86 THE DOWNFALL OF THE DERVISHES Atkins would gladly cast a large lump of his rations-bread or biscuit upon the waters. Arab urchins swim admirably, with that quick hand-over-hand stroke which primitive tribes always employ; and they judge their distances so accurately that they rarely miss a crust, even where the stream is running at the rate of many miles an hour.

But the troops were, as a matter of fact, always far too busy to get much time for relaxation, in or out of the water. It is astonishing that the authorities should have found it necessary to assign such an enormous amount of work to the officers and men during the concentration at Wad Hamed. On some days the British troops had no less than twelve hours’ fatigue work! Take, for example, the casual record of one day’s round of work, got through by a certain battalion in the heat of a Sudan August. The troops were on parade from 4.30 to 8. They then returned to the camp, and, without being allowed any breakfast, were set to cut grass. Ten minutes. were then allotted for the morning meal. The next item was wood-cutting, and the digging of trenches for camp purposes. This fatigue