(205 miles) by boat; from Assuan to Shellal (6 miles} by rail; from Shellal to Halfa (226 miles) by boat; from Halfa to Dakhesh (Railhead)—­248 miles—­ by military railway; from Dakhesh to Shereik (45 miles) by boat; from Shereik by camel (13 miles) round a cataract to Bashtinab; from Bashtinab by boat (25 miles) to Omsheyo; from Omsheyo round another impracticable reach (11 miles) by camel to Geneinetti, and thence (22 miles) to Berber by boat.  The road taken by this box of biscuits was followed by every ton of supplies required by 10,000 men in the field.  The uninterrupted working of the long and varied chain was vital to the welfare of the army and the success of the war.  It could only be maintained if every section was adequately supplied and none were either choked or starved.  This problem had to be solved correctly every day by the transport officers, in spite of uncertain winds that retarded the boats, of camels that grew sick or died, and of engines that repeatedly broke down.  In the face of every difficulty a regular supply was maintained.  The construction of the railway was not delayed, nor the food of the troops reduced.

The line continued to grow rapidly, and as it grew the difficulties of supply decreased.  The weight was shifted from the backs of the camels and the bottoms of the sailing-boats to the trucks of the iron road.  The strong hands of steam were directed to the prosecution of the war, and the swiftness of the train replaced the toilsome plodding of the caravan.  The advance of the Dervishes towards Berber checked the progress of the railway.  Military precautions were imperative.  Construction was delayed by the passage of the 1st British Brigade from Cairo to the front, and by the consequently increased volume of daily supplies.  By the 10th of March, however, the line was completed to Bashtinab.  On the 5th of May it had reached Abadia.  On the 3rd of July the whole railway from Wady Halfa to the Atbara was finished, and the southern terminus was established in the great entrenched camp at the confluence of the rivers.  The question of supply was then settled once and for all.  In less than a week stores sufficient for three months were poured along the line, and the exhausting labours of the commissariat officers ended.  Their relief and achievement were merged in the greater triumph of the Railway Staff.  The director and his subalterns had laboured long, and their efforts were crowned with complete success.  On the day that the first troop train steamed into the fortified camp at the confluence of the Nile and the Atbara rivers the doom of the Dervishes was sealed.  It had now become possible with convenience and speed to send into the heart of the Soudan great armies independent of the season of the year and of the resources of the country; to supply them not only with abundant food and ammunition, but with all the varied paraphernalia of scientific war; and to support their action on land by a powerful flotilla of gunboats, which could dominate the river and command the banks, and could at any moment make their way past Khartoum even to Sennar, Fashoda, or Sobat.  Though the battle was not yet fought, the victory was won.  The Khalifa, his capital, and his army were now within the Sirdar’s reach.  It remained only to pluck the fruit in the most convenient hour, with the least trouble and at the smallest cost.