The British Campaign in the Soudan. 165 one day’s water. From the moment he left the Nile, none was to be found in the deserts of Kordofan, except in the rare and scanty wells of very great depth (from one hundred to two hundred and fifty feet by my own measurement), and therefore very easy to destroy. Major von Seckendorff, an Austrian on Hicks-Pasha’s staff, sent the last intelligence ever received from his army ina letter dated Sept. 25th, from Duem, describing the fatiguing twelve days’ march along the Nile from Khartoum to that place. He said: ‘“We hope to be in El Obeid in five weeks, if we do not die of thirst on the road. . . . The lack of water is terrible ; all the wells on the road are destroyed ; when we march from here we leave the Nile, and other rivers there are none; and we cannot carry more water than we need for twenty-four hours. The False Prophet will give endless trouble. He musters a great force, and disposes of over fifteen thousand good breech-loaders and fourteen cannons, besides holding two fortified cities, Bara and El Obeid. The most important thing is that he commands well-mounted cavalry, and fanaticism makes heroes of all his people—a description which certainly does not apply to our troops. If our cavalry gives timely notice of attack from the Arabs, then all will go well; but if they succeed in taking us by surprise, then we must be prepared for the worst. If they defeat us once, not one of us will return home, for then the entire Soudan will rise as one man, Khartoum and all will be lost. The people will then place unbounded faith in the False Prophet. This shows you that our position is by no means enviable. Yet I have not painted things darker than they are.”

This letter was absolutely prophetic of what followed. As the army advanced after leaving the Nile, the Bedouins retired, destroying the wells and closing around its flanks and rear. At Kashgill, two days’ march from El Obeid, a great battle was fought. The Egyptians, already exhausted by heat and thirst, formed in a square, stood their ground with the courage of despair for three days without a drop of water. Of those eleven thousand men none survived except one hundred and fifty, carried off as prisoners to E] Obeid. Hicks-Pasha, his European of-