The advance upon Dongola has practically begun, an before many
days we shall probably hear of an action with the Dervishes. On Tuesday a reconnaissance was made by seven squadrons of cavalry from Fereig, by the desert- route, to the Hannek Cataract, with orders to look out for a. body of Dervish cavalry coming by the Abu Fatma route. As soon, however, as the Dervish horsemen saw our cavalry they retired. Another party of Dervishes tried to raid one of the islands in the Nile, but were driven off. The country in which the expedition now finds itself is far more fertile than anything they have yet crossed. There are great groves of palms laden with dates, and the fields near the river are covered with crops of durra. The inhabitants are delighted to find that the troops pay for all they use, and that instead of being plundered they receive excellent prices for their crops. The correspondents describe the people of the villages as greeting the Army with the utmost delight as friends and deliverers. The advance of the force of sixteen thousand men, infantry, cavalry, and camel corps, accom- panied by seven gun-boats and a whole fleet of sailing boats. on the river, is said to impress them greatly. An army of sixteen thousand men sounds small to European ears, but when its march is concentrated in the narrow Valley of the Nile, the effect is that of an endless stream of armed men.
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