GORDON AND THE MAHDI.

104 there,but they hadobtained instruction as plate-layers, carpenters, smiths, engine drivers, firemen, fitters, and cleaners, in fact in everything pertaining to the making-upand managementof trains, and the duties of a railway station. This sort of practice went on formore than a month,and it proved a great advantageto have thereadyservice of thesepicked and trained men for the short pieces of railway necessary to convey stores past the first and second cataracts. The Wady Haifa line as originallyorganised by the RailwayCompany, ran for a distance'ofthirty-three miles almoston alevel, alongthe eastbank of the Nile. It wasthen carried another seven miles up the broken hills of the Muhrat desert, away from the river, and it was to have wound roundpast the Ambigol cataract,but enginesand trolleys weredeficient, and the path was obstructed by rocks which required blasting. Lord Wolseley accordingly suspended the worksat the end ofOctober, andit wasonly towards the close of the expeditionthat further progress wasmade.

Owing to the paucity of rolling stock, the line was chiefly used for forwarding stores to Sarras, some of the row-boatsbeing landedat Bab-el-Kebir and carried above the cataract, while others werehauled through it bythe Canadian Voyageurs, or "Manitoba Boys" as they were familiarlycalled. These skilful fellows,who were commanded by Colonel Alleyne, proved of very great assistance, but some boats had already passed the torrent prior to their arrival at Wady Haifa. The first boat, indeed, was hauled up the rapids on Sept. 25, without any other appliancesthan its own gear and some short towing ropes, the operationoccupyingbut a quarter of an hour, and proving more successful than even the most sanguine officers had expected. The second boat was then hauled up by means of Captain Hammill's cleverly-arranged tackle, and the operation wascarried out evenmorerapidly andsafely.

It should be remembered that from Wady Haifa to Dal, a distance of 123 miles, the course of the Nile comprises a series of most dangerous rapids and intricate passages; the cataracts of Samneh, Wady Attireh, Ambigol, Tangour, Uckma, Akasha and Dal following each other in swift succession. The twofirst, are not so difficult, but the rapids of Ambigol which extendsome four or five miles,areimpassable at lowNile, andprove asevere trialevenwhen the water is high. A short distance further, the Tangour cataract bars the way, andit isas difficult of passage as that of Ambigol. So terribleis the aspect of the river at this point, as it flows onward strewn with rocks and laden with silt, GENERAL VIEW OF THE HOSPITAL AT WADY HALFA boundedontheeastbyprecipitous crags,andlimited westwardby the shifting sands of the Libyandesert, that the natives have given the region the expressive name of Batn-el-Hajaror "belly of stone." A large quantity of dynamite had been sent out from England for blasting the rocks at this and other points, but when it reached Wady Haifa anysuch proceedingwasimpracticable,as the river was then high. Dynamite might be usedhowever with good effect in the months ofMarch and April,when there are places in the rapids almost dry and studded with rocks. If the latter were then blasted and the channelproperlymarked, there wouldbea fair wayinthe flood season— animmenseadvantage for all time.

The dynamitebeing useless, theboats had either to be carried beyondthe cataracts or to ascend them,navigated 1iy the Canadians or hauled along by natives specially engaged for the purpose. The difficulties of navigation between Wady Haifa and Samneh were described at the time by the correspondent of the Standard newspaper, whomade the ascent in one of the