The extension of the railway from Balianeh to Assuan is now being pushed on as rapidly as possible. The embankments are almost completed, the bridge across the Nile at Edfu is in course of construction, and it is confidently expected by the engineers that this very important railway, affording direct communication between the coast and Nubia, will be Open in about twelve months. From Assuan the railway will be continued to Korosko — engineers are now surveying this portion of the line — and from Korosko it will probably be carried across the Nubian desert, by the wells of Murat, to Abu Hamed, but before this can be done the power of Mahdism must of course have been broken.