It had been expected that in the beginning of July enough water would be passing down the Second Cataract to enable the gunboats and steamers waiting below to make the passage.  Everything depended upon the rise of the river, and in the perversity of circumstances the river this year rose much later and slower than usual.  By the middle of August, however, the attempt appeared possible.  On the 14th the first gunboat, the Metemma, approached the Cataract.  The North Staffordshire Regiment from Gemai, and the 6th and 7th Egyptian Battalions from Kosheh, marched to the ‘Gate’ to draw the vessel bodily up in spite of the current.  The best native pilots had been procured.  Colonel Hunter and the naval officers under Commander Colville directed the work.  The boat had been carefully prepared for the ordeal.  To reduce, by raising the free-board, the risk of swamping, the bows were heightened and strengthened, and stout wooden bulwarks were built running from bow to stern.  Guns and ammunition were then removed, and the vessel lightened by every possible means.  A strop of wire rope was passed completely round the hull, and to this strong belt the five cables were fastened—­two on each side and one at the bow.  So steep was the slope of the water that it was found necessary to draw all the fires, and the steamer was thus dependent entirely upon external force.  It was luckily possible to obtain a direct pull, for a crag of black rock rose above the surface of the pool opposite the ‘Gate.’  On this a steel block was fixed, and the hawser was led away at right angles until it reached the east bank, where a smooth stretch of sand afforded a convenient place for the hauling parties.  Two thousand men were then set to pull at the cables, yet such was the extraordinary force of the current that, although the actual distance in which these great efforts were necessary was scarcely one hundred yards, the passage of each steamer occupied an hour and a half, and required the most strenuous exertions of the soldiers.  No accident, however, occurred, and the six other vessels accomplished the ascent on successive days.  In a week the whole flotilla steamed safely in the open water of the upper reach.

And now for a moment it seemed that the luck of the expedition had returned.  The cholera was practically extinct.  The new gunboat Zafir was nearly ready at Kosheh, and her imposing appearance delighted and impressed the army.  On the 23rd of August all the seven steamers which had passed the Cataract arrived in a stately procession opposite the camp.  Almost at the same time the wind changed to the north, and a cool and delicious breeze refreshed the weary men and bore southward to Suarda a whole fleet of sailing boats laden with supplies, which had been lying weather-bound during the previous six weeks at the head of the rapids.  The preparatory orders for the advance tinkled along the telegraph.  The North Staffordshire Regiment were, to the intense relief of officers and men, warned to hold themselves in readiness for an immediate move.  The mounted troops had already returned to the front from the camps in which they had been distributed.  At last the miserable delay was over.