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The Wadi Halfa-Kerma Line (gauge 3 feet 6 inches) was begun in 1877 by the Khedive Ismâ'il, who had the line laid as far as Sarras, a distance of 33 miles, and it was continued by the British to Akashah, 55 miles further south, in 1884. In 1896, when the reconquest of the Sûdân was ordered by the British Government, Lord Kitchener determined to carry the line on to the head of the Third Cataract, a distance of 210 miles. It was found that the original piece of line had been badly laid; that the Dervishes had torn up 55 miles of it, and burnt the sleepers and twisted the rails; that only two engines were capable of moving; and that practically an entirely new line from Wadi Halfa to Kerma would have to be built. This wonderful work was done in thirteen months by a few young Royal Engineer officers under Lieut. (now Sir) Percy Girouard, R.E. On March 21 the Sirdar ordered the advance; by June 4 the line was working to Ambuķôl Wells, 68 miles from Wâdî Ḥalfa; on August 4 it reached Koshah, 108 miles from Wâdi Ḥalfa; and on May 4 it reached Kerma, 201 miles from Wâdî Ḥalfa. Of the thirteen months occupied in its construction, five had been almost wasted for want of engines and material, and in repairing the damage caused by rain storms, and meanwhile, at intervals, the Sirdar, Lord Kitchener, fought and defeated the Dervishes at Ferket (June 7) and elsewhere, and reconquered the Donkola province. The working expenses of the Kerma line were in 1903 £E. 18,000, and the receipts were only LE.11,000, of which over £E. 5,000 were on account of the Government. As the line had been lightly laid, and any idea of rebuilding it was out of the question, owing to lack of funds, the Government decided to close the line to general traffic in 1904. The portion of it from Kôshah to Kerma (95 miles) had been laid by the British with new rails, and it was further decided to take these up and send them over to the Atbara, for use in the construction of the

Nile-Red Sea Railway. This was accordingly done, and now the section from Halfa to Kôshah is only used for administrative purposes.

Wadi Halfa to Abû Hamed by River.-Leaving Wadi Halfa, the train proceeds slowly past the signal box and points, and keeping to the track on the right, after a few miles enters a very rocky gorge in the mountains on the east bank of the Nile, at the foot of the Second Cataract. Every here and there glimpses are caught of little patches of cultivated ground on the banks of the river, and (in European eyes) of the miserable huts in which the natives live. At mile 7 the famous rock of Abûşîr is passed; at mile 8 is Abkah, or Amkah, which was the advanced post of the Dervishes in 1886, and a few miles further on is Gamai, which was a Dervish base at that time. At mile 33 is Sarras, from which place the Dervishes raided the country round; it was taken and re-occupied by the Egyptian troops at the end of August, 1889, shortly after the crushing defeat of the Dervishes under Wâd * anNagûmî at Tushkeh (Toski) on August 4. At mile 40 is the Semnah Road station, close to the Island of Gazirat al-Malik, where are remains of an ancient Egyptian settlement that dates from the time of the XIIth dynasty.

At mile 43 is the Cataract of Semnah, where the river is 430 yards wide. Here was found an inscription dated in the 8th year of the reign of Usertsen III., who conquered Nubia as far south as this point, and made stringent laws to regulate the entry of the Nubians into the territory newly acquired by Egypt; it seems that only traders and merchants were allowed to bring their boats north of Semnah. Of special interest also are the series of short inscriptions which mark the levels of the waters of

Wâd Weled, i.e., ‘son of,'

the Nile during the inundations in a number of years of the

ARGIN

2nd Cataract WADY HALFA

MATUKA SARRAS
CEMAL

BATN AL-HAGAR

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GUARDA

3rd Cataract KERMA

ACHAFI

DONGOLA ARGO ISLAND

4th Cataract

BERTI

Abu Hamed

5th Cataract

BERBER
AL-DAMER RIVER

DEBBEN

METAMMA

SHENDI

8th Cataract

ATBARA

OMDURMAN KHARTUM

Abu Haraz

ABBA ISLAND

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reign of Amemenḥāt III., to whom tradition assigns the construction of Lake Moeris. These inscriptions show that at that time the river level during the inundation was about 26 feet higher than it is at the present time, and they seem to indicate that Åmenemḥāt III. set to work in a systematic manner to endeavour to understand the effects upon the agriculture of Egypt caused by inundations of varying heights. The ruins at Semnah and Kummah are of considerable interest from many points of view, and especially because they represent buildings which were primarily fortresses of great strength. The two buildings, that of Semnah on the left bank, and that of Kummah on the east bank of the Nile, occupied positions of extreme strategical importance, and when well garrisoned must have formed a formidable obstacle to the progress north of the raiding river tribes. Inside the fortifications at Semnah are the ruins of a temple which was built by Thothmes III., in honour of

Usertsen III.; it consists of a single chamber measuring

about 30 feet by 12 feet, with an extremely plain front.

