THE FINAL ADVANCE 201 I were sorted and piled as they came up by rail. Three gun-' boats arrived in sections, and these were put together. They ' were stronger and much better defended by steel plates than the first gun-boats, and each of them carried two six-pounder i quick-firing guns, a small howitzer, four Maxims, and a ; searchlight. They were, however, much slower than the old j boats, and could do very little in the way of towing, i Besides these, eight steel double-deck troop barges were brought up in sections and put together. Three Egyptian I battalions came up from Merawi to aid in the work, which not only included building the gun-boats and barges, but i executing the repairs to all the native craft and putting them in a thoroughly serviceable state. In June the railway reached the Atbara, and for the first time for two years and a half the officers who had superintended its constructfon had a temporary rest. The stores were now transferred from Abadia to the Atbara, and two trains ran every day, each bringing up something like two hundred tons of stores. In I the middle of July two Egyptian battalions left Atbara and proceeded up the Nile, one on each bank, cutting down trees and piling them for fuel for the steamers. As the river rose, 1 four steamers came up from Dongola, together with a number of filing boats, and in the beginning of August the whole flotilla, consisting of ten gun-boats, five unarmed steamers, eight troop barges, and three or four hundred sailing boats, were all assembled.

By this time the reinforcements from home were all at Cairo, and their stores had already been sent up. It was arranged that they were to come by half-battalions, by squadrons, and by batteries, each one day behind the other. To make room for them, two Egyptian battalions were sent up to the foot of the Shabluka cataract. The six black battalions left Berber on July 30th, and arrived at Atbara the next day.

There were now four brigades in the infantry divisions instead of three, two battalions having been raised from the