THE WEEK BEFORE THE BATTLE 149 animals and native servants were posted. The cover thus afforded must have been excellent, for I do not think that a single baggage animal was killed throughout the fight. On the extreme left of our line lay a gap between the end of the zeriba and the river, left purposely, I presume, in order to admit the cavalry. Not to go into more detail than needful about the position of our troops—the line began on the left side with the 32nd Field Battery R.A., and an Egyptian battery of twelve-pounder Maxim-Nordenfeldts. Next in order came the two British Brigades with two _ Maxim batteries, and the remaining two-thirds of the zeriba was held by the various native battalions. Towards the northern side of the _zeriba an Egyptian battery was posted on a ‘little mound of sand. The British infantry were protected solely by the zeriba, but in front of the native battalions under Colonels Lewis, Maxwell, and Macdonald ran a shallow trench. Colonel Collinson’s brigade was posted as a reserve inside the zeriba some distance to the rear of Macdonald’s division.

Ammunition boxes lay in rows behind each