at the north.  Both are foul and unhealthy; and if Old Berber is the more dilapidated, New Berber seemed to the British officers who visited it to be in a more active state of decay.  The architectural style of both was similar.  The houses were constructed by a simple method.  A hole was dug in the ground.  The excavated mud formed the walls of the building.  The roof consisted of palm-leaves and thorn bushes.  The hole became a convenient cesspool.  Such was Berber, and this ‘emporium of Soudan trade,’ as it has been called by enthusiasts, contained at the time of its recapture by the Egyptian forces a miserable population of 5,000 males and 7,000 females, as destitute of property as their dwellings were of elegance.

The Egyptian garrison of Berber at first consisted only of the 350 men of the IXth Soudanese, and two companies of the Camel Corps, who arrived on the 16th of September, having marched across the desert from Merawi.  But the proximity of Osman Digna at Adarama made it necessary speedily to strengthen the force.

During the latter part of September MacDonald’s brigade, with the exception of half the 3rd Egyptians, was moved south from Abu Hamed, and by the end of the month the infantry in Berber were swollen to three and a half battalions.  This was further increased on the 11th of October by the arrival of the XIIIth Soudanese and the remaining half of the 3rd Egyptians, and thereafter the place was held by five battalions (3rd, IXth, Xth, XIth, XIIIth), No. 2 Field Battery, and two companies of the Camel Corps.  As all the Dervishes on the right bank of the Nile had fled to the south of the Atbara, it was found possible to establish a small advanced post of Camel Corps and friendly Arabs in the village of Dakhila, at the confluence of the rivers.  From this humble beginning the Atbara fort with its great entrenchment was soon to develop.

The effect of the occupation of Berber upon the tribes around Suakin was decisive, and the whole country between these towns became at once tranquil and loyal.  Osman Digna’s influence was destroyed.  The friendly villages were no longer raided.  The Governor of the town became in reality, as well as in name, the Governor of the Red Sea Littoral.  The route from Suakin to Berber was opened; and a Camel Corps patrol, several small caravans of traders, and a party of war correspondents—­who might boast that they were the first Europeans to make the journey for thirteen years—­passed safely along it.

It is now necessary to look to the enemy.  Had the Khalifa allowed the Emir Mahmud to march north immediately after the destruction of the Dervish outpost in Abu Hamed, the course of the operations would have been very different.  Mahmud would certainly have defended Berber with his whole army.  The advance of the Expeditionary Force must have been delayed until the Desert Railway reached the river, and probably for another year.  But, as the last chapter has