The northern end of the narrow passage had been
guarded by the five Dervish forts, which now stood deserted and dismantled.
They were well built, and formed nearly a straight line--four on one bank
and one on the other. Each fort had three embrasures, and might,
when occupied, have been a formidable defence to the cataract.
Threshing up against the current, the gunboats and stern-wheelers
one after another entered the gorge. The Nile, which below is nearly a mile
across, narrows to a bare 200 yards. The pace of the stream becomes more
swift. Great swirls and eddies disturb its surface. High on either side
rise black, broken, and precipitous cliffs, looking like piles of gigantic
stones. Through and among them the flood-river pours with a loud roaring,
breaking into foam and rapids wherever the submerged rocks are near the
surface. Between the barren heights and the water is a strip of green
bushes and grass. The bright verdant colour seems the more brilliant by
contrast with the muddy water and the sombre rocks. It is a forbidding
passage. A few hundred riflemen scattered Afridiwise among the tops of
the hills, a few field-guns in the mud forts by the bank, and the door
would be shut.
The mounted forces marched from Wad Hamed at dawn on the 27th and,
striking out into the desert, skirted the rocky hills. Besides the 21st
Lancers and nine squadrons of Egyptian cavalry, the column included the
Camel Corps, 800 strong, and a battery of Horse Artillery; and it was a
fine sight to see all these horsemen and camel-men trotting swiftly across
the sand by squadrons and companies, with a great cloud of dust rising
from each and drifting away to the northward.
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