2 24 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

Abu Fatmeh to Korti, by native boats and by whalers. An English officer took charge of a number of whaler-boats, usually ten, manned by Dongolese, by kroomen, or by Egyptian soldiers; and with them went up and down his section of the Nile, it being his duty to see that there was no loitering and no incurring of unnecessary work. At the places of portage (Tanjor 2 miles, Sarka Matto 4 miles, Khaibar il/2 miles, Hannek 4 miles) the stores were disembarked and carried on camels. The station commandants looked sharply after the nuggars, and paid the British soldier that went in each nuo-Q-ar store boat a sum of money in inverse proportion to the length of time in which he made the voyage. A nuggar is a vessel 150 ft. in length, 15 ft.

in beam, 24 in. to 36 in. in draught, with flat bottom, and of about 5 to 10 tons burthen (40 to 90 camel loads). The hull is of sunt wood {Acacia arabica) 2 in. to 3 in. thick, secured with nails and caulked with rags and Nile mud. The mast is 35 ft. in height; the sail 50 ft. by 20 ft., of Nubian cloth, is attached to the upper and lower yard (if any); the rudder is 10 ft. in length, with a tiller beam of some 16 ft. at which ever squats or stands the reis, or one of the crew well acquainted with the currents and channels of the river. This large size of rudder is imperative, since the navigation of the rapids necessitates frequent sharp and short turns in order to avoid collision with the rocks in the channels, or to take advantage of a few yards of back eddy or other favourable water. For some time steam pinnaces patrolled all the waters from Ambukol to Abu Fatmeh; but eventually they were ordered southwards.

As early as the 2Sth of August the steamer Benisoucf, of which we shall hear more presently, reached YVady Haifa with a second detachment of the Sussex regiment. Others had already arrived and more were coming next day, and the orders were that the battalion should push on to Dongola without delay with three months' rations for a thousand men. At that time Commander Hammill was at YVady Haifa with 80 men of the naval brigade to superintend the steamers passing the cataract; the Mudir of Dongola had sent twelve 20-ton boats to Tanjour to assist in the