I 30 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

It is of some importance to remember that Gordon did not commence hostilities against the rebels. He knew that fighting would come, but he loyally regarded his first business to be that of taking means to get the people out of the country, and afterwards to restore a regular government. But he had to make such preparations as he could to defend the city against the Mahdi's followers, and to aid other places in the province as far as possible.

His engineering skill was brought into practice, and he had to provide, not only for the regular defence of the city, but for frequent and constant naval reconnoitre on the Nile. He had had considerable experience during his former residence in the Soudan and at Khartum, and knew how to convert an ordinary small steamer into a fortified vessel. He now had twelve or fourteen steamers and a large number of boats, or rather barges, and he added to the defence of the steamers by casing them with baulks or planks of timber. The barges, which were towed by the steamers, were full of troops, and from high wooden turrets or platforms constructed on the vessels the marksmen could rake the Nile banks with the fire of their rifles, and harass the enemy at a considerable distance from the river. It was a considerable flotilla which swept the Nile northward and southward, capturing grain and stores from the rebels, dispersing their camps, and exploding their forts with the fire of two or three guns which were carried in the expeditions. These operations came later, however, when active hostilities were necessary. When the first excursions were made they were for the purpose of reconnoitring, and not a shot was fired.

On the 29th of February Colonel Stewart and Mr. Power went on the first of these excursions up the White Nile; the party being conveyed in two steamers, each with a thick breastwork of biscuit sacks, and each vessel carrying one gun with 1 10 Soudani soldiers carrying large white flags. The object of the excursion was to visit the villages and explain the proclamations. At each village Stewart stopped and interviewed the sheikhs, to inform them of Gordon's policy of restoring peace to the country. The villages on both banks were quiet for about thirty miles, and