weary with constant excitement and want of sleep. I received the congratulations of Boscawen and several other officers, and thanked and complimented Boscawen in return for the way in which he had handled the square. The number of the enemy on the gravel hills and round usthat is to say, on the field of battle-was, I should think, very nearly as great as at Abu Klea; but the number of spearmen who charged was only about 800, as against about 1500 at Abu Klea. They charged in the same formation-a sort of triple phalanx and with the same determination ; and running down-hill, came with greater impetus; but the superior steadiness of the men, and their more accurate fire on this occasion, never never gave gave them a chance. They left all their leaders and from 250 to 300 dead in front of the square; but we found out afterwards that many more had been killed in the long

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79

grass and behind the ridge, and that a large number of wounded had been taken off to Matammeh.

During our march the garrison in the zeribah had been engaged with the enemy's riflemen at long ranges, but they never came to close quarters; and the guns had been firing away cheerily at the dense masses of the enemy on the gravel hills in front of the square. As we marched along we could see some of the shells bursting and scattering the crowds; and I think it was chiefly owing to the accuracy of the artillery-fire that a larger number of spearmen did not charge us.

The square was halted for a few minutes after the fight was over, to fill up pouches with ammunition, and let the men have a good drink of water; then we moved on, glad to think that we had not lost a single man by this last charge, and that, a remarkable exception to all previous fights in the

Sudan, no one had been touched by sword

or spear.

By the time we had reached the top of the gravel ridge the sun was just disappearing, and we were terribly disappointed not to see the Nile, which we had hoped would have been close in front of us. We could see, however, the line of green vegetation and the houses of the villages. We knew the Nile must be there, but it seemed a long way off to weary men. At first we moved towards a small village; but as night came on, thought it better to move a little to the right, and strike the river where there were no houses, and no chance of encounter

ing an enemy. We went down a shallow ravine, at the end of which there was a belt of cultivation and vegetation, peas, mimosa, and some dura.

Wortley, I, and a few others left the square at the head of the ravine, and went down to select a camping-place. Consider

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81

ing we had to look for one after dark, we were pretty successful; and we had what we had often longed for during the dayan unstinted drink of water. The square got in about half an hour after dark, and the wounded were at once taken to the best place we could find on the bank of the river; the men went down to drink by companies; and the camels were turned into the pea-fields. Directly every one had had a drink, I sent Lawson away with his sappers to cut bush for a zeribah, and had pickets posted on each side of the ravine we had come down.

The men were so exhausted that when they came up from their drink at the river they fell down like logs, and we had some trouble in rousing them and getting them into their places for the night. We found very few of them had brought rations or anything to eat with 150 rounds of rifle

F

ammunition, they preferred leaving their food behind to carrying the extra weight. Wortley's servant had brought a tin of Chicago beef and some biscuit, upon which we supped, and were able to share it with Cumming, Romilly, and Bonham, who had brought little with them.

Before lying down, I went to see the wounded, who were having their wounds dressed. The doctors behaved splendidly; nothing could have been better. They had been up three nights and through two fights, and here they were again working on the fourth night. One of them, I believe, fainted from exhaustion, but they went on until every wounded man had been attended. The bearer-company also behaved admirably not a wounded man was left on the ground; every one was at once picked up and put into a cacolet on a camel or on to a stretcher. The hospital after a fight is a horrible sight, but the men