a successfuldash at theflotilla of Nileboatswhich was engagedin movingMahmoud's storesacross to the right bank. Keppel steamedup from the Atbara camp to the north endof Shendy,having on board his gunboats a detachment of the 15th Egyptians, one of the new battalions of