Three months in the Soudan. (2024)

race, ethnicity

THE SOUDAN

ON OUR CAMELS.

THREE MONTHS
IN
THE SOUDAN

BY
ERNESTINE SARTORIUS

LONDON
KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH & CO., 1, PATERNOSTER SQUARE
1885

(The rights of translation and of reproduction are reserved.)

CONTENTS.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

THE SOUDAN.

CHAPTER I.
VOYAGE OUT.

MY STEP-DAUGHTER AND MYSELF START FROM ENGLAND – PASSENGERS ON BOARD – ALGIERS – RITUALISTIC AND LOW CHURCH CONTROVERSY – MALTA – ITS CHURCHES – GOVERNOR'S PALACE – DIVERS – NEWS OF DISASTER – PORT SAID – NEWS FROM MY HUSBAND – TAKEN OFF BY THE GENDARMES – CAFÉ CHANTANT – POST-BOAT IN CANAL – ISMAILIA – ANECDOTE OF LATE KHEDIVE'S A.D.C. – MARKS OF BRITISH OCCUPATION – LINES OF TEL-EL-KEBIR – THE EGYPTIANS PLOUGHING – DRAWING WATER – ZAGAZIG – ITS MANUFACTURES AND STATION – FIRST VIEW OF CAIRO – MEET MY HUSBAND.

AS the cholera epidemic had passed away in Egypt,and it was considered quite safe to return there, mystep-daughter and myself took passages by theBritish India line of steamers, and on the 14th ofNovember, 1883, started from the Royal AlbertDocks, in the Eldorado. I must say, she was not agood specimen of the line, for she was very dirty, andthe food was very badly cooked. The saloon tableswere decorated with an attempt at finery, in theshape of artificial flowers of every description, andthese, though good of their kind, failed like allshams. The waiters were all natives of India, as isusual with lines plying to the East. Consequently,until they put on their own white native costume atMalta, they looked excessively dirty and miserable.It was a very fine day at starting, but as we approached the Isle of Wight it got so very foggy thatthe steamer nearly ran aground there. The sea was,however, comparatively calm, thus allowing thepassengers to make each other's acquaintance fromthe beginning. Principal amongst them was Mr.Plimsoll, M.P., his daughter, and a friend, who weregoing to Calcutta; a Major and Mrs. Empson, andabout twenty others, proceeding to other places inIndia. We caught it, though, on reaching the Bayof Biscay, for we came in for the roll left by a bigAtlantic storm. This made every one disappearbelow; and, indeed, we were very uncomfortable untilwe got into the Mediterranean.

20th. – What a contrast it is to-day, to the cold,damp weather in England which we have only left sixdays ago! Here, in view of Algiers, with its Orientalbuildings glowing in the rays of a Southern settingsun, the bright hues of the Mediterranean Sea, so completely in harmony with the gorgeous scene, makingeverything so bright, peaceful, and quiet, it seemshard to believe that little more than a hundred yearsago this picturesque town was still the seat of a piratehorde. But here are four bells striking, and thedinner-bell going, so we must rouse ourselves fromour reveries and return to everyday life.

On the 21st we passed the island of Panteliari,one of those volcanic productions of the Mediterranean, which even now are growing up, rising, anddisappearing. The town on the island is made up ofsquare, flat-roofed houses; they are invariably whitewashed, and therefore give the appearance, in thedistance, of a lot of tombstones, the vegetation beingso scarce that it does not take way from this effect.

A very amusing story has just been told me, relating to the controversy between a swell and veryadvanced Ritualist, and a by no means clever, butvery determined member of the Low Church. Thesetwo were sitting opposite to each other at dinner,when the Ritualist happened to observe that theyalways had matins in his church. The otherimmediately pricked up his ears at this, and takingit as a challenge, shouted, much to the amusem*ntof the company, "Why, mats, only mats! Wehave in our church, kamptulicon right up to thealtar!"

We arrived at Malta at 5 a.m. the 23rd of November, and, passing the splendid lighthouse of St. Elmoon our right, and port Ricasoli on our left, anchoredclose to the Custom-house. The captain havingtold us the ship was to remain until the afternoon,everybody hurried off to the town. Our party landedat the steps and walked on to the square in front of theGovernment-house, to enjoy fresh bread and butter,and good coffee – a luxury we had so long beendeprived of. After that we visited the Church ofSt. John, which, crowded as it is with remembrances ofthe old Knights of Malta, in the shape of various relicsof that time, and the chapels to the different nationssituated on either side of the aisle, brings vividlyback to one's mind the romantic history of theirstruggles with the infidels. Besides the above themost remarkable things are the following: – In thePortuguese chapel a group of statuary, representingCharity and Justice, by Mariano Gavano, a Maltesesculptor, who died in France. He has also anothergroup behind the altar, supposed to be his masterpiece, and especially remarkable as being carved outof one block of marble. The subject is the Baptism,of our Saviour by St. John. In the French chapelthe sculptured figure on the tomb of the Comte deBeaujolais, brother of Louis Philippe, representinghim as having fallen asleep on the camp ground, isvery good. The artist was an Italian. In the Italianchapel was a very fine picture by Michael Angelo,representing St. Jerome studying a book. An extremely interesting portion of the church is themarble flooring, inscribed with the arms of thevarious knights of the order who are buried below.Every great family of Europe has its representatives,and it would be in the highest degree interesting tostudy their various histories, I fancy many a bookmore than vieing with even the best of Sir W. Scott'scould be made out of the materials so gathered; butwe have no time to examine them all, and so go onto the solid silver gates at the entrance to the Irishchapel, though, after all, these have very little effect,as the brown painting with which the silver wascoated in order to give them the effect of bronze, andthus to prevent the French soldiers looting them, stillremains.

After leaving the Church of St. John, we wentto the market, a very dirty and not at all interestingspot, with nothing much to be got there butMandoline oranges, not yet ripe enough to be goodeating. From the market we went to the Governor'spalace, where there is a very fine ball and councilroom. The walls of the latter were covered withtapestry eight hundred years old, representing thefour quarters of the globe. We also saw, in thesame room, several chairs, including the GrandMaster's, all relics of the Knights of St. John.Passing on, we came to the armoury, filled with oldarmour that had belonged to the same knights.On the walls of this room, were the colours of the63rd and another regiment, looking strangely out ofplace amongst all this armour, for somehow one expectsold colours to be put away in some church, and not ina store like this. Inside the courtyard of the palacewas a lovely garden, filled with large trees, andlooking all the brighter for the want of anything ofthe kind in the rest of the town. There was a verylarge poinsettia in full blossom, also orange trees withplenty of oranges on them, and a lovely bougainvilleain full flower, climbing up the west wall. I sawalso a blue ipomæa on the opposite side. Flowersin Malta are very cheap, and we were offered alarge basket of roses and heliotrope for a shilling.I bought a large bunch for a penny, and they lastedthree days on board ship. Time passing, we hadto put an end to our roamings and return to theship, which sailed soon afterwards.

While waiting to start, we had an opportunityof seeing the wonderful diving powers of theMaltese, who, helped by the clearness and buoyancyof the water, rapidly pick up the shillings andsixpences that are thrown down, before these havesunk to any depth. They showed their real powersby diving under the ship from one side to the otherwithout any apparent difficulty. It is evidently aregular trade, and the divers get very sharp aboutit, as they will not go down for anything but silver.They know the glint of the latter very well, andthough a gentleman on board threw down a well-burnished farthing, no one would go after it, forall knew that none of the passengers would throwthem gold. The clanging of the bells is anothercurious circ*mstance. The Maltese have a superstition that this ringing drives away the devil, so theygo at it as fast as they can, without reference totime or tune. By-the-by, this is just the contraryto the Mussulman idea, who think that ringingbrings the devil, and therefore have no bells in theirmosques, but call to prayers by means of men shouting from the minarets. The Maltese themselves donot as a whole bear a very good character, thougha great many work very hard indeed, and becomerespectable members of society; but there is no doubtthe scum of the Mediterranean population is composed of Maltese, Southern Italians, and Greeks, and it is notorious what a very bad scum this is.They are exceedingly superstitious and very vain.An amusing instance of the latter quality occurredon the occasion of a grand public dinner which wasgiven here to the officers returning from the Crimea.One of the officers of the Malta Fencibles, rising,proposed the toast of "Malta and England," addingthat as long as they were allied together, they couldface the whole world.

Before leaving the island we heard the greatand unfortunate news of the defeat of GeneralHicks's army in the Soudan, and the total massacreof his troops. This news much excited us, for wethought it might have some effect on my husband'sfuture movements. From to-day, the 26th, we wereenabled to sit on deck and enjoy the warmth. Itreally seemed to give one new life, and we enjoyedit all the more because, while basking in this lovelysunshine, one's thoughts recurred to the climate thatwe had just left. After leaving Malta we did notsee land until we arrived at Port Said, on the 28thof November at 5 a.m., when we were awoke by thewhistle of the boat making a great noise; so, despairing of getting any more sleep, especially as therewere several other boats whistling at the same time,we got up, dressed, and went on deck, and amusedourselves by watching the busy life around us.

I was expecting news of my husband, and, nonecoming, got impatient and sent him a telegramsaying I had arrived. At about 12 o'clock, theComte de Montjoie, who was commanding the policeat Port Said, came on board, introduced himself,and gave me a letter from my husband, who wrotethat on account of the preparations for the warhe could not meet me, and that the Comte deMontjoie would do all that was necessary. Accordingly the latter returned to the shore to send offboats with two or three of his men and his brigadier,who took entire charge of the boxes and ourselvestoo. We were very much chaffed by the passengers,who said we were being taken off by gendarmes,but it was a great comfort, and very pleasanthaving everything done for us. When we arrivedat the hotel, our room and luncheon had been orderedat the only good hotel there, the "Pays Bas."

In the evening Mr. Burrel, the English Vice-Consul, took us to the great Café Chantant, a placekept up most respectably, though greatly on theproceeds of a rouge-et-noire table belonging to thehouse. Major Shakespeare, of General Wood'sarmy, Mr. Baker, Consul for Khartoum, and theComte de Montjoie also came with us. All theprincipal people have their regular seats; in fact,it is almost a theatre. A rather good actress wasthere that night, and she raised a furore by singingthe "Marseillaise" with great entrain, the greaterpart of the audience being French troops on theirway to Tonquin, who had just come in by a Frenchtroop-ship. What delighted these soldiers mostwas the compliment she paid to their country bycoming on to the scene, wearing three ribbons acrossher dress, arranged according to the French colours.

The applause was deafening even at the very first,and when she finished her song, it was repeatedover and over again. One reason for staying solate was the inconvenient hour the postal launchstarts down the Canal, viz. midnight, and it wasonly after a good deal of trouble that, getting thebaggage to the wharf, we started with several otherpassengers, all crowded up in a small saloon. Wemight have stayed till next day, but were in a hurryto see my husband, for we were much startled byhearing he would have to go to the Soudan almostimmediately.

What a night we had of it! The seats werenarrow; the people were many of them foreigners,who would try and shut out all ventilation; thesides of the cabin were straight up, and so gaveno rest to one's back; and we had to go on all night,not arriving at Ismailia till nearly 7 a.m. Atthat place there is a rather nice little hotel closeto the water, but by mistake we passed it, and wenton to a small French one, where luckily they gaveus a decent breakfast, and at 11 a.m. got into thetrain for our final day's travel.

Before quite leaving off all notice of the great salt-water Canal, I could not help thinking whata splendid instance this was of the late Khedive'spower of will, and how lucky it was for the worldhe had this will, for without him the Canal couldnot have been made. It is as well not to look tooclosely at the history of its construction, nor thelives lost over it, amounting to hundreds of thousands. The Bulgarian atrocities did not cause moremisery. The poor wretched gangs of fellahs starvedand driven by the Koorbash to work to their lastgasp, present an awful picture of misery that isalmost too painful to think about in spite of thegreat results obtained. His magnificent extravagance is well exemplified in the small palace hebuilt for the Empress Eugénie, and which has neverbeen occupied since. Here, too, an instance ofthorough Oriental arbitrariness occurred. TheEmpress, while thanking the Khedive for the magnificent reception he had given her, happened tosay that the only thing she had not seen was anArab marriage. "Indeed," said the Khedive, "thisshall soon be remedied." So he sent for his A.D.C.,gave him one of his Circassian slaves from theharem, presented him with a large dowry, and toldthe astonished official that everything was to beready in two days. Accordingly, on the second daythere was a grand marriage à l' Arabi. The Empresswas greatly pleased, and the A.D.C., a man farmore European than Egyptian, and who spoke severalEuropean languages, splendidly found himself indissolubly attached to a Mahomedan wife, while allalong it had been the dream of his life to marrya European lady, one educated like himself, andwith whom he could associate. But he knew hedared not refuse, and so an accident settled hiswhole future life.

While going out of the Ismailia station ourattention was attracted to the marks of the lateEnglish occupation, in the shape of notices writtenon the walls of various buildings, to the effect ofthis being the bakery, that the artillery store,another the commissariat, etc. From what we sawof the place, one cannot but come to the conclusionthat the French manage to make up a much neatertown than we do. The roads are all at right anglesto each other, very well kept, and there are smalland pretty public gardens in the centre; not onlythat, but the native town, equally straightly laidout, was kept, with all its stinks, well away fromthe European quarter. To get to Nefish one hasto cross a large fresh-water canal, and on it wesaw our first diabeah. I was rather interested inthis, as we were to have lived in one at Cairo.From this station the rail runs through the desert,nothing but sand the whole way until just beforewe got to Tel-el-Kebir, where cultivated groundsteadily begins to dominate. Coming up to thislatter place, there were all along the route unmistakable signs of the passage of English troops, inthe shape of empty meat-tins of every kind, bits oftelegraph wires strewed about, the little well-knownfireplaces of the Indian troops, broken crockery,and even bits of paper blowing about. From thetrain a very good sight is obtained of the lines ofTel-el-Kebir. They stretch right and left on eitherside of the railway, and do not seem to be veryformidable, owing to the want of what militarymen call flank defence. The cemetery, where areburied those of our troops who fell there, is close tothe station, and though the trees and flowers haveonly been planted a very short time, yet theirextraordinary growth proves how fertile the so-calleddesert is when it is watered even a little.

It is curious to observe how defined the line isbetween the rich green cultivation and the barrenyellow desert. The only kind of trees of any sizeare the graceful date palms, which have no foliageto hide this boundary. Signs of the rise of the Nilestrike one everywhere; the canals are all full, and thewater is being let into the fields in that careful andmethodical manner for which the Egyptian fellah hasalways been famed. He works with the same instrument as his forefathers, the same old wheel at thewell turned by the patient buffalo; he has the sameway of raising water by lever and weight, or else bymen standing on either side of a small water-hole,lifting up the water with a wretched old palm-leafbasket. Nothing seems changed from what oneremembers to have seen drawn in the sketches oftheir oldest monuments. There is, however, a verygreat want of cattle, owing to the disease and theexigencies of the late war. Camels and donkeys orcamels and buffaloes are constantly seen harnessedtogether, the wretched camel looking intensely miserable, and as if he would like much to make themunderstand that his business was to carry, and notto draw. We soon had to give up observing thecountry, and shut up the windows tight, as the dustgot so troublesome; and we amused ourselves in thebest way we could until we got to Zagazig, wherewe had lunch – a meal for which we paid greatly andgot very little. Zagazig is the most importantjunction in Egypt. It is at this place that all theprincipal railways of the country meet. The townitself is inhabited by a considerable number ofEuropeans, and there are several manufactories.Others were in the process of construction; but thelate war stopped them all, and the English occupation, instead of increasing business, seems to diminish*t still more – at least, so the inhabitants declare.

Near here there is a very ancient city, the tracesof whose existence are lost in the dim mists of pastages, but it is so ruined, and tradition is so still aboutit, that only the most learned antiquaries find interestin it. The station was crowded with all sorts ofpeople – Jews, Greeks, English, French, Italians;Mussulmans of all kinds, Turks, Egyptians, andArabs, the two latter distinguished by their dirtyappearance; women with their faces covered up; children howling, their eyes filled with flies; – indeed,specimens of all tribes and races, clean and unclean,which it would take me longer than the time thetrain stops at the station to notice specially. Theconstant passing of passengers and tourists makesthe boys and hangers-on at this station a set of mostimpudent beggars; they are always on the look-outfor backshish, and keep putting their heads in at thecarriage window, shouting for something.

After leaving Zagazig and approaching Galloub,the first sight of the citadel of Cairo is got, and soonafter the Pyramids come into. view; trees also getlarger and more numerous – indeed, so much so thatpeople say that the climate is in consequence beginning to change and become more damp. If such isthe case, good-bye to many of the monuments of old,such as mummies, etc., which have only been preservedthrough all these long ages owing to the intense dryness of the desert air. What a pity that would be!But there was no time then to think of these things,as we were fast approaching Cairo, and we couldalready see the railway buildings that had beenblown up during the time of the British occupation,owing to a train-load of shells and ammunition takingfire. At the station itself we were met by myhusband, who, by way of greeting, informed us thathe was off to the Soudan the next day, and that ifwe wanted to see anything of him we must go withhim to Suakim. This was, indeed, anything butpleasant news, though of course we made up ourminds at once to go with him; fortunately, we had notime to think, but had to hurry off to our house inthe Shoobra Road.

CHAPTER II.
CAIRO.

EGYPTIAN WATCHMEN – OUR HOUSE – SHOOBRA ROAD – CATHOLIC CONVENT – CELEBRATED GARDENS OF CICOLANI – FASHIONABLE DRIVE – THE KHEDIVE – SIR EVELYN BARING – A VISIT TO GENERAL BAKER – SHEPHEARD'S HOTEL – GENERAL BAKER'S DIABEAH – PARTY TO THE PYRAMIDS – THE HOWLING DERVISHES – SUPERSTITIONS OF THE EGYPTIANS – COPTIC CHURCH – EGYPTIAN FLIES – CITADEL – DONKEY-BOYS – VIEW OF CAIRO AND THE SURROUNDING COUNTRY FROM THE CITADEL – HOUSES OF EGYPTIAN FELLAHS – BOULAK MUSEUM – DISCOVERY OF PHARAOH OF THE BIBLE – CAIRO DOGS – TURKISH GENDARMERIE REFUSE TO GO TO THE SOUDAN – PARADE BEFORE THE KHEDIVE – EXTRAORDINARY SCENES AT THE STATION ON DEPARTURE OF TROOPS – OUR SERVANTS – MY HUSBAND HAS AN AUDIENCE WITH THE KHEDIVE – VISIT TO THE VICE-QUEEN – THE ESBEKIAH RESTAURANT – TRAIN GOES OFF WITHOUT US – THE WOODEN ARMY – MR. CLIFFORD LLOYD'S IDEA OF THE HOPELESSNESS OF ANYBODY COMING BACK SAFE – OUR DEPARTURE – THE BITTER LAKES – THE EGYPTIAN POSTAL STEAMER ZAGAZIG.

WE had intended to sleep late, as we were tired, but,although the shouting of the Gaffirs, or watchmen,and the occasional howl of one of the many dogsabout, prevented us from having an altogether undisturbed night, we were thoroughly awoke in theearly morning by men driving camels and donkeys,coming in laden with grass and vegetables, and whomade so much noise that we were obliged to get up,in spite of still feeling the fatigue of the previousday; but when once out of bed, the delightful clearatmosphere, the fragrance of the flowers, and thenewness of the place made one forget the troubles ofthe night.

