212 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

prisoner, declared that Suleiman Wad Gamr had arrived at Sulimanyeh on the i6th, and on the following day had gone northward with Fakri Wad Etman, accompanied by about 400 men and a number of women and children, with many cattle, camels, and baggage. Lekalik, with the force which had retreated from the Shukook Pass, had, it was said, previously gone in the same direction, and the two sheikhs who had been with him at Shukook had been sent direct to Berber. Another prisoner, who said that he had left the neighbourhood of Abu Hamed on the 14th, had heard that many men from Berber had arrived there, and that 2000 Ababdehs, 1000 Bisharin, and some Robatab were assembled for the defence of the place. All these reports seemed to point to the probability that the enemy, reluctant or unable to show further resistance on the left bank of the Nile, would make a stand at Abu Hamed, and this conclusion was strengthened by the fact of the appearance of mounted scouts on the right bank and their gestures of menace and defiance. General Brackenbury therefore determined to cross the mounted troops and the transports to the right bank as soon as possible, and after inquiry it was settled that the crossing should be effected at Hebbeh, where, at the spot directly opposite the wrecked steamer, the conditions for taking the troops across were most favourable: the high left bank commanding the neighbouring country and the opposite shore, while a long sand-bank beneath the high bank led easily to the water, and on the opposite side only a quarter of a mile below was a high Nile island, forming a strong position for infantry, and with a similar sand-bank, the breadth from the left bank to the island being about 300 yards, while the island itself was separated from the right bank only by a narrow channel, over which at one place there was a dry crossing. The passage of the whole force was accomplished on the 20th and 21st, and was watched by the enemy's scouts on the left bank from behind the sand-hills less than a mile off in the desert until Colonel Butler dispersed them with a party of hussars. Guns, camels, horses, donkeys, baggage, all were taken across with remarkable quickness and success under the superintendence of Colonel AUeyne assisted by the staff-officers.