THE EGYPTIAN SUDAN fourth gunboat, the Zafi-, which had been repaired in some marvellous manner, joined them, and materially assisted Commander Colville. The Dervishes did not return the fire, and Dongola fort was silent ; about 9.30 a.m. on September 23rd, 1896, the blacks who garrisoned the fort hoisted the white flag, and Commander Colville ceased firing, and landed with one hundred Sudani soldiers and "hoisted the Egyptian flag. As the Sirdar's land force came near Dongola the Dervishes retreated, for they appear to have realized that resistance was useless. Time after time they halted, and seemed to be going to attack, but they always changed their minds. When the Egyptians arrived in Dongola they saw the Egyptian flag flying over the Government buildings, and then learned that the blacks had surrendered. Meanwhile the Dervishes fled, pursued by the Camel Corps and Horse Artillery, and they were in such a hurry to escape that mothers dropped their babes, and the Dervish general forgot to take with him some seven hundred Sudani riflemen ! These surrendered in a body, and four hundred of the finest of them were enlisted in the Egyptian army, and sent to Haifa to be trained, while the remainder were sent to work on the desert railway from Haifa to Abu Hamed. The inhabitants grasped the hands of the soldiers and kissed them, and manifested the greatest joy at being freed from the Khalifa's rule. The once flourishing town of Dongola was found to be a ruin, for under the Dervishes its trade had died, and its inhabitants had either been killed or had gone away. The loss of life consequent on the recapture of Dongola was very little. When we were there a year afterwards it was said that some of the old inhabitants were returning, and that signs of a new growth of trade were already visible.

During the next three days the steamer stopped at intervals to take in wood, and to enable the soldiers to buy small supplies of provisions ; such stoppages were eagerly awaited by every one, especially by the correspondents, who were thirsting for news of passing events, and even the goat on board rushed ashore to stretch its legs, and to nibble the blades of grass on the bank. On the afternoon of the fourth day from Kerma, we passed Old Dongola, which is built on a rocky height close to the river, and stands on the east bank, and must always have been a place of 106 J