The first thing we did was to look over our house.It is a very large, square-built one, with a splendidbig marble hall on the ground-floor, and an equallyfine granite staircase communicating with the upperfloor. A fine date-palm tree looks in at the big window half-way up the staircase. Upstairs there aresix large rooms, besides smaller ones, all eighteen feethigh, and therefore thoroughly suited for the summerheat. The drawing-room is furnished with Indianfurniture, while my boudoir was arranged to suit thevery pretty Zanzibar grass-cloth curtains my husband had brought from Aden. One special piece inthis room that was always admired was my writing-table, made of teakwood in the old Saxon style, byWimbridge of Bombay. There is a large balcony inthe front of the house, looking on to the ShoobraRoad. It is along this latter that the Khedivedrives twice a week, and in consequence every oneelse does the same thing! On account of the waterof the Nile having permeated everywhere, our garden was not yet in a state to walk in; but it will looklovely later on, for it is full of poinsettias, honeysuckle, oleanders, orange trees, etc. I must notforget the date trees, and also the luxuriant vine,which covered the picturesque well in the centre ofthe garden. Close to us is the Catholic convent,where an excellent education is given at a very cheaprate; a little beyond is the celebrated garden ofCicolani, a rich draper of Cairo. He made up thisgarden, and built a splendid house in the midst of it,in hopes that Ismail Pasha, late Khedive, would buyit; but he rather over-shot his mark, by puttingsuch a price on it that even Ismail Pasha, much ashe liked new buildings, drew off.

The drive into the garden is along an avenuebranching off from the Shoobra Road. For this bitof ground, about 300 yards, Cicolani, they say, hadto pay £10,000, for it appears that when he originallybought the property there was no road leading upto it from any regular thoroughfare, and Cicolaniwas too much employed building his palace andmaking up his garden, to think about that. Theconsequence was, that when he came to bargain withthe owner of the land along which the avenue nowruns, the aforesaid owner had already seen how impossible it was for Cicolani to do without it. PoorCicolani had, therefore, to pay this exorbitant price.But whatever the question of money was, the gardensare nevertheless beautifully laid out. The avenue ofoleanders during the month of May is a sight notto be seen anywhere else, for they are one mass ofdouble flowers that quite cover up the parent tree.Then, the peculiar climate of Egypt enables many ofthe northern trees and plants to grow luxuriantlyside by side with those of tropical climes, and thusallow of the full charm of variety. Nothing can bemore beautiful than the wonderful clusters of purplebougainvillea growing all over a kind of grotto madeup of petrified wood, from the celebrated forests ofthe same. In a little water in front of the grotto isthe lotus-flower, a regular Indian plant; while in theshade of some of the petrified wood are several beautiful English ferns. Overshadowing the water bends agraceful clump of bamboos, hardly hiding a group ofash trees which spring straight up behind it. Mixedwith all these are beautiful clusters of roses, enormous tropical aloes, palm trees of every kind; whiledarting through them here and there, and addinglife to the scene, are small birds of various colours,pursuing the bright dragon-flies that flit about thewater. While, to complete all, the bright, softradiance of a Southern winter sun diffuses its cheerful influence all round, making one think that hereat least perfect peace and happiness is possible. Alittle past the grotto is another small piece of water,springing from the centre of which is a rockerytastefully covered with ferns, and forming the pedestal to two statues of children, a boy and girl, theboy holding an umbrella over the girl's head; thetrees around cover them with a deep shadow, andthe tout ensemble is very pretty and shows greattaste. We did not go into the house, as it requiresspecial permission from the owner; and, after all, it isonly furnished in the gaudy Parisian style. Cicolanihimself comes here from his shop, for an hour or so,morning and evening, and when he does sleep herealways occupies two small scantily furnished roomsover the stables.

The day after we arrived at Cairo was one ofthe Shubra gala-days, and everybody drove or rodealong it. Let us suppose ourselves on the balconywatching them. To begin with, here are themounted gendarmes coming to station themselvesalong the road. They are dressed in blue uniformwith yellow facings, long boots, tarbooshes, andmounted on grey horses. Their arms are swordsand a sort of long-barrelled pistol in their hands,to which a kind of steel triangle is attached, so asto enable them, in case of necessity, to use thetriangle as a butt and fire from the shoulder. Thesegendarmes appear about 3 p.m. Soon after, a fewcarriages begin to drive up, containing generallystrangers or others who do not quite know thecustoms of the place. About 4 p.m. the realbusiness begins. Here come, for instance, half adozen carriages driving wildly up, two of themcontaining ladies of some harem, the transparencyof whose veils invariably is in proportion to thebeauty or otherwise of the face underneath. Theveil (yashmak) is so thin with some of them thatit really does not hide the face at all, but merelyslurs over any little defect in the complexion; andundoubtedly adds very much to the piquancy ofthe eyes, for which these Circassians are so muchfamed. The yashmak is a sort of double veil.The first brought round the forehead and gatheredneatly up behind and on the head; the second,pinned on behind to the first, falls sufficiently infront to uncover the eyes. The common peoplewear a hideous black thing, hung on to the sortof black silk, or other kind of thick stuff cloth thatcovers their head, by a kind of nose-guard. Anotheramongst these carriages belongs to one of theconsuls, as we know by the gorgeously dresseddragoman who is seated on the box; the next isloaded with young France out for a holiday, andtherefore smoking, shouting, and singing to showhow completely they are at their ease. Mixed withthese carriages are black eunuchs, riding on splendidhorses, dressed up in the latest European fashion,and looking far more important than their masters,who have probably just gone quietly by. Thesnob of this place is also well represented in theshape of a dozen or so European and native riders,who go rushing frantically about, hoping to showoff their horsemanship, while in reality they onlyscatter mud about the place, stampede the horses,and bring general execration on their heads fromthe passers-by. Equally a nuisance are the nativecartmen, with their long low carts drawn by mulesor donkeys, and which they drive in the mostreckless manner, as hard as these poor wretchedanimals can go, for they know that their cartscannot suffer damage, and that therefore every onemust get out of the way.

Now it is about five o'clock, and accordinglyhere comes the Khedive, bowing, right and left,to all those he meets. In olden times the natives,at least, had all to stop their carriages, get out, andstand by them, making the usual salaam till hehad passed. Now all this is over; people of coursesalute, but in a very different manner, and it isevident the power of the Khedive is not muchthought of. His escort consists only of a dozen orso of his body-guard, and with him in his carriageis one of his principal aide-de-camps; while behind,in a couple of others, are a few more of his suite.His horses are fine English ones; the carriage isa simple victoria; everything is in the most simplestyle.

Soon after the Khedive, the English minister,Sir E. Baring, passed, and the drive is at itsfullest. It is a curious thing, with reference tothis promenade, that people make it a duty tocome here on these two special days, when theywould find it so much less dusty and crowded onany other. If, as in India, there was some place atthe end of the drive where a band played, andpeople could meet together and have a chat, therewould be some sense in it; but, as it is, nothingbut the usual obedience to the laws of fashion canaccount for it. The road itself is very bad, andthreatens the strongest carriage-springs; the repairbeing done with the soft stone quarried from theMokattem heights, and therefore, within a monthof its being laid down, the holes and hollows areas bad as ever. The only pretty part of it arethe large trees which line its whole length, andwhich are being rapidly cut down, and the viewbeing at the end close to the old palace of Shoobra,where a very fine sight of the Nile and the Pyramids in the distance is obtained. Half an hourafter sunset the last of the carriages has passedon its way home, and, as we had taken the precaution to give notice to the head of the Gaffirsthat we would not allow their shouts close to ourhouse, the whole place is quiet.

In the morning my husband went back to hisoffice, as there was a great deal to do with referenceto sending off the troops to Suakim. I will not nowanticipate the next chapter, which gives the detailof the forces, but will go on to the incidents of theday. We went to see my husband at the officeat 10 a.m. It is in the Ismailia quarter, close tothe large buildings which contain the War Office,Public Works and Sanitary Department. Everything was in the greatest bustle, it being extremelyimportant that the troops should go at once. Wehere saw, for the first time, poor Colonel AbdulRussak, who was afterwards killed at Teb. Wethen went off and called on General Baker Pashaat Shepheard's Hotel. His daughter, Miss Baker,being very ill, our visit was naturally a short one,but we took away with us the impression of avery kind, quiet-mannered gentleman. Shepheard'sHotel is a regular meeting-place for everybody,and is as much renowned now as it was in theolden time, when there was no railway, and travellers used to be jogged about in those awful vansacross the desert. It is on the piazza in front thateverybody who wishes to gather news meets ofan evening; it is also a most convenient place towatch the passers-by, the road in front being oneof the principal thoroughfares in Cairo. At theend of the garden is Cook's tourists' office; a littlefurther on, Seebah, an excellent photographist. Infront, under the arcades, are a column of fine shops,containing all that is necessary for travelling. TheEsbekiah gardens are also close by. These were gotup by Ismail Pasha, who, as usual, did the thingwell. A band plays there every day; in hotweather there is an open-air theatre, with anexcellent Italian company. The walks are verynicely laid out, and, as a small charge is made forentering, the absolute riffraff is kept out, thus makingit a most pleasant lounge. There is also a verygood restaurant here, where breakfast, tiffin, anddinner can be had at very good and cheap rates.

In the afternoon we went off to see GeneralBaker's diabeah, which was moored to the banks ofthe Nile at Gazeerah. The Hermione, as it is named,is a large, long, flat-bottomed boat, the after part ofwhich is entirely devoted to cabins. There were sixsleeping-cabins, with accommodation for ten people,a saloon about twelve feet by twelve, and anotherabout twelve feet by eight, a pantry, and servants'cabin. The deck above was covered over withmatting, lined inside with chintz, thus making onefine big room. Needless to say, it was beautifullyfurnished, with carpets brought by the General fromall parts of the world, and several pieces of moresquefurniture from that famous man Parvis. This latteris a great man in Cairo. His moresque furniturestands quite unrivalled, and it is a real treat to go tohis shop. I was disappointed at the view from theboat. Cairo has not the number of minarets andmosques that make Oriental cities look so pretty.We saw nothing but square-built, dirty houses, lending anything but enchantment to the view. Nearhere is the palace of Prince Hassan, the Khedive'sbrother, who has only lately been permitted to returnto Egypt. His children were driving along the roadas we came on shore; they are very pretty and ladylike, and are being educated by English governesses.

Of course, following out the regular routine, wehad to visit the Pyramids, and so made up a partyto go there, consisting of Colonel Harington, Mrs.Greville Davis, ourselves, and one or two others.We went in two carriages, and on our way passedthrough the Khedive's grounds at Gazeerah. Hehas here two large palaces and a very great extentof land surrounded by a big wall. This land thelate Khedive caused to be raised to a height of sixfeet over the usual level, partly to please himself byhaving dry ground during the rise of the Nile, butprincipally in order to give work to crowds of hispoor subjects who were suffering from the effects ofa bad Nile. Immediately outside the gates, towardsthe Pyramids, is the town of Gazeerah, a most dirty,overcrowded place, which therefore, of course, suffered most severely during the late epidemic ofcholera. The road from here runs almost straightto the Pyramids. Nothing worth noticing occurs thewhole way along, especially as one's attention isreally fixed to lessening as much as possible theeffects of the jolting one is constantly suffering fromwhen going along it. The moment you arrive youare surrounded by a crowd of yelling Arabs, who asa rule take regular possession of any sightseers thatmay happen to come. We fortunately had ColonelHarington with us, who knew the whole place well,and therefore very soon got rid of all these nativesbut the necessary one or two. The Pyramids andthe Sphinx have been so often described that I willnot attempt it again here. All that I can say is, thatthe general impression is one of vastness, unchangeableness, and repose. Bret Harte, in his "InnocentsAbroad," gives as good an idea as any I have everseen described.

On Friday is the day to see the howling dervishes. These wretched fanatics assemble in a mosque close to the old town. They have a leader,who, standing in the middle of a semicircle formedin front of him, repeats one of the ninety-nine namesof Allah (God); the others catch it up, go on repeating it, throwing themselves backwards and forwardsquicker and quicker till they get perfectly exhausted.Many of those in the circle are very holy dervishes,and therefore have very long hair, and are exceedingly dirty. At each change in the name they getmore and more excited, and throw off their superfluous clothing to give themselves increased freedomin their movements. One of them, after a time,advances towards the centre, and, keeping one footon the ground as a fulcrum, shoves himself roundand round with the other. A tom-tom is further usedas the excitement flags; but at last physical forcecan do no more, and they are obliged to stop, andthen comes the demand for backshish. The origin ofthis curious custom is probably the superstition thatto every one of the ninety-nine names of Allah apowerful angel is attached; so when a devotee haslived a life pleasing to God, and has repeated oneof these names often enough, God orders the angelbelonging to that name to become the faithful slaveof the above devotee, and thereby enables the latterto be all-powerful in this world. Such is, indeed, themeans by which the Mahdi gained his power overthe ignorant Soudanese, for he separated himself foreight hours a day for several years, lived in a cave,incessantly shouting only the name of one of thoseattributes, until at last he obtained the desired power – so, at least, the Soudanese and Arabs believe.Another reason, too, is that each believer is supposedto possess a certain portion of ground in Paradise.Every time this believer repeats certain prayers andgoes through the names of Allah, so many treesplant themselves in his possessions there. Shouldhe, therefore, have said his prayers properly, it lies inhis power to have a far more magnificent propertyin Paradise than any of those rich men here below,who have no time or will to pay attention to theseduties.

From the mosque of the howlers a short distancetakes us to another, where there is a well, which, theEgyptians are firmly convinced, communicates directwith Mecca. It is affirmed, in proof thereof, that alady once dropped a water-jar into this well, andshortly afterwards going to Mecca, found it there.Turning to Christian traditions, there is the Copticchurch, built over the place where the Virgin Maryrested herself on her flight from Jerusalem. Therewere three small niches in the sides of the cave,which the holy family were supposed to haveoccupied. There was nothing else interesting in thechurch, though outside, the small narrow, crookedstreets, the high houses, the dirty inhabitants, thedonkeys and small shops made each nook and cornerlook extremely picturesque, while at the same timethe smells emanating from these same corners rapidlysent us off to more open parts of the city.

As in old days, the flies are the great plague.Nothing strikes strangers so much as the extraordinary manner in which natives, old and young,allow these flies to crawl about their eyes, nose, andmouth, without attempting to brush them off, or evenseeming to feel them. We have often seen menlying down asleep in the middle of the day, withtheir nostrils and month quite covered with flies,and yet their sleep was as peaceful and calm as ifthey were dreaming the houris were fanning them.Naturally ophthalmia is very prevalent. It is veryrare indeed that one meets an Egyptian who hasboth eyes perfect.

All people who come to Cairo should read theArabian Nights carefully, not so much for the storiesas for the excellent description of the everydaymanners and customs which are now, at this moment,seen in all their entirety quite as much as in thedays when that book was written. In any one of thecrooked streets of the old town one sees the porter ofDinezarde, the three calendars of the story, all ofthem one-eyed, as if to carry out the exact resemblance; in some one of the corners sits the man withhis basket of crockery and glass, probably dreamingon the very same subject as his prototype; the smallcoffee-shops, the talkative barbers – everything, indeed, is still present. But seeing the actual realitytakes away much of the pleasantness, however much itadds to the graphicness, for it would require all theglamour of the most distant romance to enable oneto think that any of these muffled-up harridanscould be the beauties described in that book, or thatthe dirty, stinking, shut-up houses could contain thehalls of delight that were ever present to our youthful fancies. Thus musing, we passed through thestreets into the Grand Mosque at the citadel. Thebarracks all about here have had British troops inthem since the occupation, and an amusing sight itis to see these soldiers, many of them bestriding thesmall and well-known donkeys of the country, andthoroughly enjoying their ride. The donkey-boysare famed for giving extraordinary names to theirdonkeys. They have Bismarck, Gladstone, Cornwallis West, Dickey Temple, and so on, and in somecurious way they hit on characteristics of the personwhose name they take. For instance, one of them,who owned the donkey Dickey Temple, proclaimedits goodness by shouting out, "Here, take DickeyTemple! He always goes; he never stop work,work; he always go!"

The mosque in the citadel is rather disappointing. It consists of one vast dome, with a large opencourtyard towards the east. A certain amount ofalabaster is used to line the interior, but it is notcarved or decorated in any way. The really onlyinteresting part is the tomb of Mahomed Aly, whichis at the south-east corner, it being built on theplace where the janissaries were murdered. It wasa foul murder because it was done in so treacherousa manner, but there is no doubt that these janissaries,or small landowners of the country, were its tyrants,and that until their death no reform was possible;and however cruel Mahomed Aly was, one cannothelp thinking that a little of this energy would havesaved Egypt many sufferings in the last few years.On going into the mosque, they made us put on verylarge red cloth slippers, which caused us to slipabout in the most absurd manner, and I could butlaugh to think what grotesque figures we must havelooked in them. Still, they do allow Christians toenter, thus showing a very different state of thingsfrom what it was even at the beginning of thiscentury, when Christians were rigorously excluded,except, as in the mosque at Tunis, where a Christian workman was allowed to enter on all-fours, torepair the clock, "because," as the Sheikh said to hisco-religionists who objected, "in case of repairs, is itnot true, O true believers, that a donkey entersthis holy place carrying stones on his back; and is itnot also true that one who does not believe in thetrue religion is an ass and the son of an ass? Therefore, O brothers, let this man go in as a donkey."From the height here there is a splendid view ofCairo and the surrounding country. It is boundedbehind by the Mokattem heights, which rise abouttwo hundred feet above Cairo; to the left stretchesaway the little railway of Helouan, where are thesulphur baths; then from there, looking onwards andto the right, comes the Nile, with its multitude ofboats, whose sails prettily reflect the rays of thesetting sun. Far away are the Pyramids of Sakkara;nearer to us loom the great Pyramids, holding steadfastly to their right of being the principal objects ofany landscape which contains them. Then comethe palaces of Gazeerah; and next in order Cairoitself, with its teeming population; while, stretchingout to the southward as far as eye can reach, againshimmers the Nile, flowing calmly through an ever-widening tract of magnificent cultivation. It is acurious circ*mstance with reference to old Cairo that,during the last cholera epidemic, there were veryfew deaths indeed in it, although it is in the mostunsanitary state possible. Boulak, the quarter onthe Nile, was the one that suffered most, as many asfour hundred dying daily during the height of thedisease. Attempts were therefore made to burndown infected closely inhabited parts; this was alsodone to the villages about, which were all hotbedsof the disease. They tell me it is perfectly wonderful how difficult it is to burn down closed-in earth-walled huts, particularly when, as my husbandexplained to me, they are built in rooms communicating from one to the other by small doorsthroughout their whole length, and, except thesesame doors, have no other opening; so the stench,he says, was frightful. All who saw them agreedthat the air of Egypt must have a most wonderfulhealth-giving property to enable people who inhabitsuch holes to live at all.

The great museum of antiquities is at Boulak,pleasantly situated on the banks of the river. Thegreat object of interest to us was the late discoveryof the mummies of the twenty-second dynasty.This is the one which contains the Pharaoh thatBible records say was drowned in the Red Sea.Should his particular mummy not be found, it willbe an extraordinary and welcome affirmation of thehistorical correctness of that great Book. Thebelief which the Egyptians had in the absolutenecessity of embalming was owing to their idea thatin eternity the body could not come to life againunless all the principal parts were carefully boundup and preserved. Under these circ*mstances, something very peculiar must have happened to preventthe mummy of one of those powerful kings beinglaid with those of his dynasty. By-the-by, whiletalking of that period, I saw this morning a mandressed in one of those many-coloured coats which sostrongly reminds one of Jacob's curious taste indressing up Joseph in the same way.

While writing this, I was attracted by dogs furiously barking – evidently a tribal dispute, for from mybedroom window I can just see the boundary of thedomain between two tribes of dogs. A small bridgeseparates them, and a most dreadful growling ensueswhen one or the other tries to pass the limits. I hadhardly believed the many stories that have been toldof the way different dogs have to stick to their ownersbut here I daily see the truth of those reports, and canvouch for their not being exaggerated. Quantitiesof pigeons, too, fly about. Every village has itspigeon-houses, looking like great mud cones, and inthe evening the owners go out and call them in. Anamusing instance of the usual Egyptian dishonestywas told me the other day. When a man wants toget hold of extra pigeons, he goes out of an evening,but instead of calling them he frightens the pigeonsaway. They do not understand this, keep circlingabove, and swoop down now and then towards theirhouses. Other pigeons, seeing this commotion, jointhem, and as soon as the man sees there are enough,he hides. The whole of the birds, old and new, thengo into the house, and the man, returning, shuts themin. This would be a fine business if it were not thatall of them do the same thing, and therefore eachgets caught in his turn. They know this perfectlywell, but no Egyptian fellah could resist the temptation of cheating his neighbour.