In 1905 Mr. J. W. Crowfoot and myself discovered here and excavated a temple which Tirhâkâh built in honour of Usertsen III, the first conqueror of Nubia. The inscribed rectangular altar was in situ. Inside the fortifications at Kummah are the ruins of a larger temple which date from the period of Thothmes II. and Thothmes III. Among recent investigators of these ruins is Mr. Somers Clarke, who has prepared scale plans of them all.

The traveller now finds himself journeying through the mountainous district called the Batn al-Hagar, i.e., the 'Stone Belly,' and a more terrible desert it would be difficult to find; blackened rocks and bright yellow sand meet the eye in every direction, and the heat and glare in the afternoon even in the winter months are very fierce. After passing Atiri, Ambukôl and Tangûr Rapids, and the hot sulphur spring at Ukma the village of 'Ukâshah is reached at mile 85. Here the railway touches the river. At 'Ukâshah an action was fought between 240 of the Egyptian Cavalry and the Dervishes, on May 1st, 1896; the Egyptians routed the Dervish force of 1,300 men, 300 of whom were mounted, and killed 18 and wounded 80. At mile 98 is Dâl Cataract, where the fall is about 5 feet; Gebel Dâl on the east is 1,973 feet high. On an island in the Cataract is a Turkish fortress. At Farka (Ferket)

107 miles from Wâdi Ḥalfa, a famous battle was fought on June 7th, 1896. The Sirdar (Lord Kitchener) attacked the Dervishes at 5 a.m., killed and wounded about 1,000 of them, including 40 amîrs, or chiefs, and took 500 prisoners, his own loss being 20 killed and 80 wounded; the battle was over in two hours. The head of the Second Cataract is at Ferket. At Kôshah, 113 miles from Wâdî Halfa, died Captain Fenwick and Surgeon Captain Trask, in July, 1896. At Ginnis (mile 113), the Dervishes were defeated on December 30th, 1885. On the Island of Sâî, about 130 miles from Wâdî

Halfa, are the remains of a small temple with inscriptions of Thothmes III. and Amenophis II., and a number of gray granite pillars from a Coptic church, on which is cut the Coptic cross. Opposite to the north end of the island, on the east bank, are the ruins of the Temple of Amârah. The foundations are of brick, but the columns, eight in number, are of sandstone, and are 3 feet in diameter. The temple measured about 54 feet by 30 feet,and the doorway, which had a column on each side, was 19 feet wide. It was built by a Meroïtic queen whose pyramidtomb is at Meroë, on the top of the hill behind Bagrawiyah. At mile 142 is Saddênga, where there are the ruins of a temple built by Amenophis III. in honour of his queen Thi, and a broken statue. A little to the north, on the east bank of the Nile, is Suwârda, which became the Sirdar's advanced outpost after the Battle of Ferket. Six miles to the south of Saddênga is Gebel Dûsh (Dôsha), a mass of sandstone in which was hewn a tomb in the reign of Thothmes III; the spot is extremely picturesque. One mile further south is Şulb, or Soleb, with the remains of a large and magnificent temple which was built by Amenophis III.; they are the best preserved ruins of a temple and undoubtedly the most interesting of all the ancient Egyptian remains south of Semnah. The Egyptian name of the city of Soleb was

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was built there to commemorate the king's victories over the Nubians, many of the names of the tribes of which are found inscribed on its walls. The temple was approached through two pylons. The court between the two pylons measured about 70 ft. by 45 ft., and contained six columns; the second pylon, 167 ft. wide, was approached by steps. The second court measured about 90 ft. by 113 ft., and a colonnade ran round all four sides; the columns, 28 in number, are 6 feet in diameter. The

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