A PATROL ON THE ATBARA 
45 
Ali Senoussi (wakeel of Mahmoud), the Sheikh Ed Darner and other 
Emirs, together with a very large force, were on their way up the 
Atbara en route for Gedarif, that many of the Dervishes were scatter¬ 
ed but that the bulk of them were two or three days march back; 
that they had been unable to retire to Omdurman after the battle of 
Atbara by Abu Delek, owing to want of waterskins and camels. 
Here was an important piece of news ! It was at once evident that 
all idea of going to Rera must, for the present, be abandoned. I de¬ 
cided to place my force across the path of the retreating Dervishes 
and do the best I could towards capturing them and still further de¬ 
moralising them. After consulting the map, I considered that 
Asobri was the best place to do this from, as it was at a slight salient 
of the river projecting westwards and was therefore a difficult place 
for the Dervishes to avoid if they kept, as they were likely to do, to 
the left or western bank. Asobri was also nearer Kassala than my 
present position, an important point as regards supply and transport, 
for every drop of water consumed en route had to be carried. 
Having written to the above effect to Colonel Parsons asking him, 
at the same time, to forward supplies and any reinforcements he could 
spare to meet me at Asobri, I sent the letter by the fastest camel I 
knew of and gave orders for my force to start at 3 p.m. In the mean¬ 
time, three more prisoners were brought in, one of them a small 
Soudani boy of about six or seven, clothed in the usual “ jibba,” 
whom I annexed, amid much amusement, as my 1 orderly/ Hence¬ 
forward, he rode hanging on at the back of Ibrahin/s camel. 
At Hassibullat/s suggestion, we retraced our steps some miles on the 
Kassala route before striking south, so that the Dervishes when they 
saw our tracks, might think we had returned to Kassala. What little 
there was left of the moon was obscured by clouds, and we had rather 
a troublesome march southwards owing to the difficulty of keeping 
clear of bushes and bad ground in the darkness, so it was not until 
8 a.m. on the 17th that we struck the river at Asobri after our long 
detour. The country in the neighbourhood of the Atbara is much cut 
up by dry khors and hillocks of soft friable soil covered with thorn 
bushes. These extend for from one to two miles on either side of the 
river and make it a most difficult country to work in till the open 
plain beyond is reached. The bed of the Atbara is from 150 to 300 
yards wide with steep banks from fifteen to thirty feet in height 
except where the khors enter the bed. These khors form, therefore, 
the highways to the river for any man or animal wishing to drink. 
There are few trees of any size along the river, but the bushes grow 
thick and almost impenetrable along the edge of the bank. The 
valley being quite uninhabited, all names simply indicate localities or 
places where villages formerly existed. 
At Asobri I found a half-company of the Arab battalion from Kassala 
under an Egyptian lieutenant. Previous to my departure, it had 
been arranged that a body of Halenga Arabs should be enrolled and 
sent to hold a post at Asobri in support of me when I should return 
that way from Rera. There had been some difficulty about the Hal- 