My husband has had a great deal to do to-day(the 2nd), as the Turkish reserve gendarmes declaredtheir intention of not going to the war. The cause ofthis, in all probability, is some intrigue on the partof their Egyptian officers, who have the strongestobjection to anything in the shape of fighting. Ittook every one by surprise, as they only made knowntheir determination at the very moment they werecalled on to parade before the Khedive at the AbdinPalace. The Cairo Battalion of Egyptian Gendarmeriewere also to appear before the Khedive at the sametime. In the end, about one-third of the Turksthought better of it; but all those who had familiesand were domiciled in the country absolutely refusedto go. The parade was held at 5 p.m., in the Abdinsquare, the troops marching past the Khedive, whowas standing on the balcony of the Palace; GeneralBaker, Sir E. Wood, Cherif Pasha, the PrimeMinister, and several of the foreign consuls werewith him. After the march was over, the troopsformed up in close column facing the Khedive, whosent out a kind message to them by his aide-de-camp.Every one was much pleased with the appearance ofthe men, who were individually big, strong, andpowerful, hardly any under five feet nine; and, havingbeen almost without exception non-commissionedofficers in the late Egyptian army, they were verywell up in their drill. Their number was about eighthundred. The only question was, would they fight?Many of those who knew best expressed great doubtson the subject, and most others agreed with themwhen it was found 280 out of the 800 had escapedfrom the train while the regiment was on its way toSuez.

No other nation could show such a scene as thatwhich took place at the Cairo station while the menwere waiting to start, for between two and threethousand of their relations crowded the whole station,the women and children crying, screaming, andhowling, begging their husbands, brothers, etc., notto leave them, not to go to certain death, etc., thesoldiers responding, and nearly all crying, like thewomen themselves. Nothing, indeed, could possiblybe more calculated to take every bit of soldier-spiritout of them, even if they had any originally; whichI doubt, for the men were not in the least ashamedto cry, nor were they or their officers disinclined tosay how odious the present duty was to them, andthat, in going into the gendarmerie, they had expectedto give up all active service and remain quietly athome. We were not at all astonished to hear of thenumber of desertions after seeing all this, and that,to prevent such an occurrence in future, martial lawis to be declared in force for all troops going to theSoudan from the moment they are under orders.

Our departure for Suakim, which has been putoff from day to day, is now definitely fixed forSaturday, the 3rd of December. So we have torepack a few things, leaving the others, with thehouse, in charge of an excellent Italian servant wehave, named Anna Debenac. Before leaving, myhusband went with General Baker to say good-byeto the Khedive, who received him most kindly, andtold him that he was going to give him the rank ofPasha, and that he thanked him very much forundertaking to help General Baker in so onerousa task.

We, my step-daughter and myself, went to seethe vice-queen, who lives in the Palace of Ismailia.The entrance to her apartment is the one on the leftof that going into the Khedive's. As usual in allMussulman buildings, there are no openings from orto the outside except those absolutely necessary, andhowever nice the inside may be, nothing of it canbe seen by outsiders. The vice-queen's residence isno exception to this rule, for the Khedive is, aboveall things, a most strict Mussulman. From the outerentrance the carriage goes on about fifty yards, andthen turns to the right through an archway, into firstan outer and then an inner courtyard. In boththese eunuchs are posted at every door. My husbandleft me when the carriage entered the archwaymentioned above. We entered the harem by adouble flight of splendid steps meeting in the centre,about fifteen feet above the level of the ground, andthen on through a fine hall into the reception-room,to which we were conducted by some white womenservants, who were all dressed very plainly, but inbright colours, green and red predominating. Thevice-queen herself was seated on a sofa towards thefar end of the room, ready to receive her guests. Sheis very stout, but at the same time very pretty; hasfair hair and skin, with dark eyes and eyebrows.Her hands are particularly small and white, and shelooks very aristocratic. She wears on her fingerssome very handsome rings. Her hair is arrangedaccording to the present fashion on the top of thehead, with a few curls on her forehead. She wasdressed in a very striking purple velvet brocade withlong train, the whole trimmed with exquisite lace.Her manner was most engaging, quiet, ladylike, andpleasant. When we came in, she rose, shook hands,and asked us to sit down on a sofa near her. Shespeaks Arabic, Turkish, and French, and is very fondof seeing foreign ladies if they can talk French withher. She began to talk about matters in general,concerning which she seemed to be well informed.

In the meanwhile coffee was brought in, in smallchina cups without handles, and handed round by awoman attendant. These cups are inserted in filagreegold holders shaped somewhat like hour-glasses. Thecoffee Is made à la Turque – that is to say, with allthe grounds in it; but, as these latter are very finelyground, they sink to the bottom of the cup, and theclear liquid remains at the top. The-vice-queen hasfour children, two boys and two girls. The girls Idid not see, but the boys we often met when drivingout. They look bright and intelligent enough, andit is to be hoped that they will get a Europeaneducation. Their mother seems very fond of them,and she told me about her girls, how that once shehad insisted upon the elder girl bathing in the sea,and that the poor child was so frightened that shenearly fainted on coming out. The vice-queen spokemost feelingly about it, and showed all through howfond she was of them, and how she looked afterthem. Whilst telling us this a very tall, very blackeunuch came in and said a few words in Arabic toher. She answered; then, turning round to me,said, "Madame, votre mari est en bas, parce-qu'ilm' envoie ses compliments."

This eunuch was decorated with the Egyptianmedal, and looked taller than ever on account ofbeing dressed in a long frock coat. There wasnothing particular in the room we were sitting in,which was furnished in crimson and gold, with thewalls panelled in gold. The carpet was a Turkishone, and the size of the room prevented the goldfrom being too staring. While coffee was being servedthe Comtesse de la Sala came in. She is a Russianby birth, and, like her country-people, speaks severallanguages very well, amongst them English. Sheis one of the nicest people in Cairo. I do not knowmuch of the Comte de la Sala, who is A.D.C. tothe Khedive, but my husband says the same thingof him. The theme of conversation happened toturn on the cholera, and the vice-queen said howsorry she felt for the poor people who suffered. Sheseemed to take it as a matter of course that sheshould have accompanied her husband when hepluckily came up from Alexandria to Cairo, at thetime the latter place was at its height of its suffering. She gave one the impression of a kind,gentle, but spirited woman, whose great misfortunewas being shut up in a harem, and thus unable totake her part in the outer world. On taking ourleave the vice-queen again shook hands with us, andwe got into the carriage and drove out of the courtyard, where we met my husband, who was waitingin an anteroom beyond.

The battalion from Alexandria has just come in.They are to go with us. It is as equally fine aregiment as the Cairo one, and the commandant isColonel Iskander Bey, an officer who served underGeneral Baker in Turkey.

As we had packed up everything, ready to start,and as my husband was too much engaged to gobackwards and forwards from the house at Shoobrato his office, we all met for our meals at the restaurant of the Eshekiah gardens. From what we hear,there is very little to be got at Suakim, so we tookcare to enjoy the snipe, vegetables, and other goodthings that Egypt produces at this time of the year.One of the Egyptian officers told me that the otherday the Minister of War, Ali Pasha Mobarek, gavea grand déjeuner here to all the officers going, atwhich several of the Egyptians got very lively.One or two speeches were made, a great amountof intention was expressed, and then all broke up,in order that they might seriously begin the workof the expedition.

On the 3rd, in the morning, we sent down allour luggage to the station, the troop-train startingat 7 p.m. We had with difficulty got hold of whatappeared to be two good servants, one namedWilliam, a Levantine Englishman, who spokeseveral languages; the other an Egyptian cook.These were ordered to stay with the baggage andawait our arrival. General Baker and several officersand friends were going to see us off, and so we wentquietly down at six o'clock, thinking to be in time,when to our astonishment we heard a whistle, andsaw the train moving along, amidst a prolongedhowl from thousands of natives, assembled as beforeto see the men off. It then turned out that GeneralBaker, wishing to put an abrupt end to this disagreeable scene, which could not otherwise thandishearten the soldiers, sent off the train suddenly.It was a very good plan as far as the soldiers wereconcerned, but, unfortunately for us, our paragonWilliam had begun a series of thinking by ensconcinghimself in a waggon with all our baggage, withouttroubling in the least as to our being present or not,and saying afterwards that he thought we werecoming all right. So there was nothing for it butto go to Shepheard's Hotel and stay there the night.General Baker told my husband that in any case hewished him not to leave by that train, as he hadsome last orders to give him.

That evening there was a grand assemblage onthe hotel piazza, amongst them, several Egyptianarmy officers, English, who naturally were all wishing to go to the war, and could not understand whythe gendarmerie went, while the army were carefullykept back. A joke was passed round that it was"Wood's" army and therefore "wouldn't" go! Iexpect, though, that if Sir E. Wood had really hiswish, he and his army would be in Suakim now.

By-the-by, I heard another bon mot of poor ColonelMorice Bey, the one who was afterwards killed,when Sir E. Malet left, and the first news camethat Sir E. Baring was coming. He said withreference to both Sir Evelyn Wood and Sir EvelynBaring, "Poor Egypt! there is one great evil inEgypt now; what will she do with another biggerevil still?" In the morning my husband went toGeneral Baker's, and saw there Colonel MessadegliaBey, an officer who had served under GeneralGordon in the Soudan, and had compiled most ofthe list of Arab tribes and their Sheikhs, which isalluded to in Colonel Stewart's most excellentreport.

As a last thing before leaving, my husbanddrove over to the Ministry of the Interior to saygood-bye to Mr. Clifford Lloyd, who was most civiland pleasant, wishing him all luck, and saying thathe would much have liked to have gone himself,although he thought that few of the English officerswould ever come back again. On arriving at thestation, we found it crowded by officers and friends,waiting to see us off. General Baker was also there,and said he hoped to join us at Suakim in aboutten days, but that he would not leave Cairo till hehad seen everything go before, or in such a stateof preparation that there could be no doubt of itsreaching its destination. His parting instructionsto my husband were – "On no account to advanceuntil he himself arrived," but that everything thatcould be done by means of money should be tried,as soon as ever he landed. Also the troops were tobe under his command; no orders were to be takenfrom the Egyptian authorities out there. At 11 a.m.,the 4th of December, the train moved off, amidstgeneral good wishes from all present. Four Englishnon-commissioned officers who had been promoted tolieutenants in the Egyptian army came in the sametrain with us. They were to be used as scouts – amost important duty, and one which requires a largeamount of pluck and coolness to carry out properly,for not only have they to point out the position ofthe enemy, but they ought to be able to make a verygood guess of the numbers that they have seen.

Almost the whole route has already been described. The extra short distance from Nefish toSuez, being merely a run through the desert,requires no comment except as regards the beautifulblue waters of the Bitter Lakes, whose splendidcolouring is brought out by the rich yellow of thesurrounding desert. They say that these lakes teemwith fish, but I saw no boats on either of them. Wearrived at Suez about an hour after dark, and thenwere taken on by a special engine to the docks,where we found the Zagazig all in readiness tostart. Our luggage and servant were there allright. William had only the most stupid excuses tomake, and began soon to show that he, like all therest of his tribe, required some one to wait on him,instead of his waiting on us. The cabins allotted tous on the steamer were very good, but although thenight was dark, the frightful stinks everywhereproclaimed it an Egyptian steamer, manned by anEgyptian crew, with the unpleasant addition of acrowd of native soldiery. It was found, of course,that there was not sufficient food on board for thefirst-class passengers, and at the last moment we hadto wait two hours before a fair start could be made.During that time careful guards were put on byColonel Iskander Bey, to prevent any desertion.The men were informed of their being under martiallaw, but in spite of all that one managed to disappear, and it took some time before he was caughtagain. He was not tried by court-martial, becausehe might possibly have fallen asleep at the placewhere he was found, and though circ*mstances werevery suspicious against him, yet possibly his excusemight have been true, for he looked such a fool.At 11 p.m. we started, so good-bye to Egypt for atime.

CHAPTER III.
THE MAHDI AND GENERAL HICKS PASHA.

THE MAHDI'S EARLY TRAINING – HIS PIETY – HE CLAIMS POWER AS A GREAT SHEIKH – STATE OF THE SOUDAN – HIS FIRST VICTORIES – HICKS PASHA – HIS DIFFICULTIES – INTENDED SOUDAN COMMITTEE – EXPEDITION TO GEBEL-AIN – STEAMERS LAID UP FOR WANT OF FUEL – EGYPTIAN TROOPS OBJECT TO OUTPOSTS – EXTRACT FROM HICKS'S DESPATCH ABOUT HIS SKIRMISH AT MARABIA – COL. FARQUHAR'S CORRESPONDENCE – REPORT RESPECTING YUSEF PASHA'S MARCH FROM FASHODA – DESTRUCTION OF HIS FORCE FOR WANT OF GUARDS – MR. O'DONOVAN – MR. POWER – DIFFICULTIES ABOUT WATER – DISGRACEFUL REINFORCEMENTS.

TO explain properly how the Suakim expeditioncame about, it will be necessary to go back to theevents in Egypt during the last twelve months.The landing of the British army, the battle of Tel-el-Kebir, the masterly political and strategical movements of Lord Wolseley, are known to all in England.But it is not so well known that the troubles in theSoudan, Kordofan, and the equatorial provinces, hadcommenced about that time. Had Arabi been reallya patriot, the small rising that it was then couldhave been suppressed at once; for the Mahdi, orSaviour, was then but a very unimportant man, witha very small following. As Colonel Stewart in hisexcellent reports relates, a detachment commandedby two Egyptian officers could easily have made hima prisoner if these two wretched Egyptians had notquarrelled at the last moment, and allowed themselves to be surprised.

The Mahdi, whose name is Achmet, was born inthe province of Dongola; his father was a carpenterby trade. When Achmet was about twelve yearsold he began to disapprove of work, and went up toKhartoum to join his uncle. While there he madeanother bolt, and attached himself to the following ofa Sheikh. These Sheikhs are a peculiar institution inthe Soudan; they are supposed to be men under thespecial protection of a particular angel of God, whoseinterposition is effected by the Sheikh having isolatedhimself for eight or nine hours daily during a termof years, and constantly repeating all that time oneof the ninety-nine names of God. After a period, asdescribed when writing about the howling dervishes,the individual in question declares himself investedwith the power of the angel, and it is supposed thathe has received some occult intimation to the effectthat God has ordered this angel to be his faithfulslave, and to obey all his wishes, The devotee thentakes the name and dignity of Sheikh, collects a following of dervishes round him, and proceeds to liveupon the offerings of other people. It was in thisway that Achmet went on.

After staying some time with his Sheikh, andlearning by heart a considerable part of the Koran,he started by himself to the island of Abba in theWhite Nile. Here he stayed several years in a cavefor many hours a day; he muttered or yelled thename of Allah (God); he fasted often and long,dressed in the most scanty and dirty clothes, andin every way fulfilled the Mussulman idea of a greatreligious fanatic. At last he emerged from thisretreat, and commenced to claim power as a greatSheikh; and then, seeing his following increase veryrapidly, he gradually began to claim power as theMahdi. The times also helped him very much, forEgypt was just then in the throes of Arabi's rebellion.The Soudan was left to itself, and consequently morethan ever misgoverned by the Egyptian authoritieswho were there. The Turkish Bashi-Bazouks, who,before the time of Gordon, kept the country quiet bywholesale bullying and tyranny, had been abolishedby that general. No force was, however, left tomake up for them. The Egyptian troops werewilling enough to do the tyranny and bullying part,but fighting was quite another thing; consequentlythe Mahdi, obtaining some small successes at thebeginning, rapidly increased his party, particularlywhen he declared against the Egyptian Governmentand against the payment of taxes.

There was also another thing that militatedagainst the constituted authorities, namely, theabolition of the slave trade, and the taxing of thelands, villages, etc., held by the Sheikhs or otherreligious communities. The taxes used before tobe paid in kind; money was not an available article.The Egyptian Government tried to change this, andinsisted on money; and thus it became the custom,when a certain country was assessed, that theinhabitants should collect and hand over a numberof slaves to some one of the great slave-traders whopassed that way. From them they got bills on Khartoum, and so the taxes were paid with no othertrouble than what they had been accustomed tofrom time immemorial, viz. a yearly slave-huntingexpedition.

Just about the time that this means of paymentbecame no longer possible, owing to the pressure puton Egypt to abolish slave-trading, and her loyalefforts to fulfil her obligations, the taxes were greatlyincreased on account of the religious propertiesbecoming very much more extensive, and, accordingto custom, being exempted from taxation; thus, whilethe Government demand remained constant, the areaof land taxed diminished so rapidly that even thefanatical Egyptian authorities began to think thatreligious lands could be let off their burden nolonger. Every one then became discontented,everybody's personal interest was touched in itstenderest point, religious questions came into play,and just at this moment Achmet's pretensions tobeing the Mahdi were put forward. No event couldhave been more opportune for him, especially as allthe traditions of the Mussulman world point out thatyear as the year of the true Mahdi's coming. Hedefeated the various few small expeditions that weresent against him without any difficulty. The Egyptiansoldiers, there is no doubt, began to believe in him;they attributed magical powers to him, and declaredthat whenever they fired against him or his troopsthe powder changed to water and the bullet droppedclose by.

During Arabi's rebellion, and the English occupation, no attention was paid to the Soudan, and theMahdi was enabled, in the end of 1882, to gathera large force together in Kordofan, invest Bala andObeid, and at last take both those towns with hardlyany loss to himself, although garrisoned by a verystrong Egyptian force. In these places were considerable stores of ammunition, rifles, and guns; itis not, therefore, astonishing that the prestige of theMahdi increased to such an extent that his everyword was considered sacred. How could it beotherwise, when all his followers were not evenarmed with spears and swords, but many had onlysticks, and yet found themselves without loss inpossession of all these, to them, wonderful things.The Mahdi further kept up his reputation by livingas simply as ever, dressing as badly, and praying asmuch. He was also sharp enough politically, as hespared and treated well all those that gave themselves up to him and acknowledged his divinemission.

These latter events, the taking of Obeid and Bala,happened last year, just at the time when theKhedive had determined to try and stem the Mahdi'sprogress by sending up a few English officers toremodel his forces in the Soudan. First amongstthem was Colonel Hicks, late A.A.G., BombayArmy. He had not much experience in activeservice, but had possessed the reputation of being anall-round excellent officer. The officers who wereselected to accompany him were all from the retiredlist, it having been determined by the EnglishGovernment, for some reason, that none of the activelist should go. One would have thought that ina time like this the little help that was given wouldhave been given in as ungrudging a manner aspossible, and that Egypt would have had the choiceof the whole range of officers on any and every list,and thus been able to get the best possible. As itwas, General Hicks, for he was made a Pasha, gota certain amount of guns and cavalry, was appointedchief of the staff in the Soudan, and started off withspecial orders that the Delta of Senaar, between thetwo Niles, should be the first part of the countrybrought into order. General Baker and Sir Samuel,his brother, who had been specially consulted by theKhedive in this matter, both urged General Hicksnot to attempt moving beyond the Nile, because,while there with the river steamers in his possession,his power for attack or defence was very great, butany movement away from those rivers enormouslydecreased his strength, owing to the great difficultieshe would have to encounter from want of water inthe arid districts.

