The fort was about five hundred feet square, and consisted of a strong embankment or earthwork on three sides, while the fourth was a high rock, which was rendered inaccessible on its farther side. The powder magazine and storehouses were on this rock, and there was a flag-staff on the summit, so that the Egyptian colors were visible for a long distance. There was a road from each of the three sides of the earthwork, but none from the rock; so that all entrance and exit was through the heavy embankment. On the southern side of the rock there was a strong _zeriba_, where the cattle were driven at night; and outside the fort in every direction were fields of grain and garden vegetables, which were cultivated by the garrison or by the natives. Every soldier was allowed a small plot of ground for his own use, and the men were encouraged to add to their scanty pay by the promise of good payment for whatever they could raise in their gardens. [Illustration: GROUND-PLAN OF THE FORT.] The garrison consisted of fifty regular soldiers from Khartoum, and about a hundred irregulars, under the command of a native chief. The former were armed with Remington rifles, while the irregulars were equipped with the ordinary muskets, such as the merchants bring to the country. The irregulars were not considered entirely trustworthy, and therefore it was not advisable to give them anything but inferior weapons. As long as they were faithful they would be more than a match for twice or thrice their number of the natives that surrounded them, as their muskets could speedily overpower the spears of the latter, and, in the event of their treachery, the Remington rifles would soon make an end of the muskets and the men who held them. [Illustration: VIEW FROM THE ROCK-FORT OF FATIKO.] Frank climbed to the top of the rock-fort of Fatiko, and found that the view from it was singularly striking. The ground away to the south was a level plain, broken here and there by masses of granite similar to the one on which he stood. The nearest of these was almost large enough to entitle it to be called a mountain. A little village was nestled against its base, and between the village and the fort was the pasture, or one of the pastures, of the stock belonging to the garrison. Goats and sheep occupied the nearest portion of the ground, and beyond them were the horned cattle and horses, grazing under the care of their herders, and protected by a guard detailed for that purpose.