AFTER THE STRUGGLE AT ABU-KLEA. 33 doura flour (black flour) and water, sprinkled with a little sugar; these he sells at 6d. each, and has purchasers. We get fresh meat here and black bread, but it is not bad. We had worse at some places along the road, and the last two days they have given us bacon and cheese; and to-day the wonderful Nile comforts have come to light, for they gave us an issue of pickles; so we cannot grumble about our rations now, but be thankful we get what we do. We get no liquor whatever, have seen no beer for months, and had only two or three tots of rum since I have been up the Nile; so we are a teetotal army. Before you get this I shall probably be in Khartum—that is, if I manage to get through the bit of fighting that we expect shortly. We captured a convoy of flour and dates going to the Mahdi the other day; they were brought into camp with the prisoners. There were about five hundred sacks of doura (corn for camels), and the same quantity of dates, which went into our army stores. We did not lose a single man."

The condition of the men after the short but tremendous struggle at Abu-K lea was not such as to suggest an immediate advance even as far as the wells themselves; but Sir Herbert Stewart decided not only to push on for that distance, but to continue the march to Metammeh next day, rather than wait for reinforcements, for delay was dangerous; the Mahdi seemed to be preparing to crush the British column, and as soon as the occupation of Gakdul was known his troops were set in motion. Gakdul was occupied by Sir Herbert Stewart at 6.45 a.m. on the 2d January. On the 4th Muhammed el Keir, the Emir of Berber, ordered his men to go to the assistance of the Emir of Metammeh. Omdurma was taken between the 6th and 13th, and the battle of Abu-Klea was fought on the 17th. The enemy had thus thirteen days to concentrate at Abu-Klea; and Metammeh, the place to which Sir Herbert Stewart was hastening the British column, was 1 76 miles from Korti and only about 90 miles from Berber and 98 from Khartum. The battle at Abu-Klea was no sooner over and the retreating Vol. IV. 66