General Hicks had, however, the greatest troublesto contend with. The English Government kepttelling him that they were in no way responsiblefor anything he might do or any risk he might run;at the same time, they interfered so much with allthe arrangements that he could not but think thathe was under their control. He trusted, when heleft, that General Baker would have the entiremanagement as far as the Egyptian Governmentwere concerned. I believe that the latter intendedthat this should be the case; and there is no doubtthat a Soudan committee was at one time contemplated, the principal member of which was to havebeen General Baker. Unfortunately, this mostsensible idea was not carried out, and so poor Hicksrushed unrestrainedly on to his fate. It will hardlybe believed that even direct correspondence in anofficial manner between General Hicks and BakerPasha was objected to. When General Hicks wentup to Khartoum, he found his position of chiefof the staff quite untenable, for, though all wouldlisten, none would take his advice. It was onlyby threats of resignation that he at last obtainedthe necessary power. This he made use of byorganizing an expedition down the Blue Nile toGebel-Ain, the double mountain, where he met anddefeated one of the principal of the rebel chiefs.Even on this short expedition, which lasted onlya month, he was twice delayed for provisions, andyet the Nile was navigable along its whole lengthfor steamers, and the wind at this time of theyear blows permanently from a northerly direction.Several times the steamers were laid up at differentpoints, waiting for fuel, although in almost everycase the day before they had run out of wood theyhad passed some depôt or a forest where the fuelwas usually procured from. Even as it was, in thesmall skirmishes which occurred in this expedition,he complained of the way the Egyptian soldiersfired in the air; how absolutely callous they wereas regards sentries and outposts, the highest officersobjecting, as they said the poor men would thusbe placed in dangerous positions! A few extractsfrom General Hicks's letters and his chief of thestaff, Colonel Farquhar's, correspondence, will givea good idea of the troubles they had to contend with.The first of them, dated the 6th of May, reportshis action at Marabia, and is as follows: –

In Colonel Farquhar's correspondence he mentions, on July 16, that the rebel forces aboutSenaar were dispersed, but it is evident that theMahdi was in full power, for most of these Arabchiefs were with him. He says, since Lord Dufferin'sdeparture from Egypt it is believed here that HicksPasha has lost his support at head-quarters, and therefore every obstruction is placed in his way. SlatenBey had gathered together a certain number of menand defeated the Hami Arabs, who were not strongenough to attack the Mahdi al-Abeid. He also givesa copy of the report respecting the march of YusefPasha from Fashoda on the White Nile to GebelGedir.

It shows how utterly without precaution was theabove Pasha's march.

The want of discipline is quite extraordinary;but the extract given below speaks for itself, andonly makes one astounded that any Egyptian troopsever escape. Fancy the Pasha listening to hissubordinate, Mahomed Suleiman Bey! It is reallywonderful.

Here ends Ali Busiri's narrative. What AliBusiri relates occurred last year. The Egyptianslost 3,600 men killed in the affair.

On July 31 mention is made of Mr. O'Donovan,the celebrated correspondent of the Daily News,having arrived at Khartoum. Also of Mr. Power,of the Pictorial World.

August 15 he writes about the difficulties theyare under as regards the carriage of water; it is wellworth perusal. As to the reinforcements he speaksof, it is quite true that they were the most miserable,weakly set of men. They were brought down fromUpper Egypt in chains, and encamped at the barageof the Nile, about thirty miles below Cairo, andthere remained till after the cholera was over.

"The force will most likely march into Kordofanthe beginning of September, but the route has notbeen decided as yet, or if it has, it is kept secret.The great scarcity of water throughout Kordofanmakes the marching of an army through the countrya matter of great difficulty. During the rainyseason water at some places collects in the hollowsof the ground, but the rains are not like the monsoonof India. A heavy downpour once a week, andlasting for about two hours, is about what takesplace, but this year there has been but little rain,and even where it usually collects in pools there isscarcely any water. The soil is sandy, and thereis no underlying impervious strata, so the rain isabsorbed, and water not to be obtained even bydigging wells. So the force will have to trust toknown watering places where there are wells. Butthese wells are very few in number, three or four,generally 30 to 40 metres deep (say 90 to 120 feet),and on the approach of an enemy the Arabs alwaysfill them in. Anyhow, if they were left unfilled,the difficulties would be great, as the followingcalculation will show. As water has to be carriedon several marches, it is necessary to take a largenumber of transport animals, say 6,000 animals to6,000 men, counting all. Each horse, bullock, ormule drinks a gallon and a half of water at a time,and takes three minutes to do so. To water 6,000animals twice a day, 18,000 gallons of water arerequired. To water 5,000 camels once a day, and1,000 horses and mules twice a day, 7,500 + 3,000 =10,500 gallons. Add for 6,000 men, at one galloneach, 6,000 gallons: total 16,500 gallons daily.Say each skin draws up 1 gallon, the well 30metres deep, one minute to let down and draw up,five skins working at a time, 5 gallons would bebrought up every minute, 15 gallons in threeminutes (time taken by animals to drink). Tenanimals could therefore be watered at a time, or200 in an hour, and 4,800 in twenty-four hours.One well, 30 metres deep, with five skins working, each lifting 1 gallon, taking one minute tolet down and haul up, will furnish 300 gallons anhour, or 7.200 gallons in the twenty-four hours. Soit would take two days and eight hours to give theforce one day's supply of water. Three wells working twenty-four hours would, allowing for waste,supply the force. Nine wells working eight hourswould do the same, each, be it remembered, havingfive buckets always at work, and no wells runningdry, which incident generally occurs. The wells areso narrow that it is doubtful if five buckets couldwork at once. We have no chain or other pumps,and if we had the wells would be too narrow to workthem in, if not too deep. So, you see, the watersupply is a hard nut to crack. It can only be metby taking the force up by degrees in small parties.Thus, with the quality of troops we have, it isdangerous. The Arabs are bold and brave. However, we fully calculate upon success. A veryobstructive old gentleman, Suleiman Pasha, theEgyptian general, has been removed; and AladdinPasha, the governor-general, will accompany thearmy as nominal commander-in-chief, GeneralHicks's orders and disposition being obeyed andcarried out under instructions received from theKhedive to that effect. The reinforcements whicharrived from Cairo were inspected to-day by thegeneral. We are thankful that they will remainin garrison, for they are a miserable-looking lot ofmen, mostly old and bent double. General SirEvelyn Wood, when he inspected them before theirdeparture, removed a number from the ranks. Theyare no doubt perfectly wretched: they have beenseized in their villages, and sent off to what theylook upon as transportation for life. No one buta Pasha ever returns from the Soudan; he does sowith his pockets well lined, and unfortunately thereare many Pashas."

From all the above, the success of the Kordofanexpedition was always more than doubtful. SirSamuel Baker foretold the exact result, almost beforethe troops had started. He and his brother werealtogether against it, unfortunately, as the sequelproves, General Hicks did not follow this advice,and the disaster that all know of befell him; for theMahdi, acting with great forethought, allowed himto advance with hardly any hindrance, until, exhausted and worn with the march, the Egyptiantroops were treacherously decoyed into a waterlessravine, seven miles from Obeid, and there destroyed,almost to the last man.

CHAPTER IV.
TOKAR AND SINKAT.

SULEIMAN PASHA – SOUDAN FORTRESSES – DEFEAT OF THE EGYPTIANS – MAHOMED TAHIR PASHA – RELIEF SENT TO TOKAR – OSMAN DIGMA'S CLAIM TO DIRECT INSPIRATION – ANOTHER EGYPTIAN REVERSE.

THE news of the disaster to Hicks Pasha spread likewildfire through all the Soudan, west and east, and inthe country about. The road from Suakim to Berberand thence to Khartoum, viâ the Nile, which formsthe great trade route to Central Africa, becameinstantly unsafe, commotions ensued everywhere,culminating, in Eastern Soudan, into the rise of theMahdi's brother-in-law, Osman Digma, the beleaguering of the towns of Sinkat and Tokar, and evenof Suakim itself.

Suleiman Pasha, having been removed fromKhartoum, became the Governor-General of EasternSoudan, a vast district which extends from Suakimto Massowah along the coast of the Red Sea andinland to the Mokran river. To him is principallydue that the insurrection round about him took suchgreat proportions. The Pasha is a thorough specimen of the old Turk – a very brave man, but one whowould never take time by the forelock or wisdom bythe experience of others; his pet aversion, too,being action on his own responsibility. Nobodycan tell what induced him to do so, but he left agarrison of four hundred men, with all their womenand children, at Sinkat. Now, the latter place has nostrategical value whatever, nor has it any commercial; it is merely a hill where a small number of thericher inhabitants of Suakim used to spend the fewmonths of extreme heat. All the principal roads ofthe country lie away from it, and to approach it fromSuakim several desperate ravines have to be passed.Suleiman Pasha himself was at Sinkat until the firstdays in November, and then, finding that his policyof doing nothing, whether as to putting down therebellion forcibly or redressing the just grievances ofthe Arab tribes, was raising a hornet's nest abouthim, he began to be afraid of getting shut in; soplacing Tewfik Bey, the Governor of Suakim, incommand of this absolutely unimportant place, hemade a bolt of it himself, and came down.

At this point we come to the one grand and nobleman who stands forth so prominently amongst allthe horde of Egyptian officials; but we shall have tomention him and his post so often hereafter that wewill now pass on, merely noting that the fortificationsof Sinkat, occupied by the troops there, were composed of two or three moderate-sized stone buildingsused as barracks, the whole surrounded by a simpleearthen parapet and ditch, and lying in the centreof a sort of small plain enclosed by hills on all sides.Its distance from Suakim. is about forty-four miles, andscanty water is met with only twice along the route.Tokar, the other place about which we have heardso much, is fifty-four miles from Suakim, and is theone fertile spot in these regions, the reason beingthat its situation is in a kind of extensive depression;the water from the hills round about, accumulatinghere, thus keeps a series of extensive wells alwaysfull. The products are cotton and the grain they calldoora, a kind of millet, the latter of which grows onenormous cane-like stalks, which, chopped up, forma capital food for cattle. The town itself, relativelyto the rest of the country, is rather a large one, butthe garrison was collected in a fort, composed of theusual barracks for the soldiers; and, as this place isthe head-quarters of a sub-district, there were alsothe necessary Government buildings and a few mudhuts for the women and children. A large and deepditch with good parapet runs round the abovebuildings, leaving the town outside,

In November, 1883, when Suleiman Pasha leftSinkat, he was fully aware that the station was sobadly provisioned as to require instant relief; and,indeed, he went off on pretence that he was going tosee to this being done immediately. It never struckhim, or he did not care to think, that the place wasnot worth defending, and ought to have been evacuated the instant the first sign of danger appeared onthe horizon. Instead of this, he set himself aboutmaking languid negotiations with the chief of theShaier, a scoundrel called Mahomed Aly, to reprovision the place. The latter may have been sincere atthe time, and there is no doubt that, had provisionsbeen sent up as soon as the Pasha came down, therewould have been no difficulty as far as the hostiletribes were concerned. But Suleiman kept on haggling over trifles, and sending for leave to Cairoto act, until the precious moments had passed, andMahomed Aly would no longer undertake the business.He was then obliged to send up a detachment of twohundred troops with a small convoy. This detachment advanced in the usual fashion, with no advance-guard, no scouts, and without taking any of thenecessary precautions when moving through anenemy's country, particularly when that enemy's modeof attack by surprise was well known.

According to all accounts, the doomed menmarched on, without any formation, their armshung on to the camels, their officers loitering behind,right into a gorge, the sloping sides of which werecovered with large rocks and stones fallen from thehills above. Here the enemy had hidden themselves, and were not discovered by the Egyptiansoldiers till a considerable part of these latter hadactually passed. The enemy then sprang on tothem, and an absolute massacre took place. Thewomen and children who accompanied the soldiersalone escaped, to become the slaves of their captors.Thus the only consequence of Suleiman Pasha'stardy action was the destruction of a small body ofhis own troops, and, what was far more important,giving the Arabs the first strong idea of theirinvincibility, and so turning men who had hithertohad a considerable respect for the soldier armed witha breech-loader, although an Egyptian, into a setof fierce fanatics, who later on proved their heroicbravery on our English squares. The news of thisdefeat was carried into Sinkat by a rebel messenger,who, in the name of Osman Digma, summoned Tewfikand the garrison to surrender. It was then thelatter gave his memorable answer – "His life wasthe Khedive's, his honour his own, his daughterthe Effendina had promised to look after, and thattherefore he intended to defend the place to thelast." So noble an answer has rarely been made,and never surpassed. His subsequent conduct hasproved it no empty boast, and has greatly excitedthe deep commiseration and interest of England,and, indeed, of all the world, for the brave man'sfate.

The next important event was the arrival ofMahomed Tahir Pasha at Suakim, as commanderof the troops under Suleiman. Mahomed Tahir hadhitherto been employed in the Cairo municipalityas sub-prefect. He was a pleasant, gentlemanlylooking man of about forty, who could speak a littleFrench. He showed considerable energy while atCairo, and was therefore chosen out for advancement, and so, being promoted to Pasha, came toSuakim. Shortly after his arrival, it was determined to send relief to Tokar. For that purpose sixhundred men were picked out and moved to Trinkitatby means of the Egyptian ships Gafferiah and Tor,Trinkitat being a landing-place on the sea-shoreeighteen miles distant from Tokar. This wasthe expedition that was accompanied by CaptainMoncreiff, R.N, H.B.M.C., for Eastern Soudan.The troops marched off in the morning, and, movingin the ordinary way, found themselves suddenlyattacked by the enemy, who lay in ambush close tothe now renowned Teb. The Egyptian soldiers, asusual, made an immediate bolt, throwing away theirarms and even their clothes. They never stoppeduntil they reached the sea-shore; there they crowdedinto any boats they could catch hold of, and someeven swam to the vessels. It is unnecessary to saythat no enemy were within miles of them. Withthe expedition were a few Turkish Bashi-Bazouksand some Greeks, the latter being merchants whotook this opportunity of going up on business toTokar. Most of them fell with Consul Moncreiff.The commander, Mahomed Tahir, in his report, statesthat he tried every means to rally the troops, butfound it impossible to do so; and, it being evidentthat all who remained behind had been killed, hethought it best to return to Suakim. At the timemany people were inclined to greatly blame Mahomed Tahir, but now things are better known,and there is no doubt that rallying Egyptian troopsis an utter impossibility. The unfortunate issue ofthe affair still further encouraged the Arabs andstrengthened their belief in the power of OsmanDigma. who now began to claim direct inspiration,saying he was thus favoured, in answer to theprayers of the Mahdi; and not only that, but he alsodeclared that, through the same interposition, thepower had been granted to him of causing thepowder of the troops to become water, as in the casewhen Hicks's troops fought the Mahdi. Other badeffects followed this reverse, and the Egyptian troopswere so discouraged that, when a day or two afterwards there was a false alarm of an attack by OsmanDigma on Suakim, the men left their posts and boltedinto the town, and hid themselves under tables,behind divans – in fact, in every conceivable corner.

Suleiman Pasha told my husband it was withthe greatest difficulty they were persuaded that noenemy were near, and that it was safe to return tothe walls. Another and still more important effectwas, that Suleiman Pasha and Mahomed Tahir Pasha,both fearing the effects of the news at Cairo, andhearing that an expedition under General Baker wasabout to be sent, determined to try another throwof the dice with a fine regiment of 600 Soudanese,under Major Kassim, that had been hurriedlysent for from Massowah. These blanks were mostanxious to meet the enemy, and, unfortunately, thisjust suiting the two Pashas' views, they sentthe regiment out with grandiose orders to bringin Osman Digma's head. With these 600 blackswere fifty cavalry and one gun; twenty-six regimental and two staff officers, Major Izzet Effendiand Captain Ebraim Effendi; also 200 Egyptiansoldiers.

The whole started off early on the morning of the2nd of December, 1883, and they advanced towardsTamaneb, and got into the small ravines, the sides ofwhich, overgrown as they are with the umbrellamimosa, form the best possible cover for an enemywhose attack is invariably by surprise. The cavalry,according to its old traditions, stuck close to theinfantry instead of scouting. After three or fourhours' march, a few of the enemy were seen, and thegun was twice fired at them. After that, for abouta mile, no one appearing, little more seems to havebeen thought of the enemy, till all of a sudden, whilethe troops were marching through the centre of asteepish ravine, they suddenly carne upon some twentymen, who began to beat tomtoms in front of them.Major Cassim ordered a few of his men to fire, anddrive them away. The order was obeyed; the enemybolted, and the whole regiment rushed helter-skelterafter them, only to find themselves in the arms ofthe enemy. The cavalry and staff-officers ran awayimmediately, and no accurate account has ever beenhad of the battle. All we know is that only thirty-seven of the infantry escaped. It is also said thatthe fight lasted several hours, but that seems hardlyprobable. The news was brought in by Izzet Effendito Mahomed Tahir, who was on board the Tor, wherehe had taken up his abode, and had just begunthinking of sending out the reinforcements whichshould have gone two hours before. The disaster, onbecoming known, caused so desperate a panic inSuakim, that Osman Digma might have marched inat any moment without the loss of a single man.Fortunately, on the 4th of December Colonel Harington, with the first detachment of Baker's expedition,arrived, and immediately began to throw up defensivelines to prevent a rush on the town. This nowbrings us up to time as far as the expedition is concerned, and we must once more return to Cairo,

CHAPTER V.
THE GENDARMERIE.

THE GENDARMERIE –ARRIVAL OF GENERAL BAKER IN EGYPT –ORGANIZATION OF THE GENDARMERIE –ARRIVAL OF SIR EVELYN WOOD TO FORM THE ARMY –THE TWO ORGANIZATIONS CLASH –THE SORRY QUALITY OF THE EGYPTIAN SOLDIERS –BAKER PASHA'S PLANS FOR THE COMPOSITION OF THE FORCE –GENDARMERIE FOR THE PROVINCES –POLICE FOR THE TOWNS –RESERVE OF TURKS FOR FIGHTING PURPOSES –SIGNAL SUCCESS OF SCHEME FOR THE FIRST SIX MONTHS –OUTBREAK OF CHOLERA –ARMY USELESS –CORDONS ENTRUSTED SOLELY TO GENDARMERIE –ARRIVAL OF MR. CLIFFORD LLOYD, WHO WISHES TO CHANGE THE GENDARMERIE INTO ENGLISH POLICEMEN –UNSUITABILITY OF HIS PLANS TO PEOPLE LIKE THE EGYPTIANS –INCREASE OF CRIME IN CONSEQUENCE –APPEAL FOR HELP IN THE SOUDAN –WOOD'S ARMY WOULD NOT GO –THE KHEDIVE APPLIES TO GENERAL BAKER PASHA, WHO RELUCTANTLY ACCEPTS THE COMMAND –REASONS FOR THIS OBJECTION –ENGLISH AUTHORITIES IN EGYPT –ZEBEHR PASHA –HIS SON KILLED BY GENERAL GORDON, WHO REMOVED ALL THE BASHI-BAZOUKS.

AFTER the British occupation of Egypt, it wasdetermined to re-establish the constitutional forces ofthe country, whether as regarded peace or war. LordDufferin, in his celebrated despatch, points out howthis should be done. Accordingly, the army andgendarmerie, especially the latter, being required immediately, his Highness the Khedive sent to GeneralBaker, and requested him to come over from Constantinople, organize, and command these forces for him.This course would scarcely have been undertaken bythe Khedive unless, at least, the tacit approval of theEnglish Government had first been obtained. Withconsiderable difficulty, General Baker answered thecall, the Turkish Government being most unwilling,and placing every hindrance in the way, especiallyby not answering the General's application for leave,so at last the latter went on board ship and let theleave follow. On arriving at Cairo, he immediatelyset to work, it being most important to organizesomething, and to give employment to the numerousofficers and others who had been more or less faithfulto the Khedive. Besides, the first requirement inany country is a suitable peace force. Hardly, however, had Baker Pasha settled down to his work,when for some inexplicable reason it was found thatofficers on active service in England could not beseconded to serve under him (though officers onactive service in India could), and therefore the English Government decided to send out Sir E. Wood tocommand the army, and to leave General Baker onlythe gendarmerie. Still, before leaving the army, thegeneral idea of organization may here be mentioned,viz. regiments of 800 to 1,000 men, half of themcommanded entirely by native officers, the other halfhaving an English brigadier, and to each regimenttwo English officers. By this means it was intendedto create emulation between the regiments thusdifferently constituted. The artillery were all lookedafter by English officers, the cavalry the same as theinfantry. Sir E. Wood also determined to make allthe nation soldiers, and therefore elaborated a systemof four years service with the colours, then so manywith the reserves, etc., etc.

