ON THE MARCH. I47 the Hussars marched with half the camel corps, and at the same time two companies of the Staffordshire with Lieutenant-colonel Alleyne and other boat officers moved off by river, followed by the boats of the Royal Engineers, the remainder of the battalion and the Black Watch, with two guard boats manned by Gordon Highlanders. Colonel Colville, with the mudir's troops, kept to the right bank of the river abreast of the boats, and afterwards kept up communication by means of the heliograph. Head-quarters started at about eleven in the morning after telegraphing to Korti that all was going well, that there were no sick, and that the men were in high spirits and longing for a fight. Colonel Hammill at Hamdab afterwards received orders for the artillery and transport to march with their escort on the 28th, the remaining force of the Gordon Highlanders to follow on the 30th.

The column had been handicapped by the alteration of plans made necessary by the course of events, and it was impossible to say with accuracy at what date it would reach Abu-Hamed. The passage of the rocky channels and the successive rapids Avas so difficult that it needed all the efforts of the troops to get the boats up, and at one place (Edermih) the men had to be landed, the arms, ammunition, and baggage to be carried for nearly a mile, and the empty whalers to be dragged up the rapids. On one occasion some of the boats had to be hauled up for repairs.

But there was another difficulty. The infantry in the boats, taking the only navigable channel on the right bank, were effectually separated from the mounted troops, who themselves had to proceed in a broken rocky and difficult country, and yet it was above all things necessary to avoid being surprised by the enemy. It was dangerous to send on a small force to bivouac far in advance, but at the same time it was essential that cavalry should scout well in front, and that provision should be made for reconnoitring not only the country, but the river ahead. The advance was, therefore, accomplished by sending on a half battalion of the Black Watch to form a post at Kabour with the cavalry and camel corps at a point where the Staffords, going by the right bank, would emerge into the open stream, while a half battalion remained at the bivouac at