he Dongolese, that had been
with me still in charge of Major Crofton, were sent down to try a trip
by themselves. It proved lucky for these men that the Nile does not
scare them, for they had to swim for it on more than one occasion.
However, they proved efficient in the end to the satisfaction of the
officers.

While lying on my oars I had an opportunity to admire the passing army,
both officers and men, and their discipline. I did not see one private
soldier who looked more than thirty years of age. The soldiers showed
signs of the hard work they had done in getting up the Nile. Their hands
were blistered and their clothes worn out, but they were as cheerful
and enthusiastic as ever. My orders now were to assist the officer in
charge with my Iroquois in passing boats up the Dal cataract, until the
last boat was passed. I had all my men collected here except four who
were stationed above. During this time I saw Colonel Burnaby depart on
his camels, Lord Avonmore in his boat, my old commander Col. Alleyne in
his boat and afterwards Sir Evelyn Wood on horse-back, also our Canadian
officer Col. Kennedy, Surgeon, Major Neilson and Col. Grove. The river
had now fallen so much that there were hundreds of rocks in sight, in
front of this station, and crocodiles could be seen by the dozen,
sunning themselves on the rocks, Major Mann and Abbe Bouchard with the
help of a powerful glass, pronounced one brute to be twenty-five feet
long.

The last boat that I assisted in passing was on the 14th of January and
on the 15th I received orders to start for Wady Halfa, which brought my
active service in the Egyptian Expedition to a close.

We arrived at Wady Halfa on the 18th of January where I found Captains
Aumond and McRae and nearly two hundred voyageurs. At Wady Halfa I
witnessed the military funeral of a Gordon Highlander, which was a novel
sight to me.

One dark night, long after the retiring bugle had sounded, an alarm gun
was fired. I went out of my tent and to my astonishment I found the
soldiers already prepared to fight. No lights had been used and it was a
mystery to me how the men could get ready in so short a time. I could
see that in a real attack, the enemy would not get much advantage over
these men.

I must mention here a curious sight I witnessed at the funeral of an
Egyptian, before lowering the body into the grave they put a small coin
into his mouth, and I found out, that their belief is, that the dead
have