There was one benefit, though, in this, namely,that in former times, once a soldier always a soldier,and therefore the wretched fellah who was drawnin the conscription looked upon himself as completely lost. This was now changed, the term ofservice being limited. Already this year a considerable number will have gone back to their homes,so the Egyptian fellah may possibly begin to placesome faith in Feringee promises. The officers SirE. Wood has with him are, by common report, thevery best possible. He himself is said to be thesmartest of the whole, and most energetic in whatever he undertakes. The effects of his administration are self-evident, for a better appointed, moresoldier-like lot of men it is impossible to find, Theone thing needed – courage – is, however, wanting inthe Egyptian of the day, or indeed of any days.This unfortunate failing no general, however goodhe may be, can put into his men. And it thereforebecomes a question whether all this trouble andtalent, together with the great expense, is of anyuse whatever. As the foreigners say, soldiers areintended to fight, and the dirtiest, most raggedfighting set of men are better than a regiment whowill not. There was, further, this difference, thatwhereas in former times the army were scatteredabout the country, and performed many duties thatmore properly belonged to the peace forces, nowthey were assembled together in Cairo in order thatthey might obtain the best and fullest instructionin military work in the shortest space of time.

Having thus shortly described the army, we nowcome to the gendarmerie, a force with which GeneralBaker and my husband were most directly concerned. General Baker's original plan was a semi-military force for the provinces; a somewhat morecivilian police for the great towns of Cairo andAlexandria; and thirdly, a small separate detectiveforce, to be applied where necessary. As townsbecame sufficiently quiet and organized to have theirown municipalities and self-government, the distinctly civil element of the police was to be extendedto them, The following were the problems GeneralBaker had first to consider, and afterwards to fit hisplans to their solutions, viz. the long lines of desertboundary, forming easily get-atable refuge-places forthe malefactors of any given district; secondly, thelarge numbers of Arab tribes living in those sameplaces, and ready at any moment to take advantageof the slightest want of supervision; thirdly, thepeculiarity of the cultivation, either precluding thepossibility of roads or else causing great obstaclesin them. Such were the difficulties of the provinces,while in the towns not only were the people lesseasy to deal with, as far as regards the natives, butthere was also the large number of that bad Europeanpopulation before mentioned, viz. the mixture oflow Maltese, Greeks, and Italians, that form theso-called Levantine element. To keep them in order,a stronger hand than the indigenous Arab policemanwas absolutely necessary; besides, in large towns aproportionately strong detective force was mostimportant. Viewing all this, General Baker determined that the semi-military force of the provincesshould be largely helped out by an increased numberof horses, enabling the gendarmerie to patrol everywhere; while for the towns a certain quantity ofEuropeans were enlisted, to form a special elementcalculated to control the above-named Levantinepopulation.

It was not intended to interfere with the gaffirs,or village police, who have always formed the basisof the civil force. These latter are chosen by theSheikhs of the village, or else volunteer themselves.They get no pay, and are obliged to remain in theplace, but they have the, to the Egyptian fellah,much-prized privileges of exemption from conscription and the corvée, that is, the gangs of forcedlabourers who are yearly levied to clean out thecanals. In the same way, the powers of the Moodirs,or governors of provinces, were not to be interferedwith, as regards the police. A few English officerswere to be stationed over the country in such a waythat they should keep up a constant inspection.Their duties were to pay particular attention todiscipline, and to report on all subjects whateverconcerning the police, wherever they might see anyshortcomings. The matter then could be taken upat head-quarters, and, if necessary, reported to theMinister of the Interior, and through him changedor redressed, in case the matter complained of wasoccasioned through any action of the civilauthorities.

As time progressed, the English officers wouldgradually become more acquainted with Arabic, thelaws of the country, and the manners and ideas ofthe people, and thus be fitted for a direct interference, which in the start-off would only embarrassthe affairs of the provinces, and do little good. Infact, General Baker's great object was to bringabout these great changes without alienating thepeople and knocking down existing customs beforeanything was ready to take their place. He alsowished to have two battalions of Turks ready athand, to meet any exigency where the Egyptianelement was not to be depended on. How correcthe was in this idea was proved in the first threemonths – first, in Upper Egypt, when there wastrouble with an Arab tribe; and secondly, at PortSaid, when the Greeks made a row. In both casesthe mere appearance of two hundred Turks settledthe whole matter peaceably.

With men like his scattered about in detachments over large extents of country, it was mostimportant to keep up discipline and obedience toorders. In a civil force it is more necessary eventhan in a military, and therefore General Bakerdivided the men into companies of fifty, giving toeach the somewhat large number of three officers.Another reason besides the necessity of disciplinewas that, the non-commissioned officers and menbeing absolutely ignorant of reading and writing,the officers had to carry on all that kind of workthemselves, and therefore one officer was requiredwith every detachment. The forces thus raisedwere about 6,000 gendarmerie and police, of which1,600 were mounted; 400 European policemen forCairo and Alexandria; and 500 Turks. It had beenintended to raise 1,000 Turks, but the restrictionplaced by the English Government, viz. that theTurks should all be inhabitants of Egypt, made thisimpossible; and the reason was, also, that theyexhibited some of the bad characteristics of theEgyptians when they were called to serve out ofthe country.

After this scheme had been six months in force,crime had diminished by one-half, robberies withviolence averaged from two to three monthly, andthe Moodirs of provinces either wrote or came todeclare personally their satisfaction with the courseof things. The frightful epidemic of cholera thatsoon broke over the country tested the new schemeto its utmost, but It never broke down for a moment,Most foreign countries have made up their minds thatthis disease can, by close watching and efficientquarantine, be kept within bounds and be preventedfrom spreading, and therefore the Egyptian Government determined to run cordons of troops round allthe infected places. The Egyptian troops were declared by Sir E. Wood to be quite unavailable, asthey were wanted for drill, and must be all kepttogether at Cairo. Even the taking the guards inCairo itself was only agreed to partially, and aftergreat difficulty; so the whole work was thrown onthe gendarmerie, and consequently many of theprovinces were more than half denuded of their peaceforces. Another heavy business thrown on thehands of the gendarmerie at the same time was that,owing to the expectation of an inordinate rise of theNile, the careful watching day and night of hundredsof miles of the river, as well as of the banks of thegreat canals, was rendered absolutely necessary.There is no better known fact in the history of theworld than that a deadly epidemic brings with it arelaxation of moral instincts. The fear of the lawis nullified – or, anyhow, greatly decreased – by theconstant sense of a frightful death that may in allprobability overtake you at any moment. Crime,therefore, invariably increases unless kept downwith a wonderfully firm hand. That the latter wasthe case in Egypt is proved by the crime reportsof the time, and therefore more than anything showsthe wonderfully good success of General Baker'splans. The cost of keeping up the system wassomething under £240,000, although this was thefirst year, and stores, magazines, etc., had to be seton foot and organized. The budget had been madeout for £320,000, as General Baker had providedfor every possible item, so as to leave no hitch in hisarrangements; but this did not prevent his exercisingthe greatest economy under every head of expenditure.

Just at this moment Mr. Clifford Lloyd arrivedfrom England, and, armed apparently with specialinstructions, he began to employ that zeal andenergy which rendered him so conspicuous inIreland, and to knock down everything. His firstidea was to arm the gendarmerie with batons, callthem police, and take away all military rank, thusat once showing his ignorance of the East, andspecially of the Egyptains; for the Egyptain, evenwith the best of arms, will hardly face a man with astick. Then the people have a great idea of titles,and hitherto the officers of the army and gendarmerie were interchangeable; besides, they have littleidea of discipline except a military one. The batonidea had to be given up and different things changed,after much argument with General Baker. Still,even the latter could not prevent other very sweeping changes – amongst them, the abrupt transitioninto the system of Irish constabulary, involving avery few officers, but these good and highly paid.

Now, nothing can be said against the systemwhen applied to Ireland, but nothing can be toomuch to say against its sudden adoption amongsta people who are totally different in every way.The Irish constable is a well-educated man, on whomevery reliance can be placed as to the way in whichhe will act in the case of emergency. His officersare thoroughly selected gentlemen of good socialstanding. All, from the principal officer to thelast-joined constable, can read, study, and appreciatethe excellent code of rules that have been writtenfor their guidance. The Egyptian gendarme, constable, or policeman, or whatever they are goingto call him, is utterly ignorant – no reliance can beplaced on him in any emergency; he is fanatical,and will, as a matter of course, look for a bribebefore he begins anything. His officers have nosocial standing as a rule, nor have they anythingbut the veriest smattering of education. Evenwhen they can read their own language well, therange of books in Arabic is so circ*mscribed thattheir ideas are fettered, and explanation becomesmost difficult when anything new is being suggestedto them.

Thus, to any one who is not obstinately determined to go his "ain gait" regardless of all consequences, it is perfectly clear that the Irishconstabulary system is not yet applicable to Egypt,The people have to be brought up to the level ofthe change, and this cannot be done suddenly byorder. General Baker had determined to eventuallyadopt most of the Irish Constabulary code, but hehad too much experience of Orientals, too muchknowledge of their habits, and too much inatepoliteness, to go, as a paper expresses it, like a bullinto a china-shop, and break up everything.

The natural sequence of all the changes is, thatfrom two to three highway robberies of importancea month, there were last February seventy-five,and they are still increasing. All the nativeauthorities complain; and last, but not least, NubarPasha himself objects most strongly to the newsystem. Hundreds of officers have been thrownout of employ, besides clerks, etc.; – this being anobject to which General Baker paid particularattention, as he knew how necessary it was forthe content of the country not to leave out themen who had always been accustomed to servethe Government, and had no means of doing anything else.

As a finale to the whole, Mr. Clifford Lloydshows a fanciful saving of £100,000. He put downhis scheme at £220,000. I say fanciful, becauseGeneral Baker, as I heard him explain, would havespent £80,000 less than his budget, thus makingthe real expense for the year £240,000; while therest of the Clifford Lloyd saving is by dismissingofficers and cutting down the horses, quite ignoringthe experience of those who knew the long desertboundaries. What is, besides, most astonishing is,that Mr. Clifford Lloyd, while ignoring the experienceof others, did not ever visit any of these places himself.

Before all the above could be quite carriedthrough, the want of a force to go to the Soudanbecame a matter of immediate necessity. Naturally,the Khedive turned at once to the Egyptian army,under General Sir E. Wood, but this army wasagain pronounced too raw and unprepared, althoughit had had over ten months' instruction from thebest of officers; therefore, as usual, the Khedivehad to turn to General Baker, who, equally as usual,was ready whether for internal duty, as for thecholera, or for external, as the Soudan.

I shall revert to this when I come to the mensent to the Soudan, for, as the British authorities sowell knew at this time that the ten-months'-drilledEgyptian soldier was not yet fit to meet the enemy,how can they explain the fact that they allowedtotally undrilled men to go to General Baker atSuakim? I myself, as one of the weaker sex, cannot judge as to military matters, but to me it looksas if the intention had been to sacrifice GeneralBaker in the same cool way General Gordon wouldhave been if the English people had not interfered.I cannot think how any one of the British authorities at Cairo could have been ignorant of thewhole matter, or any part of it. General Bakerhimself wrote in the strongest way – at least, soI hear.

But coming back to the force wanted, and theKhedive applying to General Baker, General Bakerwas extremely disinclined to undertake the affair.He knew the history of Egyptian troops, he hadseen them himself in Turkey, and in no one casehad they shown themselves trustworthy; but hewas promised the co-operation of Zebehr Pasha,who was to raise a large number of blacks. Therewas some possibility of the Cairo and Alexandriabattalions fighting, as they were the non-commissioned officers, and therefore the pick of the oldarmy. Also a lot of Turkish Bashi-Bazouks wereto be immediately raised and sent out to him. Soin the end he accepted the highly onerous mission.

Before, however, entering upon the exact composition of the force, and therefore, as it were, finallyleaving the borders of Egypt, something must besaid of the political ideas of the time, and of thepeople who prominently come forward. It is morethan doubtful – in fact, it is quite certain – thatGeneral Baker would never have moved a step towardsSuakim if he had known that the English Government had determined on the total abandonment ofthe whole of the country beyond the limits of whatis known as Egypt proper. He well knew thatnegotiations with a Mussulman fanatic could haveno basis whatever. It was certain that the Mahdimust be ever aggressive, and that, therefore, if wedid not go to him he would come down to us.General Baker's idea was to meet the Mahdi at WadiHalfa, on the Upper Nile. He considered the wholeforce of Egypt hardly sufficient for this purpose ifacting alone, but that it would give the best chanceof success, as it drew the Mahdi the greatest distancepossible from his base. He therefore expresslydeclared that he intended to return as soon as thegarrisons of Tokar and Sinkat had been rescued, andSuakim placed in a state of defence. Cherif Pasha, thePrime Minister, a pleasant, gentlemanly, and soldier-like man, quite agreed with him, and, as we knownow, resigned on the question of giving up Khartoum. The real powers in Egypt were, however,Sir E. Baring – the British minister, Sir E. Wood,and Mr. C. Lloyd. The two first are well known inEngland, and the latter in Ireland. Omar PashaLutfi, the Minister of War, a man who spoke noEuropean language, had very little to do in thematter, or in anything connected with the Soudan,while Khairi Pasha, Minister of the Interior, did allhe could to help.

Zebehr Pasha, the conqueror of Kordofan,deserves a paragraph all to himself. He has hada most chequered and eventful career. Originally a large trading merchant from Central Africa,and therefore including slaves amongst his wares,he found himself much hampered by the Sultanof Darfour. To get over this, he first tried toget the Egyptian Government to help him; but, asthey either refused or put him off with promises, hetook the matter up by himself and boldly sent amessage to the Sultan, declaring that he, Zebehr, wouldmake war on the Sultan unless he at once gave in.The answer was an order to come and give himselfup a prisoner, together with the significant noticethat as soon as he had done this he should have hisbody lessened by a head. Zebehr, in no way daunted,immediately levied his men, made war as he haddeclared, and eventually took Darfour, at the sametime killing the Sultan. He then gave the countryover to the Egyptian Government, naturally askingto be made governor of it. They, however, wouldnot promise anything, and made some one elsegovernor. Zebehr Pasha, much disgusted, came up toCairo; and Ismail Pasha, the late Khedive, makingup his mind that Zebehr Pasha was too powerful,determined on keeping the latter prisoner at Cairo,where he has accordingly been for some years.

During this time Zebehr Pasha's son remainedin the Soudan, and General Gordon was appointedgovernor-general. The latter's great idea was toput an end to the slave trade, and to preventthe Bashi-Bazouks or Turkish employés from bullying the people. In carrying out this, he managed toadd to the harm done by the retention of Zebehr Pashaat Cairo by killing his son. There can be no questionthat Gordon was acting rightly in this case, as far ashe himself was concerned, for Zebehr Pasha's son wascarrying out the slave trade as far as he could, anddied while resisting the orders of Government; butGordon's great fault was in turning the Bashi-Bazouksout of the country, for he then entirely broke thepower of the Egyptians, and thus enabled the Arabslave-dealers to get the upper hand. No more fatalmistake could be committed. No doubt the Bashi-Bazouks were great tyrants, but before they wereturned out care should have been taken to have someelement that could replace them in keeping thecountry generally quiet, and in giving the Government power to cope with the Arab slave-dealers.This he did not do, and he further raised to powermany of the natives of the country for no other reasonthan that they were natives of the country. Theconsequence is, that these latter have gone bodilyover to the Mahdi. It is also on this slave-dealingaccount that the Egyptians have greatly to complainagainst the English people, for the latter have fixedon them a most exacting treaty, one which entailsgreat expense and trouble in the carrying out, andwhich, in consequence, has raised the whole of Soudanagainst them. There has been, in modern times, nogreater example of the Pharisaical manner of layingheavy burdens on other men's shoulders and refusingto stir a finger to help them, than this treatment ofthe Egyptians by that vast body of English methodistsand fanatics whose representatives make Exeter Halltheir principal meeting-place.

CHAPTER VI.
VOYAGE TO SUAKIM.

COMPOSITION OF FORCE GOING TO SUAKIM – THE 1ST BRIGADE – THE 2ND BRIGADE – ZEBEHR PASHA, COMMANDING THE 2ND BRIGADE, NOT PERMITTED TO COME – COLONEL HARINGTON STARTS WITH 1ST DETACHMENT – OCCUPATION OF SOLDIERS ON BOARD – OFFICERS USELESS – CHARACTERISTICS OF THE FELLAH SOLDIERS – THEIR SUPERSTITIONS AND POWERS OF ENDURANCE – THEIR PRAYERS – TEACHING THEM SIGNALLING – THE BASHI-BAZOUKS – THEIR MUSIC AND DANCING – THEIR DRESS – OUR PILOT – ARRIVAL AT SUAKIM – CAPTAIN DARWELL'S BAD NEWS – MR. WYLDE, OUR HOST, AND HIS HOUSE – HIS SERVANTS – PRINCIPAL EUROPEAN INHABITANTS – COMPLAINTS AGAINST THE BASHI-BAZOUKS – VISIT TO SULEIMAN PASHA – THE FALSE RUMOURS HE BRINGS – UNTRUSTWORTHINESS OF OUR SPIES – THE ENGLISH OFFICERS.

HAVING brought up my notes to the time whenthe expedition started, and thus explained in somedegree the course of events that culminated therein,I now, in the leisure of ship-life, proceed to make outthe numbers and composition of the force, as far aswe know of at present. The commander-in-chiefwas Lieut.-General Valentine Baker Pasha. Hishead-quarter staff consisted of Colonel Abdul RussakBey, native chief of the staff; Lieut.-ColonelFitzroy Hay, late of the Highlanders, Europeanchief of staff; Major Harvey, A.D.C., late 42ndBlack Watch; Colonel Morice Bey, paymaster; Dr.Leslie, in charge of medical department. Commanding 1st Division was Major-General Sartorius Pasha,and on his staff were Lieut.-Colonel Harington,chief of divisional staff; Major Izzet Effendi; Captain Goodall, A.D.C. The 2nd Brigade, withZebehr Pasha in command, is to be made up hereafter. But, as a matter of fact, Zebehr Pasha nevercame down. The officials at Cairo used his influence to get the black troops together, and withoutthat influence they could never have been collected.Then they deliberately threw him over in exactlythe same way as Baker Pasha had been deprived,when he first came over from Constantinople, of thearmy which he had been specially summoned tocommand. This was another grand blunder thatrendered the Suakim expedition almost hopeless fromthe first. The black troops required to be led intheir own fashion; they had no idea of drill ordiscipline. There was no time to lick them intoshape. With Zebehr Pasha at their head, they wouldhave been formidable antagonists to the Soudanese,and have fought in precisely the same fashion.Without him they were wasted. But to return tothe actual expedition. The troops that started withColonel Harington were the Cairo battalion andabout 100 Turks, the rest of the latter refusing togo. The Cairo battalion should have been 800strong, but, as mentioned before, on the way 280deserted, leaving only 520 men. With us there are600 from Alexandria, the remaining 200 cominglater on. We expect to find 600 Soudanese fromMassowah at Suakim, besides 400 or 500 of theremnant of the original garrison.

