s thought the worst in the whole route.
Colonel Alleyne showed me up to the gate and said "now everything is
yours." It must be understood that this gate does by no means reach
across the river. The river is about 1000 feet wide here and the gate
situated between the east shore and an island is about twenty feet wide.
Not being sure of the water I tried a light boat first. I took boat No.
1 through without any trouble, but would not trust the full load on any
boat. We all lightened somewhat and passed the six boats through with
tow lines inside of an hour. The freight we had left was portaged by
camels. We reloaded and started under sail four miles up in smooth water
and camped. Colonel Alleyne held an inquest that night on Louis
Capitaine's death and despatched a man to the nearest telegraph station
with the news of his death. A few weeks after this despatch was sent,
Colonel Kennedy showed me a copy of the Ottawa _Free Press_, in which
the _Free Press_ made free indeed reporting Captain Louis Jackson as
drowned. All the captains appeared pleased with their boats, talking
about who made the best run and each boasting to have the best boat.
From this cataract to the next one above, at Ambigol, is counted
seventeen miles, which stretch proved much the same as below Semnah
cataract; plenty of dodging and crossing the stream to get the side of
the river with the lesser current, the boats being such good travellers
and answering their helms so well with a stiff breeze, we found
ourselves in a genuine boatman's paradise. In spite of the free wind we
had all day, we had to get lines out and track several times. We camped
on an island about a mile below Ambigol cataract. In the evening the
captains argued as to which of them had run the most on sandbanks. These
sand shoals are formed behind large rocks in a manner never seen in our
own waters, and it was strange to notice that like situated rocks would
not alike accumulate sand, some had shoals behind them and some had
none, still all showed the same eddy on the water surface, and the water
being muddy we could not tell which to trust and so gave them all wider
berths in future.

[Illustration: CATARACT OF AMBIGOL.]

The following day, the 1st of November we reached the post of Ambigol
about 8 a. m. We found this cataract different from Semnah cataract.
This has no "gate" but a very crooked channel, swift current and very
bad tracking. It required the combined force of thirty