eymour
of the Grenadier Guards to the "Melik," Captain Ritchie to the
"Nazir," Lieutenant Arbuthnot to the "El Hafir," and Lieutenant
Jackson and other officers respectively to the "Tamai," "Fatah,"
"Metemmeh," etc.

On the 31st of August the "Melik" kept abreast of the cavalry acting
as a screen. At noon of the same day the "Sultan" and the "Melik" and
"Nazir" were sent to shell the dervish tents and tukals seen to the
east of Kerreri village. The enemy were found in some force, about
3500 strong. Eight or ten shrapnel were fired into their zerebaed
camp. Right in the middle of the tents the first shell burst. The
dervishes struck their camp instantly, and mounted men and footmen ran
to the hills, their flight quickened by the gunboats' Maxims. Their
zereba was burned. South Kerreri village was found unoccupied. The
steamers proceeded a little further up stream, had a look at Tuti
Island, and on the west bank caught sight of a body of dervishes, Emir
Zaccharia's men, who also had a taste of shrapnel and Maxims.

On the 1st of September at 5.30 a.m. the steamers "Sultan," "Melik,"
"Sheik," "Nazir," "Fatah," "Tamai," and "Abu Klea" went again up the
river to destroy the forts and land the 50-pounder Lyddite howitzer
battery on Tuti Island, whence it was to shell Omdurman. Major Stuart
Wortley and part of his force were also to be transferred to that
island to support Major Elmslie's battery and clear off any dervishes.
It was found, as I have already stated, that Tuti was unsuitable as a
position, and the Lyddite guns were landed instead upon the east or
right bank of the river. The "Sultan" opened the attack, firing at the
forts and pitching shells into Omdurman. In a short time the other
gunboats came to her assistance, and the mud forts, of which there
were a dozen or more, were promptly silenced. Several of the dervish
gunners' shells, however, only missed the steamers that were their
target by a very few yards. Happily the embrasures of the forts were
so badly made, that the enemy had but a small angle of fire. It was in
more than one instance impossible for the dervish guns to train except
straight to their front. The flotilla passed down behind Tuti Island,
going by the east bank, and were brought-to below the island. There
the 37th R.A. Battery was landed, and the Lyddite shell fire was
directed against the great wall and the Mahdi's tomb, the range of the
latter being 3200 yards. Many dervishes were seen in an