On the morning of the 5th of December, inweather that could not be more perfect or lovely,we passed through the entrance of the Gulf of Suez.If it were not for the dreadful noise the mulesmade between decks, and the ceaseless chatter of theEgyptian soldiers, the steamer would have beenagreeable enough as long as one kept on deck, andthere was plenty of wind blowing about. But downbelow, besides the mules and men, the intense dirt andstink of an Egyptian vessel became almost unbearable. There was, of course, no such thing as a bath.I tried to make shift with a small travelling-onethat I had used in a former voyage, more than tenyears ago, for my eldest child; but, unluckily, therewas a small hole in the bottom, and complaints verysoon came up from the Egyptian soldiers downbelow, who very naturally, for them, objected tohave anything to do with water. Our great amusem*nt was to watch the officers and men belongingto the regiment on board. They were squatted allround in every position possible, in every hole andcorner, and all their conversation was carried on inthe exaggerated tone and manner so peculiar toOrientals, and which always makes the colder-blooded European stranger imagine that a desperatequarrel is going on. Near a group so employeda man was at his prayers. He was one of thenoisy throng a moment ago, when suddenly, for noapparent reason, he calmly turned on one side,spread his regimental cloak before him, took off hisshoes, and, standing in the orthodox position, beganrepeating his fatah (a Mahomedan prayer). Thistakes from five to ten minutes, and, besides words,entails kneeling, bowing, rubbing his head on thefloor, and different movements of the hands, whichhave all to be carefully followed out. Next to himis a man making coffee with a spirit machine, andthereby risking the lives of all on board, for heactually set light to his clothes by spilling the spirit.Nobody, however, took any notice. Again, immediately behind the man at his prayers, are twosergeants arguing the point with some men whowere trying to get off performance of a duty.While the argument is at its height, the man'sprayers being ended, he puts on his shoes, andwithout a moment's hesitation joins in the dispute.Amidst all this row and confusion, the officerscalmly sat down, smoked their cigarettes, or atetheir food with their fingers without troubling themselves in any degree. It was only when my husbanddirectly interfered that their extraordinary apathycould be roused at all, and they never seemed tothink it out of the way that their men should argueupon every order that the officers gave them.

Watching these people gives one a good idea ofwhat an intensely communistic country Egypt is;the men evidently all consider themselves as good astheir officers. They see no reason why they themselves should not, Inshallah (by God's will), be someday officers, pashas, khedives, anything. The greatcharacteristics of the Egyptian fellah, besides cowardice, are an inordinate vanity, desperate boasting,and a teeming fancy, which renders the wonderfultales of the "Arabian Nights" matters so perfectlypossible to them as to make explanation quite unnecessary. They live in an ideal world of their own,peopled with jins, fairies, houris, and every kind ofimaginative being that has ever been conjured up bytradition or story. In our Shoobra house, the gardener would not sleep alone downstairs, because hesaid an afrit (devil) walked about the hall at night.Very few of the natives, if any, would go along theroad on the other side of the Nile, from the bridgetowards Hassan Pasha's palace, after dark, for thesame reason. They said the afrit in this case alwaysappeared at the corner of the Government garden,which is on the left of the road, and about five orsix hundred yards from the bridge. From the earliestages Egypt has been the country of mysticism. Itsgrandiose temples, in whose dark recesses secret riteswere carried on for centuries by its eagle-headedpriesthood; its hieroglyphical sacred language, secretfrom all else, gave the people then those powers ofimagination which even now retain them in dreamland, and makes them so averse to hard facts. Inthe Orient, the son retains the traces of the father,the father of his father before him, and so on to anextent that would be quite impossible in Europe. Weknow, from the remotest period of Egypt's history,that they have been a race of agriculturists, subordinate as a nation to others, or else having paidauxiliaries to fight for them. As it was then, so itmust be now. A nation of cowardly antecedentscan never have brave sons. Still, the physique ofthe Egyptian soldier is excellent. Some time ago,my husband tells me, a lot of clothing was orderedfor the gendarmerie, according to the usual sizesrequired for the English army. When it came, itwas found that the two first sizes could only be used,and an extra set of large clothing had to be furtherordered.

With all this wonderful cowardice, they still havea power of bearing pain which is marvellous. Theywill undergo the most painful operations and recoverfrom them, when, in the case of a European, thechances would have been ten to one against him.When, for instance, during the Abyssinian war, alarge number of them were lying about the field,they feigned death, and allowed themselves to behacked about by their conquerors without movinga muscle, in hopes that they might preserve theirwretched lives. I must say, it is not pleasant thinking of these things just as we are going to Suakim;but I trust we shall have a large number of fightingblacks to make up for them.

We have on board with us four English noncommissioned officers, who, as I said before, havebeen promoted to be lieutenants in the Egyptianservice. Two of them are good signallers, and myhusband was employed all day teaching, with theirhelp, the native officers a simple method of signalling.The Arabic alphabet contains thirty-three letters, ofwhich thirty only are really used. They are dividedinto five sets of six: each, so that by waving a flagaccording to the number of the letter in the set, andthen to the number of the set itself, the particularletter was indicated. This method, they say, takestwice as long as what my husband calls the Morsesystem; but then, the latter takes months to learn,and also is not easily applicable to the thirty lettersof Arabic. Dinner-time came before the whole ofthe officers had been instructed, and we had to godown to the nasty little saloon, and to eat what wecould of the oily Greek cooking.

In the evening the Albanian Bashi-Bazouks gaveus a specimen of their music. One of them had aregular Pandora pipe, exactly like what one sees onthe old Greek pottery. He was a shepherd from themountains of Abrazza, and appeared to enjoy hisown music very much. To us it sounded like thedroning of a rather squeaking bagpipe, with everynow and then a shadow of a tune in the shape of twoor three notes. The musician was clad in his regularcostume – dirty sheepskin coat, an equally dirty collarless shirt, slightly embroidered waistcoat, a lot ofshort petticoats à la Greek, and leggings and shoes;the inevitable tarboosh being a matter of course.He was one of several Turkish recruits that had notyet been put into uniform. It is curious to note thecontrast between these men, who are of undoubtedcourage and pluck, and the Egyptian soldiers – thefirst, happy, laughing, and in good humour; theothers, sulky, quarrelsome, and fanatical. With thefirst one seems to have immediate sympathies, whileas to the latter, the more you look at them the lessyou like them. We turned in about eleven o'clock,it not being possible to do so before, on account ofthe row the men made talking. Each day passedlike this, and on the morning of the 8th of Decemberwe found ourselves threading the dangerous coralreefs which lie for forty miles all along our course toSuakim. The great danger of these is that many ofthem are a few feet only below the surface of thewater. In a moderately calm sea they are not visible,on account of being sufficiently low for the sea noteven to break on them. Our pilot, whom we hadtaken at Suez, had by no means a reassuring appearance. He was a nice, pleasant-looking old man, whonever moved in a hurry, and who, if one asked himabout arriving safely at Suakim, invariably answered,Inshallah (if God wills). Skirting along the shore,about thirty miles from Suakim, we saw immenseherds of light-coloured camels grazing. There wasmuch speculation as to the owners of these same, andmy husband determined to have a try for them ifthey belonged to the enemy. To-day the Europeanofficers, while talking to my husband, told him themen were highly delighted and much comforted atseeing his wife and daughter on board, as they inferred thereby that there could not be much dangerin the place we were going to.

At last, at about twelve noon, we began to get intothe opening of the port of Suakim. The town liesso low that until the vessel turns in, nothing isseen of it. It has by no means a striking appearance, and the only good thing about the harbour isits safety, when once you are in. The mouth of itis very narrow, and is closed in by the land on oneside and a deep, heavy bank of coral on the other.To get into its anchoring-ground, close to theCustom-house, the captain ran the forepart of theship slightly aground, and then, allowing her toswing, backed into his position. I may say here that his is an Egyptian nautical manœuvre, not by anymeans patronized by the English ships, who, in spiteof the narrowness of the channel, always manageto get in and out properly. Almost as soon as wehad anchored, the quarantine officer came on boardand gave us pratique. Captain Darwell, of H.M.S.Ranger, then came up and reported the bad newsthat Mahomed Tahir Pasha, hoping to retrieve hisname before the arrival of General Baker, hadmanaged to lose the Blacks, a body of trained troopswho had arrived only a week before from Massowah.He also said that Colonel Harington was busilythrowing up lines to prevent the town being takenby a rush. My husband then went on shore to seethe governor-general, Suleiman Pasha, and to givenotice to him of the authority under which he came.

While there he met Mr. Jack Wylde, of the firmof Wylde, Beyts & Co., who most kindly offered toput us up, as he explained there was no kind ofhotel whatever in the place. Our things beingalready packed, we went ashore in Mr. Brewster'sboat. Mr. Wylde's house lies just on the other sideof the Custom-house. Like all the rest in the town,it is built of white coral, quarried from the reefsoutside. The illustration gives a very good idea ofit. It is entered by a large door, which gives admittance into a passage, going through the centre ofa small hall, which has a raised dais at each side.

It is here that Mr. Wylde has his office. Passingone or two small windowless dark rooms, the passagegoes on to a rather narrow staircase, which leads upto the first storey. The stairs turn twice, and whenmounting the last two steps the smell of cookingpoints out the kitchen close by. The four principalrooms of the house are on the first floor. The first, thedining-room, about twenty feet by sixteen; next toit, on the right, another sixteen by sixteen, used as alumber and passage room; the bedroom in front ofthe latter is that which I occupied; and the drawing-room, same size as the dining-room, is in front. Upstairs there is another bedroom, which my daughteroccupied, and this completes the accommodation ofthe house. There is a verandah round the drawing-room and dining-room. A flight of wooden stairsleads down into the yard. The verandah was a mostpleasant lounge. We could always find shelter fromthe sun or wind in some part of it. The yard, withhigh walls on either side, was almost flush to thesea, and we usually landed there when returning tothe house. Mr. Wylde had also the other half of theblock, of which his house formed the left portion.It was divided much in the same way as far as roomswere concerned, but had no upper storey.

The servants are really part of the house, so theyought to have their notice here. They were – aGenoese cook, a servant who had belonged to poorCaptain Moncrieff; and one Furrajulla, a ci-devantslave from Bonga, Central Africa. I believe it is somecannibal tribe, for Mr. Wylde used always to teazehim about eating young babies, and so make himquite frantic. He was very short, but very powerful,thick-lipped, black, with splendid white teeth, excepthis bottom front ones, which had been knocked outin accordance with the customs of his tribe. Nowand then he got very much out of temper and bulliedthe Portuguese cook frightfully. Once in Jeddasome Turkish soldiers insulted him, and he withouthesitation went in for the whole guard (four men)and licked them all. Then, when the officer came tocomplain in the morning to Mr. Wylde, Furrajulla,who had not recovered his temper, pushed past,knocked over the officer, gave him a smart rap ortwo, and then bolted off for twenty-four hours intothe desert for fear of his master – the latter beingthe only one whom he has any respect for, or willtake a beating from. My husband, having sent forhorses, went to make an inspection of the troops, andwe proceeded to make ourselves comfortable in ournew home,

There are not many European inhabitants. Theonly English official is Mr. Brewster, the head of theCustom-house; and the two brothers Wylde andMr. Bewley, form the only commercial house. Theyhave also a business house at Jedda. Of foreignresidents there are Mons. Le May, the French consul;and Mons. Carolambo, the Greek consul. Besidesourselves there are no ladies here at all. In theafternoon my husband came back, and told us thatall the troops are to be immediately employed instrengthening the lines, and that he was afraid therewould be some trouble with the Bashi-Bazouks whohad come before. The little Greek consul, who waspresent, started up and went off into a long seriesof complaints, saying that these men got drunk,stole, entered the harems, etc., and that nobody wasable to exercise any control over them. It looks asif these complaints were true, for when we wentthrough the bazaar that afternoon we saw a lot ofmen there, looking already more than half drunk.We could not go far, as we were already tired,and there was no way of getting about except onfoot.

Suleiman Pasha, the governor-general, returnedmy husband's call in the evening. We received himin the drawing-room. He is a small, square manabout five feet four inches, and looking about fifty-fiveyears old. He could talk no French, but throughan interpreter expressed his immense pleasure atseeing us all here. He asked my husband to meethim in council at ten a.m. the next morning, to consult on the state of affairs, which he could not helpacknowledging were in a bad way. Coffee andcigarettes were during this time handed round, andthen, with many protestations of eternal friendship,the governor-general took his leave. By-the-by,Suleiman Pasha tells us that Osman Digma waskilled, or else severely wounded, in the late battle;but none of us believed this shave, for it is evidentthat the Government spies invariably report whatthe Government wishes. In the evening we sawColonel Harington, Majors Holroyd and Giles, Captain Walker, and Mr. Oliphant, correspondent of theSt. James's Gazette. My husband had a long talkwith Mr. Brewster, who put him up to all that hadhappened. The place was so new, and the situationso strange, that though very tired we could not goto bed, and Mr. Wylde, returning from dining onboard the Ranger, further kept us up with his ideasof the situation and his hospitable wishes for ourcomfort, though he declared that now the Englishresidents would be put to much ado in order to finda sufficient quantity of collars and neckties – articleswhich, owing to the non-presence of ladies, had notbeen in much request hitherto.

CHAPTER VII.
SUAKIM.

DIFFICULTY OF GETTING INFORMATION FROM THE OFFICIALS – NO CATTLE, NO FORAGE – MR. BREWSTER DESPATCHES HIS SPIES TO TOKAR AND SINKAT – SUAKIM AND ENVIRONS AS SEEN FROM ROOF OF OUR HOUSE – CORAL HOUSES – PRETTY WINDOWS – THE BAZAAR – HOUSES BUILT CORNERWISE – OUR WASHER-WOMAN – FEMALE WATER-CARRIERS; THEIR ORNAMENTS; THEIR UGLINESS – THE CAUSEWAY AND ITS DEFENCES – SHENOWI BEY'S HOUSE – MAINLAND BAZAAR – SHOCKHAIRED ARABS – MODE OF DRESSING HAIR – INTERVIEWING SPIES – SINKAT – ATTEMPTS TO RELIEVE IT; AND THE GARRISON THERE.

EGYPTIAN events are getting so interesting now thatI am regularly writing my letters to form a succinctaccount of all that passes. I am afraid some of thepeople who come here rather find me bore, as, ofcourse, I have to ask a good many explanations, forI am not quite up in military matters as yet. However, I shall learn sharply, for my husband has nosecretary, and I have to write most of his letters.To-day there was a particularly important one,owing to the information he got during his interview with Suleiman Pasha. He had tried to get areport of the ammunition and stores in the town,and it was with the greatest difficulty that he couldobtain anything like one, and even this in the endturned out incorrect, as it neither mentioned clothingnor small arms (rifles). He writes to General Baker,after enclosing the list – "I have to remark on theabove that I obtained this account after great difficulty, and I have great doubts of its correctness. Inorder that I may have time to send in my report, Ihave ordered the Zagazig to be delayed two hours,in order that my officers should verify the above.Captain Darwell has kindly lent us the gunner ofthe Ranger, in order to sort the machine-gun andsmall-arm ammunition, which has been mixed together in so astonishing a manner, as to be hardlyavailable. Forage is very scarce, and when I askedthe governor-general to send a ship to Massowahfor some, he answered, 'There was none there.'Also that it would take ten days to collect cattle.Still, it being absolutely necessary, I insisted uponthe Egyptian gunboat Gafferiah starting immediately. . . ."

There was great hurry in getting off the letters,as, owing to the reefs outside, it is very unsafe forsteamers to leave after twelve noon, for it takesseveral hours before the open sea is reached. Needless to say, that though this has been an Egyptianport for some years, no survey has ever beenattempted, nor a single beacon placed on these mostdangerous reefs. My husband saw Captain Darwellto-day, the 9th of December, and agreed with himabout some signals in case of necessity; and, considering the strong liability of a dangerous attackon the part of the enemy. Captain Darwell proposedto fire a few shells from the big guns of the ships,whenever my husband might think it necessary toscare the enemy. Mr. Brewster has also been commissioned to procure some reliable spies, in order tocarry letters immediately to Sinkat and Tokar. Theyare to come this evening, and in the meanwhile weare all going to have a good look at Suakim itselfto-day, and the lines to-morrow.

To commence with, we mount on to the roof ofour house, from which we get a first-rate idea of thelocality, owing to its being somewhat higher thanany of the other houses, and so we see that theimportant part of the town is built on a small islandof a somewhat oval shape, the longer diameter beingabout a thousand yards, and the shorter six hundred.The channel is north-east, and the ever-growingcoral rocks threaten to close it at no distant time.H.M.S. Coquette, commanded by Captain Crowe, R.N.,lies in the channel. H.M.S. Ranger is mooredwithin twenty yards of our house, and H.M.S. Woodlark close by; while a little to the south-east of theGovernment-house is the regular mooring-place forall Egyptian vessels. The channel round the islandto the south has a considerable depth of water, andthe only communication to the mainland is a causeway about eighty yards long and twelve broad. Onthe mainland there are a considerable number ofhouses; beyond them, again, are the lines and forts,which are about a thousand yards from here as the

Mr. WYLDE'S HOUSE AT SUAKIM.

crow flies. The country on all sides stretches out ina vast plain, gradually rising to the mountains, andwhich, they tell us, is somewhat broken up by shallowravines as the hills are approached. A dense growthof bush appears to rise more and more thickly as thedistance increases. The whole horizon to the westis bounded by a series of hills, which culminate, alittle to the north-west, in the mountains of Sinkat.Almost due west, and just peeping above the line ofthe most distant bush, are two small hills. Thesewere pointed out to us as the place where the Blackswere massacred a week ago. A little further norththan the Sinkat direction, and still in the plain,are the wells of Handoub, the first station on theway to Berber. Here General Gordon was said tohave made up a kind of small station; but probablythis has all now disappeared. The report is that,should the enemy attack, they will make a rush intothe south-west part of the mainland town; and, myhusband says, inner lines must be immediately made,as the outer ones are too extended for our smallforce.

Having thus seen all we could from the roof, wecame down and took our walks abroad, in and out ofthe streets of the town. There is not much tosee, the Government-house, the Custom-house, Mr.Wylde's, and one or two others, being the mostimportant, and are all situated on the seaside. Wethought at first they were whitewashed, the whiteof the coral being so bright. By-the-by, one'sromance as to coral is rather diminished in seeingthese solid blocks of stone, while one's idea hasalways been of some slight, fragile, beautiful stuff,not this hard, prosaic, useful substance. The housesare all built more or less in the same style: if forEuropeans, then the rooms inside are decently large;but if for Mussulmans, then the necessity underwhich they think they are of shutting up theirwomen, and of giving each her separate apartment,causes the interior to be divided into numberlesslittle rooms. Most of them have those very prettylatticed balconies which come out so well in theillustration of the Greek Consulate. These are madeup of little pieces of wood, most tastefully joinedtogether, and have a wonderful effect, although, onlooking close, one is disappointed to see that thecarpenter has not troubled himself about regularity.

There is not a single pane of glass in the town,badly closing Venetians being the only means ofshutting up the windows. The bazaar is in thecentre of the island, and consists of about a dozenshops kept up by Greeks, and about twenty othersmall ones by Arabs, from Jedda, and Egyptians.The Greek shops go in for liquor of all kinds,especially what they call mastic. In this case, itmeans the worst and most fiery spirit possible, witha gum called mastic dissolved in it. They have alsotinned provisions of all kinds, and a certain amountof the commonest and most gaudy-coloured Manchester goods. The smaller shops sell the cheaperkinds of cotton-cloth and things more peculiarlynecessary to the natives. The vendors of meat,fowls, eggs, vegetables, etc., when there are any,are amongst these.

Near the bazaar is the post-office, a completesinecure, as, except on the two days a week whenthe post comes and goes for Massowah, Jedda, orSuez, there is nothing to do. The town on theisland is very badly built; the houses have evidentlybeen allowed to spring up according to the fancy ofeach individual builder. Thus, while the island ismuch crowded, there really would have been spacefor as many houses again as there are now, had thestreets been laid out, and the houses built properlyfacing the road. But here, again, the Mussulmancustoms militate against the exigencies of the day.For the women are not allowed to lean out of theirwindows, and thus be able to see up and down theroad, so the builder always places the house cornerwise, in order to enable those inside the room tosee both ways without exposing themselves. Thenearest road out of the island is by coming backthrough two or three crooked streets to the cornerof our house, from which a road leads straight to thecauseway. On the left there are some heaps of coral,evidently intended to build houses; at present thereare only some native huts, from which every nowand then a naked little woolly-haired urchin rushesout, stares at you, and takes a dive in again. Theother inhabitants appear to be frightfully ugly oldwomen, and a few co*cks and hens.

