FALSE RUMOURS. 63 what he thinks would be most acceptable to his hearers, i.e. if they are in a position to reward him.

Added to this the difficulty, if not danger, of communication across the desert, and the extreme reluctance of any friendly native to traverse it, you have some idea of the obstacles thrown in the way of getting at news, vitally important though it might be to the success of the whole expedition. News might come from several quarters : across the Bayuda from Metemmeh, from Khartoum direct, down the river from Berber, or even via Berber, Abu Hamed, Korosko, and telegraphed up again, yet look at the time it would take, the distances from Khartoum being respectively 276, 210, 515, and 660 miles. The Mahdi also used to send emissaries across to us, purporting to be friends, whereas they invariably gave false information, stating that there was no enemy at all between us and Khartoum, that the Mahdi's forces were deserting in large numbers, etc. etc. anything to mislead us as to his real intentions. No wonder then that news reached us but seldom, and that still more seldom was it trustworthy.