FOOD FOR MAN AND BEAST. I43 under the command of Major Woodhouse. This was to be on the 25th and 26th, and he was then to follow with his own battalion and the other two sections of the field hospital. The Mudir of Dongola had, with much trouble, been induced to order his troops to enter the Monassir country by the right bank of the river. The vakeel went with them to take the ojaportunity of collecting some arrears of taxes. There were 310 of the mudir's men, who marched out of Merawi with a transport service of camels and donkeys and 120 rounds of ammunition per man, as well as a brass gun, which they used to fire off at night. The original instructions had again yielded to the necessities of the situation, and the leading battalions were ordered to make the advance on the 24th, leaving the rest of the troops and part of the transport to follow as soon as they arrived at Hamdab, which was to have been the point of complete concentration.

The means of providing a sufficient supply of food not only for the British troops, but for 200 Egyptians, 150 natives, mostly camel-drivers, 150 horses, and 530 camels, became a question not easily settled; but the difficulty was increased by the insufficient transport for such a quantity of rations and provender in what would probably be a hostile country. It was calculated that there would be enoucjh food for the men for three months as all the infantry from Korti brought a hundred days' rations per man in their boats, and the other troops carried as much in their boats as practicable in addition to the material required for their special service. It was found possible to save a large proportion of these supplies by purchasing cattle and flour from the natives; and at Abu-Dom fresh meat and dhurra bread was obtained for troops who had brought "way rations" with them for the journey from Korti. At Hamdab a commissariat bakery was established, where four ovens built on the river bank could turn out nearly six hundred loaves a day, and cattle were bought to supply rations of fresh meat, so that the supplies of biscuit and tinned meat were reserved. It was found, however, that a large proportion of the provisions had been damaged in consequence of being imperfectly packed. Numbers of the tins had not been securely closed. Biscuits,