On the 19th, the 88th, with two companies of the 80th regiment, under the command of Colonel Beresford, as the advance of the army, commenced the march across the desert. Having the digging of wells and other duties to perform, the advance did not reach the banks of the Nile until the next month. The rest of the army marched on the following days, the marches being always performed by night; and the army, with a very inconsiderable loss, reached the banks of the Nile in a very healthy state. The course which we took was nearly that travelled by Mr Bruce. For a considerable way after we left Kossier, the road had the strongest resemblance to the bed of a river. As we advanced from Kossier, the water became daily less salt, and less bitter. At Le Gita, and at Bir Amber, the two stations nearest to Ghenné, it was not much complained of. The winds in Kossier camp, from nine to twelve o’clock, generally blew from the N. W. accompanied with torrents of sand. On the march, a very hot suffocating wind from the W. set in about ten and continued till three o’clock. The thermometer at Kossier could not be attended to. On the 29th, at Le Gita, in my tent, at three P. M. the mercury stood at 114°. In the soldiers tents it could not have been less than 118°. At six o’clock in the morning, in a well three feet deep, it was at 69°; and, after taking it out, it fell to 63°: but evaporation must have had a share in the reduction. In other places, on the march, the degree of heat must have been higher. Le Gita is not a situation favourable to the centration of heat: it is situated in a large open plain of many miles extent. There was but little sickness in this month, and yet almost every exciting cause existed. The heat was intense. In the currents of dust, much of it went into the stomach and lungs, and occasioned nausea, which was likewise occasioned by the destructive hot wind. To this the Arabs and even the camels always turn their backs. The men were frequently exercised, and the duties of fatigue in India, usually done by black natives, were performed at Kossier by the soldiers. The fatigue on the march has perhaps never been exceeded in any army. Diarrhœa, and a few cases of ophthalmia, and nyctalopia, were the only diseases in the army. The native corps from Bombay were recovering from a fever, with which they landed. These corps were the last that crossed the desert. JULY.