CLOSE OF CAMPAIGN. 251 and mounted men and footmen ran to the hills, their flight quickened by the gunboats’ Maxims. Their zereba was burned. South Kerreri village was found unoccupied. The steamers proceeded a little further up stream, had a look at Tuti Island, and on the west bank caught sight of a body of dervishes, Emir Zaccharia’s men, who also had a taste of shrapnel and Maxims.

On the 1st of September at 5.30 a.m. the steamers “Sultan,” “ Melik,” ‘ Sheik,” ‘“ Nazir,” ‘‘ Fatah,” ‘“Tamai,” and “Abu Klea” went again up the river to destroy the forts and land the 50-pounder Lyddite howitzer battery on Tuti Island, whence it was to shell Omdurman. Major Stuart Wortley and part of his force were also to be transferred to that island to support Major Elmslie’s battery and clear off any dervishes. It was found, as I have already stated, that Tuti was unsuitable as a position, and the Lyddite guns were landed instead upon the east or right bank of the river. The “ Sultan” opened the attack, firing at the forts arfd pitching shells into Omdurman. In a short time the other gunboats came to her assistance, and the mud forts, of which there were a dozen Or more, were promptly silenced. Several of the dervish gunners’ shells, however, only missed the steamers that were their target by a very few yards.

Happily the embrasures of the forts were so badly made, that the enemy had but a small angle of fire. It was in more than one instance impossible for the dervish guns to train except straight to their front. The flotilla passed down behind Tuti Island, going by the