I must not forget our washerwoman, the onlyone in the town, who lives on the opposite side ofthe road, and who, taking advantage of the circ*mstances, has run up her price to seven francs adozen for everything all round, large and small.At the end of the road lives the French consul; and,turning to the left, we come across a lot of Soudanesewomen selling water, which they have brought fromthe wells beyond the town. They carry this waterin goat-skins, and the price of the water eachcontains is two piastres (5d.). These women, likeall old Soudanese, are anything but handsome, yetthey cover themselves over with necklaces ofdifferent-coloured beads, silver bangles, and largegold nose-rings, some of which ornaments are veryhandsome. Passing them, on our right is the gateclosing the exit from the town on to the causeway.A gatling, raised on a platform, commands the latteralong its whole length of about eighty yards, andalso the open space beyond. Walking along thecauseway, we could see that the guns of the Rangerwould sweep off any enemy attempting to cross.This was rather a comfort, as the Egyptian soldiersat the gate were the most feeble, old, and emaciatedinvalids possible. They turn out to be what thegovernor-general calls "the old soldiers of the garrison." Hardly any two of them have the same uniform;the officer himself was clad in an old ragged pairof trousers, a plain overcoat, and tarboosh. Rheumatism so doubled him in two that he was scarcelyable to salute. In fact, nothing could be morecertain than that the whole would bolt the momentthe most distant cry of "enemy" would reach them.

The first building on the mainland is a large storebelonging to Shenowi Bey. Mr. Brewster, the headof the customs, tells me that there are at this momentover £250,000 of Manchester goods stored there.Shenowi Bey appearing to be an important personage,I asked who he was, and was told that he is therichest man in Suakim. He owns almost all the vessels that are used in the export and import tradebetween this place, Jedda, and Massowah, and all theother coast towns; and that as to his riches, the factof his being the favourite Government contractorfully accounted for it. They all say that he is handand glove with Government, and that there is everyprobability of his having a very good understandingwith the other side. Continuing our way, we soongot into the mainland town bazaar. Very few of thehouses here have any upper storey; the Greek shopsare more than ever devoted to liquor-selling; whilethe rest of the tradespeople ensconce themselves inthe little holes the people in the East call shops.They sell bread, biscuit, coloured handkerchiefs withdreadful pictures of animals and trees on them,sweetmeats made of sugar, flour and rancid butter,pressed dates, the whole more or less covered withflies, millet, ghee, and oil. In times of plenty mostof the shops would be open; now more than three-quarters are shut.

What struck us most were the woolly-headedSoudanese and the shock-haired Arabs. I do notknow what other name to give them, for they havesuch a wonderful way of doing up their hair and somaking the most of it. It is never very long, beingrarely more than nine inches. When they want toget it up into the tip-top Arab fashion, they cover itover with a plentiful coating of mutton fat, which, onexposure to the sun, melts down in a few days; thenthe individual in question, using a long thin sort ofskewer, begins to disentangle his hair, taking as arule hours, if not days, in the operation. You cansee what it looks like in the illustration, where weare sitting on our camels, and one of these men isholding mine. The principal mass is straight abovethe head. This is de rigueur, but the side hair maybe either combed out or else done up in a multitudeof stiff little ringlets. Their ordinary dress is asingle coarse cotton cloth thrown round them, andnearly every one carries a short spear, terminatingin rather a long flat blade. Our camel-man is athorough type of the Arab of the country, andbelongs to the Shaier tribe, who acknowledge Mahomed Aly as their chief. When a native wants topropose to the girl of his heart, he goes to her, offersher his skewer, and squats down on the ground.Should she take the hint and comb his hair, shebecomes his betrothed.

My husband, on his return from his militaryduties, met us in the bazaar, and we came back atonce in order that he might interview and instructthe spies that were to go off in the evening. On arriving at the house, we saw a couple of these above-described Arabs, and also the vakeel or agent ofMahomed Aly. My husband interviewed the latterfirst, and arranged with him to send into Sinkat 200sheep and seven camels, promising to pay six timesthe present enhanced value for all safely delivered.

It is extraordinary how difficult it is workingwith Egyptian officials. Yesterday no reliable returncould be obtained of the stores, etc.; to-day an absolutely false one has been made of the strength ofthe Sinkat garrison, for Mahomed Tahir Pasha reported that Tewfik Bey could march out of Sinkatwith 600 men, and yet leave a sufficient garrison behind. The real numbers now appear to be – Bashi-Bazouks, 150; Egyptian soldiers, 332, including 32 artillery. Nearly all these men havewomen and children with them. A short time agothe latter could have been moved down to Suakimwithout hindrance, and the men thus left behindwould have had a sufficiency of provisions, and wouldnot have been hampered with a useless crowd in anyattempt they might make to escape. As said before,Mahomed Aly had offered to put in a quantity ofprovisions on the 7th of November, but it was nottill the 22nd that Suleiman Pasha signed the order,enabling the stores to be given over to him for transport. The roads by that time were all blocked, andthe risk was too great for any ordinary transaction.This is what the vakeel told my husband, and it wascorroborated by those present. He now, however,declared his intention of persuading his chief to riska sudden effort, on condition that my husbandguaranteed him against all loss, and paid accordingto agreement in case of success. This proposalhaving been agreed to, the vakeel, a fat, jolly-lookingArab, took his departure. As he was going, a smellof stinking fat pervaded the room, getting strongerand stronger, till at last our two spies appeared. Thecause was soon apparent, in the fact that one of themhad just undergone the first stage of hair dressing.However, both were intelligent enough, and, havingbeen given letters to notify the intended arrival ofGeneral Baker with a large force, they were despatched that night. Soon after dinner my husbandreturned to the lines, for the troops are extremelyliable to panics, and it requires the commandingofficer to be on the spot so as to stop them in time.

One of our spies came in from Tamanib a fewdays ago, and describes Osman Digma as a short,spare man, getting on for fifty, and who can only berecognized from the others by wearing the dirtiestclothes of the lot. He begins the morning byreading some of the Koran to a circle of hisfollowers, who sit round about him; he then expounds and afterwards reads letters he pretends tohave received from the Mahdi. Then he tells ofsome dreams he considers as divine inspiration, andagain repeats his promises that all his followers shallbecome invulnerable, so long as they pay properattention to the Mahdi; that those who are killed inaction have committed some sin, and even they areforgiven and go straight to Paradise. In everyway he shows himself to be a leader most dangerousto the Government, as the goal he aims at is undoubtedly power. He does not seem to mind

GENERAL VIEW OF SUAKIM WITH SHENOWI BEY'S HOUSE.

spending all the money he gets, but appears determined, like many an eastern before him, to carveout a kingdom from the ruins of a decaying power.

He gathered all the experience which makes himso redoubtable an enemy during his occupation as aslave-dealer, when he brought several large caravanssafely to Suakim from great distances, thus showinga man of high capacity; for the journey, as a rule,takes two years – one going, and the other coming – and therefore necessitates everything to be arrangedlong beforehand, and precautions without numbertaken to ensure the safety of the return caravanas it slowly progresses on its long journey. An oldslave-dealer described to me in excited tones, as if heenjoyed the remembrance, how they caught the slavesoriginally in countries beyond the great lakes, boughtivory, loaded the slaves and camels; then, armingthemselves well, marched up by the equatorial provinces on to Gondokoro, then along the Nile to Khartoum, and afterwards separated, part to go to Egypt,and part to the Red Sea. How they had sometimes tofight and sometimes to buy off the numerous pettytribes through whose territory they had to pass.He then spoke of the numberless dangers undergonefrom man, wild beast, and, above all, want of water;and how they always treated their slaves well, andhow these latter invariably ended by liking theirmasters better than their old home, etc. I am afraidthat I showed considerable signs of unbelief whenhe said the last part, but I could see that it requiresa very exceptional man to carry out an enterpriseof the kind successfully. And Osman Digma is justthat kind of person: he is a thin, middle-sized man,somewhat past the prime, but full of energy andquite up to the events of the day. He knows hiscountrymen well, and, in spite of reverses, thoroughlyunderstands how to excite their spirit of fanaticismand keep up their courage. His mode of life is thesimplest. The taxes he collects are all devoted tothe use of the people about him, whom he feedsgratis as long as he has anything. He then interviews all who wish it, and discusses projects to drivethe infidels and Turks out of the country. Heprides himself on wearing the dirtiest clothes and ineating the simplest food, as he declares he cares fornothing on earth except the will of God transmittedto him through the Mahdi. The second of theletters I now transcribe was dedicated by him to thecommander of the rebels at Tokar, Sheikh Kidr, whosent it on to the commandant at Tokar, MahmoudEffendi. The latter forwarded it to Suakim, withthe following despatch of his own, written inanswer to one of Mahmoud Tahir Pasha's: –

The letter Osman Digma dictated was very welltranslated, my husband says, for it preserves all thepeculiar idiom of Arabic without destroying thesense. It is as follows: –

Next to Osman Digma is Sheikh Tahir, Sheikhof the principal mosque in the town. He is a veryenergetic man, with great fluency of expression,having that power of making and enunciating longand vague sayings that take so much with Arabs, andare considered by them eloquent in proportion totheir incomprehensibility. After him is Sheikh Kidr,one of the Haddendower chiefs, who commandsround Tokar, and Sheikh of the same tribe whocommands at Sinkat. Such are the principal activerebel leaders, while the only one who pretends to befaithful to Government is Mahmoud Aly, chief ofthe Shaier, who, we are sure, is really only trimming his sails to go with both parties. We cannot,however, do otherwise than employ him, on theprinciple of making the best of a bad bargain.

After this slight notice of the chief natives wehave to do with, a short sketch of the tribes andthe country they occupy naturally comes. To beginwith the latter: on the coast of the Red Sea are theprovinces or mudirehs of Suakim and Massowah;further inland come Berber and Kassala; thenDongola, Khartoum, Kordofan, Senaar, and thethree or four provinces lying about the source ofthe Nile called the Bhahal Gazar. Outside Kordofan is Darfour, the whole making up an enormousterritory, about twenty-two degrees in length, andaveraging eight in breadth. All this huge countryhas been acquired within the last fifty years. Itwas, however, held very loosely, and there can bevery little doubt that it was only through the effortsof Sir Samuel Baker and General Gordon that theEgyptains were enabled to consolidate it. Themoment the latter governor-general left, misgovernment began to tell, and, the Mahdi rising, affairsculminated in the present difficulties. It must;nevertheless, be admitted, greatly to the credit ofthe Egyptain Government, that their troubles wouldnot for a long time have been so great, if they hadnot faithfully tried to carry out their engagementswith the English Government as regarded the putting down the slave trade. Everywhere in the largetract of country, containing the provinces abovementioned, communication is rendered most difficulton account of the great scarcity of water; longstretches have often to be passed without a dropbeing found, or else the wells are so brackish thatnone but the camels can slake their thirst at them.The two great tributaries of the Nile, the White,from the highlands of the equatorial provinces, andthe Blue, from the mountains of Abyssinia, jointogether at Khartoum and then flow on in one bigriver through seventeen degrees of latitude into theMediterranean, without the latter receiving a singleother affluent. At Khartoum the breadth of the riverson either side is very considerable, and their depthis sufficient to allow the Nile steamers to ply on them,all the year round. The position of Khartoummakes it the centre of trade, and therefore the pointto which all the roads of Central Africa converge.The principal of these roads are as follows: – first,from Darfour viâ Obeid and Bara; then that fromthe equatorial lakes more or less along the WhiteNile to Khartoum; third, from Khartoum viâSenaar, Abu Haras, Kassala Sunheit, to Massowah;fourth, from Khartoum to Berber by the river, andthence by land to Suakim; lastly, from Berberagain by river to Abu-Hamed, thence across thedesert to Wadi Halfa, and by the river again toCairo.

The tribes that inhabit the regions that mostconcern us are –

1. Bisharin Arabs, who live in the countrybetween Berber and Suakim.

2. Haddendowa Arabs, between Suakim andKassala. The name of their head Sheikh is Musa-bin-Adam.

3. Beni Amar, who live in the tract of countrycommencing near Tokar, and extending east alongthe whole length of Baraka River.

The above are divided into numberless sections,so distinct from each other as to form almostseparate tribes; indeed, many of these sections havehereditary blood feuds between them, and onlypeople who know Arabs can imagine the intensityof the fanaticism which now makes them act together. The only section which even pretends to befriendly are Mahomed Aly's tribe, called the Shaier,and possibly the small division called the Norab.Very little dependence can be placed on them, forthere is no doubt Mahomed Aly himself is a greatscoundrel. While we were talking about thesetribes, and I was gathering all the information Icould, some of our spies came in and informed usthat several of them were hesitating; they had heardof the large forces likely to come, and might therefore possibly be in a humour to negotiate. A letterwas consequently written to Mahomed Aly to try hishand with them.

CHAPTER VIII.
LIFE AT SUAKIM.

APPOINTED MESS-PRESIDENT – CAMEL MEAT – DIFFICULTIES OF BAZAAR ACCOUNT – THE LINES OF DEFENCE AT SUAKIM – THE WATER SUPPLY – CAMELS LIKE SALINE WATER BEST – THE BASHI-BAZOUKS REFUSE TO DRILL – ATTEMPT AT MUTINY – THE PERSUASIVE KOORBASH – EVERYBODY SATISFIED EXCEPT THE GOVERNOR OF SUAKIM – SUAKIM DONKEYS – UNDER FIRE – A COUNTRY RIDE – MAGNIFICENT SUNSETS – COOK-SHOPS – UNDER FIRE AGAIN – ISMAIL FROM MADAME TUSSAUD'S – ZEBEHR PASHA'S NEPHEW – PRISONS AND PRISONERS IN SUAKIM – PROVISIONS SCARCE – MY HUSBAND PROPOSES TO MARCH OUT TO RELIEVE SINKAT – PLAN OF SORTIE – GENERAL BAKER'S CONSENT NECESSARY – INSPECTION OF TROOPS – QUALITY OF SOLDIERS – MAJOR GILES AND THE ENEMY'S SPIES – SHARKS IN HARBOUR – HEROIC CONDUCT OF KROOMAN – ARRIVAL OF EURYALUS WITH ADMIRAL HEWETT – GENERAL ASPECT OF AFFAIRS – MAHMOUD ALY FAILS TO RELIEVE SINKAT – NUMBER KILLED IN MAJOR CASSIM'S FIGHT – BEHAVIOUR OF OLD SOLDIERS OF SUAKIM GARRISON – COMPLAINTS ABOUT A MOSQUE BEING USED FOR STORES – MR. BREWSTER APPOINTED CHIEF OF THE COMMISSARIAT – ARRIVAL OF A SPY FROM SINKAT – HIS ADVENTURES – SOCIAL CUSTOMS OF ARABS – THREAT OF ATTACK – OSMAN DIGMA'S HOUSE AT SUAKIM – EMBROIDERED MAT AND CAMEL'S ORNAMENTS – INNER FORTIFIED LINES – ARRIVAL OF MAHALLAH WITH EUROPEAN POLICE – TEA ON BOARD THE RANGER.

THIS morning, the 10th of December, I proposedto Mr. Wylde to look after the house for him, ashe always had his house full, and I have nothing todo. Nearly all the English here came in duringthe morning, and we agreed to set up a mess, ofwhich I was to be president. I therefore began toask what there was in the house, and what couldbe got in the market. To my disgust I found thatthere was little in the house, while in the marketa small quantity of camel meat was the only thingavailable. I did not know what to do, and beganheartily to repent of my mess-presidency, for itwas only now I really found out that we were ina besieged town. Fortunately, Mr. Wylde had asheep or two, but there were no vegetables of anykind, no milk, no eggs, and so we had to fall backfor the moment on tinned things. We sent a dhowto Jedda as soon as possible, but its return couldnot be counted upon to any exact date, becausethough the wind at this time of the year is fairthere, yet it will have to tack on its return, thusmaking it a long affair, especially as the navigationamongst the reefs requires to be most carefullydone. Fortunately, we have enough flour for a fewdays, so hope not to run out of bread. The ideaof being reduced to that nasty, brown, soldier'sbiscuit is by no means appetizing.

The bazaar account was far more difficult thanin India, and here I may as well put down myexperience after ten days' trial. It is kept, tobegin with, in dollars and piastres, 37 1/2 of the latterbeing equivalent to one of the former. But thepiastre is a name for coins of very different kinds;there are, for instance, the Government, the bazaar,the current, and the copper piastre, all and eachof them representing completely different values.Sometimes it is, as above, 37 1/2 to the dollar, at othertimes 123. The piastre tariff is always worthdouble of the piastre current. The servants havea nasty trick of paying in the piastre current, andcharging in the piastre tariff. The dollar represents, in English money, three and sevenpence,and is the only recognized big coin in the Soudan.I give as an illustration a list of a ten days' bill.The cloth to the Tokar postman is a present tothe man who had brought us a letter from Tokar,and had narrowly escaped with his life; thenthere is hire for a canoe for my husband's servant;next a peculiar vegetable called ladies' fingers,etc., etc. It has been amusingly illustrated byMajor Giles. I had been teasing Mr. Wylde abouta sketch map of Abyssinia that he had drawn, onwhich the marks he had made to represent mountain-ranges, looked so much like scorpions that I couldnot resist the temptation of writing over them,scorpion No. 1, scorpion No. 2, etc. So, in revenge,he caught hold of my account-sheet, drew firsta representation of a supposititious clerk to OsmanDigma, then below it a caricature of myself, aschief clerk to the staff, as I copied all my husband'scorrespondence. Major Giles, coming in at thatmoment, said, "Oh, Mrs. Sartorius, we will takeit out of him!" and sketched in the two lowercaricatures of Mr. Wylde and his thoroughbred(Mr. Wylde being our general guide).

Looking over the list of marketing, I see sheepfor a pound a piece, which is very dear for thecountry, the ordinary value being a dollar and aquarter. Of course they are not like Englishsheep; they only weigh twenty-five or thirty poundsat most, and are so small that one roasted wholecan be put on the table. Eggs came from Suez,chickens from Jedda, salt from Massowah, grainfrom Tokar, fish from the harbour, potatoes fromGreece, charcoal sometimes from Jedda, more oftenfrom Massowah, onions from Egypt, petroleumfrom America, beer and butter from Germany andEngland, vegetables and fruit from Egypt; andyet, in spite of being served by all these variouscountries, we are very often hard driven for nextday's food.

On my first day in office, I made what arrangements I could, and then in the afternoon we wentup to the fortified lines. These latter are only asmall ditch, about four feet deep and three feet wideat the top, with the earth thrown up behind to aheight of five or six feet. Into this parapet weredriven six-feet-long stakes, at about six inches apart;they were further bound together by a long line oftransverse poles. The small forts, composed of detached buildings, each surrounded by an extra largeand deep ditch, were connected together by theselines. The most important was the flag-staff fort,and the small barrack next to it. The first of thesetwo had a small upper room, which my husbandoccupied as head-quarters of the 1st Division, while the

ILLUSTRATED BAZAAR ACCOUNT.

second was eventually used by the European police.The description of the lines show that they themselvesform no extraordinary impediment, but a quantityof mimosa thorn, of the most prickly kind, piled upto a thickness of six feet all along the outside completely stops the possibility of rushing through them.About 800 yards to the north of the flag-staff fortis the drinking-water, contained at present in a tankformed by damming a ravine with a large earthenwall, having at either end a strong fort protectingit. The tank itself dries up in February, and thenwells, which eventually attain a great depth, have tobe dug in its bed. Even in the last month of oursojourn here they were already forty feet below thelevel of the ground. Many other places seemedmore likely for wells, but the soil generally containsso much salt in it that within a couple of hundredyards, from where the sweet water was found brackish,all the rest was undrinkable. There is water goodenough for cattle at fort No. 4, especially as camelslike it a little salt. Indeed, all the animals getaccustomed to the taste, and the horses even, whenfirst given distilled water, put their noses inand stir it about with every mark of dislike. Thewhole of the supply dries up about April, and menand cattle both have to take to condensed water.We much admired a very large tree that grew inthe middle of the tank, probably all the morebecause it is the only one here above the size of ashrub. When on our way back, several flocks ofsand-grouse and a few wild duck flew past us; andthey say that there are plenty of gazelle and bustardin the plains, but it would be too dangerous to goafter them now.

