GORDON AND THE MAHDI. 97 pared to pay a reasonable subsidy to any chief or number of chiefs who would be sufficiently powerful to maintain order along the Valley of the Nile from Wady Haifa to Khartoum,and who would agree to remain at peace with Egypt, to repress any raids on Egyptian territory, to encourage trade, and topreventby allpossible means any expedition for the capture and sale of slaves. The Commander-in-Chief was formally authorisedto conclude any arrangements which fulfilled these general conditions.

While LordWolseleywasdetained at Cairo, by thepolitical part ofhis I mission, the concentration of the troops selectedto take part in the expedition proceeded with great rapidity. Priorto theCommanderin-Chief's departure from England, Sir Evelyn Wood andCommander Hammill had already started up ' the Nile to superintend the operations. The 1st battalion of the Royal Sussex was conveyed from Assouan to Wady Haifa by the Beni-souef steamer, and then hurried with three months' rationsfor a thousand men, on to Dongola,on board some of the boats which theMudir had in the meanwhile dispatched to Sarras, just abovethe second or great cataract. The Royal Sussex wasreplaced at WadyHaifaby theStaffordshire regiment,and then theMountedInfantry cameup by water to Sarras, andproceededby camels to Dongola. Throughout the earlier part of September, the troops were constantly advancing, Lord AVolseley having expressed the desire that they should be pushed on to Dongolawithout waitingfor his arrival. The men after landing inEgypt consequently hadbut few opportunities of amusing themselves at either Alexandria or Cairo, of loitering in the bazaarsand drivingbargains by means of finger-signs and head-shaking, with the hard-fisted Arab merchants. They were speedily conveyed by train to Assiout and thence by steamer to Assouan,where the real difficulties of theirpassagecommenced.

Assiout,the head of the railwayline, some 250 miles from Cairo, is a thriving town of 25,000 inhabitants. It is situateda milefrom the river-bank,onasmallisland connected by an arched stone bridge with the western mainland, below a bill or mountain which was, in the earlyages of Christianity, the abode of numeroushermits and"refugees from persecution; the grottoes in which they dwelt, and the tombs in which they were buried, are still to be seen. The townis aplace of considerable trade, being connected by the Bahr Yusuf Canal with the fertile lake district of the Fayoum. It boasts two fine mosques surmounted by minarets, a palace for the provincial governor, a college, bazaars, baths, and has some well-built houses. Assiout soon became the scene of busy activity. Troops and stores were constantly coming and going, and before the end of September a number of the river boats made in Eno*land arrived by railfrom Alexandria. These boats, which were intended to conveythe troops up the Nile from Sarras to Dongola,measured 30 ft. by 6 ft. 6 in., withadepth of only 2 ft. 6 in. Built of fir and painted white,with awnings to protect the men from the blazing Egyptian sun, they each weighed about nine hundredweight,and were propelledby twelveoars and two sails. It was arranged that they should each carry two boatmen and ten soldiers, with their kits, 100 days' supplies, and a filter, the whole weighing about two and-a-half tons, and it was calculated that when fully loaded they would not drawmore than 20 in.of water,so that a low Nile would be an advantage rather than otherwise. As they successively reached El Hamra, as the port of Assiout is called, theyr wereshippedmainlyon barges for conveyance up the river,beingpacked in a framework of three tiers of ten boats apiece,the whole protectedfrom the sun by matting. Steamers, moreover, were inreadiness,eachofwhichcarriedthirtyboatsandtowed a couple ofbarges,sothattherewereninetyboatsineach shipment. Mr. Thomas Cook had the superintendenceof the entire transport as far as Sarras,receiving ,£40 for eachsailing barge carrying stores, and various sums for the different steamers employed, according to their size. The total cost of the transport was estimatedat noless thanhalf-amillion of money, being the largest tender of the kind everacceptedby the War Office. By way of precaution, several coaling stations were established at different points along the banks of the Nile,an agreement being made that Mr. Cook was to be indemnified in the event of the coalnot beingrequired for the expedition. At one moment it ran shortat Assiout,and for severaldays the steamers were unable to start. Some confusion also resulted from the gear of the row boats having been removed and conveyed separately from Alexandria, and getting this properly distributed among the different boats, gaverise to considerabledelay.

English tourists,desirous of viewingthe preparations for the expedition, were at liberty to journeyby rail as far as Assiout,and even by steamer onto Assouan,but they were warned by a notice duly posted up at the Assiout terminus,that no private gentlemen or travelling officers were allowed farther south than Assouan, withoutthe special permission ofLord Wolseley. "They must give their word of honour," said the notice,"that they are not newspapercorrespondents, nor in any way connected with the press. Theywill receive noassistance as regards camels or rations, and are hereby informed that Lord Wolseley has no employment for them." It