90 WITH THE CAMEL CORPS UP THE NILE.

entrance to the cul-de-sac, the other immediately above the wells.

By the midday meal, all stores had been unloaded, and piled in a glen close to the wells, u covered " by the future fort. During the afternoon, most of us indulged in the first wash we had had since leaving Korti, whilst others not so cleanly inclined sought to sleep awhile. At dusk, having given all the beasts a good drink, the returning force " fell in," with all the available camels ; they even took away all our steeds, for baggage purposes, only kindly leaving us some half-dozen who were too sick to go back. By eight o'clock the column had disappeared, leaving us alone in our glory with 6 Hussars, 15 Engineers, and a vast store of Commissariat to keep us company.

The returning force only intended to clear out of the defile, and pass the night immediately outside on the plain before beginning their journey. It was about time to get a little sleep, as we had been going for eighty-four hours without more than four hours' consecutive sleep. The distance traversed, not quite one hundred miles according to Fowler, had been