Lake Victoria to Khartoum 



at Khartoum, and especially the palace there, 

 first. 



The now famous battle, of which more anon, 

 that put an end to the Dervish rule, was fought 

 on the 2nd of December, 1898. In those days 

 Khartoum was nothing more or less than a mass 

 of ruins and tumbledown houses set in a barren 

 wilderness. All had been destroyed by order 

 of the Khalifa. No one lived amongst the debris 

 of the once grreat emblem of British micrht and 

 right of poor Gordon's time. All had gone to 

 wreck and ruin, save the palm trees which had 

 not been included in the general destruction, and 

 which are now one of the beauties of this city. 



In those days, when the cruel Mahdi and the 

 bloodthirstier Khalifa reigned successively su- 

 preme, their head-quarters were shifted over to 

 Omdurman. I am told that seven short years 

 ago or thereabouts all was chaos in Khartoum. 

 Now what a change there is ! 



The great white palace, with its beautiful and 

 tastefully laid-out gardens, stands forth, towering 

 above the other buildings, on the original site 

 of Gordon's palace of the old days, but larger, 

 statelier, and more lofty than of yore. The 

 British and Khedivial flags wave to and fro 

 placidly in the breeze, imparting a sense of security 

 to the town and its surroundings. 



We have now reached the banks of the Blue 

 Nile. Owing to the heavy floods for which this 



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