Mohawks on the Nile. Carl Benn

assaulted the Desert Column, but once more endured a lopsided and bloody tactical defeat at the hands of the British, who themselves lost a not-insubstantial 121 killed and wounded. The column continued its advance after this second fight and reached the Nile on January 20 near Metemma. However, after advancing against the town’s defences and sustaining more casualties the next day, its commanding officer abandoned the attack because capturing the town would have cost more in lives and munitions than Metemma was worth to him, while he also worried about the presence of a large number of insurgents operating freely in the region that threatened his exposed force. Therefore, he moved his troops to nearby Gubat, which he had secured before his march against Metemma. By this time, the Desert Column was weakened, having lost many men, camels, and horses, and having expended a large portion of its ammunition.

       Part of the Desert Column’s square at the battle of Abu Kru, January 19, 1885.

      At the same time that the Desert Column fought its way overland, the River Column, with 217 watercraft, continued its advance. Its senior officers hoped to reach Berber with the help of the reduced number of voyageurs, although the column had to travel through an area of turbulent rapids and deep gorges that made the boatmen’s toil more difficult than usual. In addition to using the whaleboats, many of the column’s three thousand soldiers moved along the banks of the river. Scouts and spies with the River Column brought in reports of Mahdist activity within a few kilometres of the army, and British pickets skirmished with Sudanese rebels on occasion, which raised fears that the whaleboats might be attacked at exposed points along the river, especially as, of necessity, they were spread out over long distances. Yet, the insurgents did not engage the soldiers advancing up the Nile in combat, but their presence slowed the British because they had no choice but to try to prevent being surprised. One extra precaution the force had to take was to use up time that it might have employed to travel to build fortifications when it stopped every night. Progress was such that it took until the end of January for the column’s forward elements to reach the Fourth Cataract. Then, on February 5, the River Column halted, even though its officers already thought it could not rendezvous with their compatriots in the Desert Column at Gubat until March. Its soldiers and boatmen wondered why they had been ordered to stop, but welcomed a rest and an opportunity to wash and mend their tattered clothing.³⁹