Just as we reached the lines we found a greatcommotion going on, and it appeared that the Bashi-Bazouks had refused to come to drill. It has neverbeen the Egyptian custom to drill these kind ofsoldiers; they were always supposed to be thoroughirregulars, consequently they have invariably givengreat trouble, and are not to be depended on in timeof necessity, while during peace, or when in garrison, they thieve, steal, and refuse to submit to anydiscipline. This, of course, could not be allowed,especially after the innumerable complaints that thetownspeople and even Suleiman Pasha had made.Therefore, they were ordered out to drill with therest, and in the morning had a couple of hours'marching. That experience was quite enough, andwhen the afternoon drill-time came, they were mostmutinous, threatened their officers, and all but twenty-five refused to obey orders. The commanding officer,Yusef Bey, came in great state of mind to report tomy husband, who went to their camp, made themturn out, and then called on them to state theircomplaints. Finding what was really the matter,he sent for four companies from the Alexandrianbattalion, who were just marching off to parade,formed them up all round the mutineers, and disarmed them. This summary proceeding ratherastonished the Bashi-Bazouks, and only eight stoodout. Still, these eight could not be allowed toescape, so my husband sent for a few officers toform a court-martial, intending to shoot one ofthem as an example, but before taking such anextreme measure, he tried the argument of an unlimited application of the koorbash – in this case afrightfully thick thong of hippopotamus-hide. Ishould not like to have seen this part, so my daughter and I hurried off as soon as the whip appeared;but I hear that the ringleader got eighty blowsbefore he gave in, and that when the remainingseven saw the effect they heartily repented, and,throwing themselves at my husband's feet, promisedfuture obedience. Thus the disturbance was happilyended, and all think that nothing more will comeof it.

The only person who objected was SuleimanPasha, who, sending for my husband, said that"the Bashi-Bazouks, being Albanians and volunteers,should never be flogged. They should be asked ifthey wished to drill, and, in case of any objection ontheir part, they must be allowed to go." It wasimpossible for my husband to argue on such extraordinary ideas of discipline in time of war, but heknew his man, and so contented himself with pointing out that the men had received three months' payin advance, and would be only too glad of theopportunity to go away, but that if his Excellencythe governor-general would give an order inwriting, his wishes should be carried out, as otherwise my husband would not take the responsibilityon himself of discharging 200 men who had beengot together with such difficulty at Cairo. It wasenough. The moment responsibility was mentionedSuleiman Pasha gave in.

On the 11th of December we expected the Tantah,with troops, and Zebehr Pasha's nephew, who isto try his hand at conciliation with his old acquaintances, now amongst the rebels. But by far themost important of the questions of the day is transport. Not a camel or mule is to be got here, andthough Mahmoud Aly professes to be most friendly,he does nothing, and we are afraid that he will noteven keep his promise of throwing provisions intoSinkat. The above forms the gist of our lettersthat we are writing to-day so as to be ready for thepost, which leaves to-morrow. I am glad to saywe shall have no more walking, for Mr. Brewsterhas kindly found two capital donkeys for us, withgood saddles of the regular Egyptian pattern. Thesaddles are comfortable enough if it were not for theirtendency to turn round, the donkey of the countrybeing a great deal too sharp to allow himself to begirthed tightly. It is amusing to watch one ofthese sharp-looking little creatures swell himself outthe moment the girths are touched. The donkey-boy may work as hard as he likes, jamming his footagainst the beast so as to get a good leverage, andyet the moment the rider approaches the girths aresomehow as loose as ever.

It has been raining hard all day, and the skyis still very much overcast, so we hope it will continue, as the heat in the middle of the day is morethan comfortable, and, besides, it promises well asregards water when the troops march out. In theevening, after dinner, an orderly came rushing downin great haste, giving notice that the enemy weremaking an attack. He was in such a state of mindthat he could not tell us any detail, but I was notnervous, as I felt sure my husband would have senta note if there had been anything serious. So mystep-daughter and I went to the top of the house.The rebels were discharging their rifles blindly intothe lines. We saw a good many flashes from thedirection of the enemy, who must have been closeround the water-forts; but it soon became evidentthat nothing serious was intended, and about 11 p.m.,the moon having risen, everything became quiet,and we went to bed. If it were not for the seriousreality, I could say a good deal about the verypretty sight this night firing is, for each flashlights up the place about, while nothing can bemore exciting than a rolling fire from a comparatively long line. We generally could tell whereabouts the enemy were, by the position of lampsin the water-forts, which were hung outside thewalls in the direction of the town, so as to preventbeing fired into by their own side.

The Tantah came in on the 12th of December, butit is not mail day, as they have such a quantity ofstores to discharge that she cannot go till to-morrow.We have had a most pleasant donkey-ride this afternoon. The country is beautifully green after the laterains, and one can hardly believe that in threemonths' time all this grassy plain will be a howlingdusty desert, without a particle of vegetation exceptthe scanty leaves of the umbrella mimosa – a verycurious shrub tree, the trunk of which breaks outinto a number of arched branches that grow regularly on all sides, and seem to support a flat surfaceof delicate green leaves. These mimosa bushes areindigenous to the Soudan, and grow to a height offrom three to seven feet, thus forming a species ofcover which thoroughly suits the native ambushstyle of attack, for the whole plain might be alivewith men, and yet you might pass through them,without knowing that a single one was there.

I have learnt, in my ride to-day, to keep thedonkey-boy on the off side, and, if I have to slip,to do so on the left. I am not at all sure but thatthe donkey enjoys the trouble I am at to keep on. Heprobably considers that a kaffir (infidel), and aboveall a woman kaffir, has no business to back anorthodox donkey. Besides, he may be extra proudand consider himself above the common herd, forhe belongs to the sub-governor, Mahmoud Effendi,and is very well got up in handsome trappings, withthe bearing-chain of pure silver. We were ratherlate coming back, for, while taking tea at the flag-staff fort, our attention was taken up in watchingthe exquisite effects of the setting sun on the distanthills, the wonderful clearness of the atmosphererendering the colours brilliant in the extreme.Nothing could transcend the tints reflected fromthe granite rocks, of which these hills are formed,their rough, rugged outline standing out in wonderful boldness against the masses of clouds, whichwith brightest hues hover above them, and casttheir light fleeting shadows in exquisite transparency here and there over the whole landscape.As the evening progresses, the deep blue shadesof approaching night gradually envelop the landscape, while the sun-tipped rocks disappear one byone, till at last the mountains stand as a sullen massstruggling to keep their places against the glow ofthe sun that has set. In a few moments even thishas disappeared, darkness covers everything, and weturn away with a sort of regret, as when leaving abeautiful picture not likely to be seen again. Thereis no gloaming here. The sun does not favour us withtwilight in the East. As Bertram says in "Rokeby" –

"No pale gradations quench his ray,
No twilight dews his wrath allay;
With disc-like battle-target red,
He rushes to his burning bed,
Dyes the wide wave with bloody light,
Then sinks at once – and all is night."

From this scene of Nature's grand repose, we turnedsuddenly into another, which, though not so splendid,was very picturesque and most interesting, viz. thebazaar. The few shops are lit up, and are crowdedwith Arabs, Egyptian soldiers, Bashi-Bazouks,Greeks, women with faces covered up carryingand leading children, all talking and shoutingtogether, and quarrelling over every piastre; butthere was also a powerful smell of mutton fat,kerosine oil, and garlic, which soon drove us on.It was very difficult to force one's way throughthe crowd, as the bazaar, though narrow at anytime, is made still more so by the shopkeeperstaking up part of it to place their wares upon.There was one particular cook-shop on the right-hand side, especially frequented by the Bashi-Bazouks, where we saw a lot of men enjoying amess of kabobs and rice, eating away with theirfingers with profound enjoyment, probably all thestronger as the fowl that had been made into kabobsmust have been a stolen one.

We had rather a large dinner-party that night.My husband came down early, intending to take iteasy, and therefore, as such things always happen,the enemy came close to the works and began firingsteadily into them. Everybody got up from thetable. My husband wrote a note to Captain Darwellto fire a few shots, and then he and his officers got ontheir horses, and were at the lines in a few minutes.We mounted, as usual, to the roof of the house,taking with us Ismail, Mr. Wylde's dragoman orfactotum. When we got there the firing from theenemy's side had ceased, but, as I afterwards heard, thespies that evening had reported a large gathering ofthe rebels, and so the troops kept on the lines fortwo or three hours, until the moon rose. In themeanwhile, the ships fired several rounds each fromtheir big guns, in the direction where it was surmisedthe enemy might be. It was a very pretty sight;the flash momentarily lit up the whole place, thewhite walls of the houses suddenly started into sight,then there was a tremendous roar that shook ourhouse to its foundations, after which came the whizof the shell going further and further into thedistance, till at last another smaller flash and a moresubdued roar told that the iron missile had accomplished its mission. Never before had we feltwhat it was to be in the midst of war, nor did weunderstand, till now, the great effect the sound ofartillery must have on soldiers in battle.

Ismail was very excited; he had something to sayfor every shot that was fired. "'Im very debbel!"he exclaimed, as the Ranger's gun went off. "Why,Ismail?" I asked. "Oh, 'im make more noise;'im a regular good one!" As things subsided andhis excitement cooled a little, he began to talk ofEnglish things, and how he had been to Londonand seen Madame Tussaud's exhibition, and how thesitting figure representing a spectator had astonishedhim, because it moved its head so naturally that hethought at times it was alive. While thus gazingintently, some spectators came up, examined him, hisnative dress, and tarboosh carefully, and exclaimed,"Here's a new figure, but he's not numbered!"Whereupon he started up, saying, "I no wax figure;I real man!" and walked off, much to the confusionof the spectators aforesaid. From the way he toldthe story, I do not think he was pleased or enjoyedthe joke, and I fancy the reason is, that one of theMussulman's ways of abusing another is to tell himthat he is as stupid as a stuffed figure. He wasgoing on like this, when the moon rising put anend to all expectation of further attack for thatevening, as it is always the custom of the Arabsto attack before the moon rises or immediately afterit sets.

On the 13th a long interview was held withZebehr Pasha's nephew, who wants to go out as soonas possible. He declares there is no danger, butrequires a couple of camels to carry himself, one ofhis men, and a little baggage. These have beenfound for him with great difficulty, through theinstrumentality of a very obliging Syrian, M. Dubas.They cost eighty-five dollars, i.e. nearly £16: inordinary times the price would be less than half thatamount. Sheikh Osman, one of the small Shiekhs ofthe town, who is employed by my husband to getspies, has sent out two men to feel the way beforehim, and to report what was the kind of receptionZebehr Pasha's nephew was likely to receive.

An official visit was made to the prison to-day,on account of the complaints of some of the prisonersthat they were unfairly treated. These turned out tobe true, the facts of the case being that one of theprisoners is Kalil Bey, the late prefect of police, whowas in office in Alexandra during the massacres.When tried, he barely escaped with his life, and gotseven years instead of the hanging he so richlydeserved. It appeared that he had a room to himself,his own cook, his cigarettes, etc., and he and two orthree others like him were never made to work withthe rest. After the visit all this was very soonchanged, much to their disgust, and that of theEgyptian officials, who insisted that the mere fact ofKalil being a Bey entitled him to extra consideration.Besides, no doubt, these latter did not see that thekilling of so many Christians was, after all, any greatmisdemeanour. Another result was the release ofseveral men who were confined on suspicion of dealing with the rebels. Here was illustrated a verycurious phase of Egyptian character, and one whicha European cannot understand, for these men wereconfined most rigorously on the merest suspicion,while Cadi, who was brother-in-law to Sheikh Tahir,the religious leader of the rebels, was called intocouncil by Suleiman Pasha whenever anything important was to be done, although week by week someone or other member of his family went off to jointhe rebels.

Early next morning a boat went with the vakeeldown the coast to get cattle and bring them uphere, for the question of provisioning the town, aswell as the soldiers, is getting a very serious one.The Tantah went off at 10 a.m., taking with it a letterto General Baker, which put me in great state ofmind, as my husband therein proposes to advanceon Sinkat, and relieve the garrison by puttingin provisions and taking away the women andchildren. I myself cannot help thinking it mostdangerous to move out with the troops we have.My husband, after speaking of the probability thatMahmoud Aly would fail in carrying out his promises,proposes to get ready sixty camels, load them withgrain, and march with the following force for Sinkat,viz. Egyptian soldiers, 1,300; Soudanese, 450;Turkish infantry, 60; cavalry, 200; artillery, onegun, one rocket, the latter being all that could bemanned. By marching at 2 a.m., he expected to getto a place near Handub, where there is water, earlyin the day, thus giving time to form a zeriba, andalso make an enclosed position on the top of someisolated small hills overlooking the water. In thelatter he would leave the Turkish infantry andBashi-Bazouks, together with the gun and rocket,the whole under the command of Major Holroyd.Marching out from there next day, three mileswould take him on to the entrance of the wadi orvalley, which extends for about another three miles,and during the passage of which the attack wouldprobably be made. After this the ground is comparatively open till within a few miles of Sinkat,where another pass has to be forced. At the firstwadi a small entrenchment was to be thrown up,where a few men could be left for some days andthus protect the return. Mahmoud Aly and histribe were to accompany the force, but always wellin advance. In this way, if successful, the garrisonwould be relieved of all useless mouths, and provisioned for some time to come. The expeditionwas, however, dependent on General Baker's consent,as he had given the most positive orders that nomovement was to be made until his arrival.

On the 14th of December there was a grandinspection of all the troops in camp. CaptainWalker kindly escorted us. He got us a benchfrom one of the deserted houses, and so we watchedthe parade while sitting under the shade of somepalm trees, until my husband called us, and thenwe took up our position close to the flagstaff. TheEgyptian battalions on the whole marched pastwell, although the company officers looked verydirty and slack. The best were, of course, theTurks of the gendarmerie; the Bashi-Bazouks, forwant of drill, were hardly able to get past, and theyseemed to me to have a lot of boys amongst them,besides many old men, who were unable to keepup with the rest. While on this topic, I may sayhere that thirty-nine of the Bashi-Bazouks havebeen picked out to be sent back at once, as theyare either deaf, blind, or lame. I do not mean partially, but completely deaf and quite blind. TheMassowah blacks looked well, but they were veryfew in number; the old soldiers of the garrison,dressed in white galoubiehs, or long blouses, appearedjust like the men who had bolted, and would bolt,on every conceivable opportunity.

After the inspection, the troops went off to beinstructed in the formation of squares. Nothingcould possibly exceed the general inaptitude to learnthan the unwillingness displayed by officers andmen. None of the officers had their heart in it,and I am afraid my husband used a good deal morethan the orthodox language before he had finishedfor the morning. I am not at all astonished atColonel Harington's answer, when asked what theofficial language was. "Oh," said he, "Arabic andbad English!" Major Giles has just come in froma long morning's outing, for while he was at drillhe saw three mounted men watching him, and, hissuspicions being aroused, he edged quietly towardsthem; but they were on the alert, and as soon asthey found they were observed, they made tracks,rapidly pursued by the Turkish cavalry. Theirstart was, however, too great, and they got off aftera long chase, though one of them was obliged toabandon his horse, after hamstringing the poorbrute. The rider escaped among the bushes, andthe horse was recognized as belonging to one ofthe officers killed in the late action.

In the afternoon we had a very pleasant rowin Mr. Brewster's boat. The water is most beautifully clear, and looks very tempting to bathe in,but the people say there are a number of largesharks in the harbour. It was only yesterday orthe day before that one got itself somewhat entangledunder the causeway bridge, and kept splashing aboutthere for several minutes, giving people a very goodwarning of what they might expect if they wentinto the sea. It is very odd, though, that the smallnegro boys go swimming about, and yet no onehas ever heard of an accident to them. A curiousinstance of this was told me to-day by a navalofficer. He said one of the few men who had gotthe Albert gold medal was a big, strong Krooman,a native of Western Africa, and he had won thisrare distinction by jumping into the sea amongsta lot of sharks, after a boy who had fallen fromthe ship. One of the sharks seized the poor lad,but the Krooman, diving rapidly, got hold of him.and literally pulled him out of the shark's mouth.Unfortunately, it was too late, for the boy was sobadly hurt that he died as he was put on board.The Krooman was made much of for his wonderfulgallantry, and was entered on board a man-of-war;but, unluckily, drink was his failing, and preventedhis getting the promotion all wished to give him.It seemed such a pity, for great bravery in thesaving of life is, after all, so much more satisfactoryto hear about than great bravery in the taking ofit. While going on towards the mouth of theharbour we met our Jedda dhow, and were muchdisgusted to find that she was in quarantine.It was most tantalizing, for we wanted everything,above all, vegetables, and these she was sure tohave.

We saw very little of my husband: he justcame for meals, and then rushed back to campagain. So we were a good deal thrown upon ourown resources, which mostly consisted of letter-writing, as books there were few, and newspapersnone. Still, plenty of people came in during theday, for Mr. Wylde's great hospitality had madethis a welcome house to everybody. We had alsojust heard that the Euryalus with Admiral Hewett,was coming in a day or two.

The position here is getting very serious, andmy husband evidently thinks that the relief ofSinkat is more difficult than ever. He is preparingto move out, but at the same time is writing twovery strong letters to General Baker, in order, ashe says, that the former may stir up the Cairoauthorities with it. It comes out now, that Mahmoud Aly can or will do nothing. Sinkat hasvery little provision left, and four thousand rebelshem it in. Tokar has provisions, but no ammunition,and is also completely surrounded; whilst, thirteenmiles from here, Osman Digma is at Tamanib,with some 6,000 men. Instead of the largenumbers reported to have been killed by theSoudanese, in the fight of the 4th instant, thetrue number is only 433. The Arabs are veryexultant, and thoroughly believe Osman Digma'spromise to make the powder fired at them becomewater, so they would assuredly throw themselveson the bayonets of a square if they had the chance.This is the opinion of my husband, which he hasjust written officially to Cairo. As to the menhere, Suleiman Pasha says that on the night beforewe arrived, and when there was an alarm, thesoldiers left the gates, bolted into the muderieh,or Government-house, and hid themselves under thetables and divans. The Arabs are not really verynumerous, in comparison to the extent of countrythey inhabit, but all the men are available forfighting, as the women and children do every otherkind of work.

Several of the inhabitants have been here to-day,complaining about a mosque having been taken upfor the purpose of housing commissariat stores.This was most objectionable, as we knew that manyof the Egyptians themselves would be only too gladto put the blame on the shoulders of the Englishofficers. Indeed, a report has already been spreadthat a lot of pork is in the mosque. My husband,therefore, sent for Mr. Brewster, appointed him chiefof the commissariat, and directed that the mosqueshould be emptied as soon as possible. My husbandconsidered it most important to get on well with theinhabitants, and thus prove to them that under theEnglish régime their customs and prejudices shallbe attended to as much as possible. The greatestdifficulty is undoubtedly the Egyptian official, who,feeling himself superseded, cannot be expected tolook complacently on the foreigner who takes hisplace, and so brings into play a power of quietobstruction that soon gets beyond anybody's patienceto endure.

The much-looked-for spy has come in from Sinkat.He had got his letter doubled up inside a leatheramulet, of which these people have always two orthree on their arms, containing usually a verse ofthe Koran. I at once took possession of it, and keepit as a great curiosity. He says that when approaching Sinkat at night he had to hide for several hoursbehind a big stone, while just on the other side ofit, and within four or five paces, were a circle of theenemy, whose conversation was by no means reassuring, as they declared their intention of chaining andthen cutting the throat of anybody who was comingto help the beleaguered garrison. He dared notmove for a long time, but at last, creeping away,keeping the stone between them, he took refugesome distance off in a small cave. There he layuntil the next night, when, making a wide circuit,he managed to pierce the enemy's lines on the otherside. Early in the morning, approaching the fort,he called out "Tewfik, Tewfik!" Tewfik Beyhappened to be close by, and ordered him to beallowed in. On his return, he was actually caught.By good luck, Tewfik Bey's letter was not found,but, suspicion being strong, he was tied up and gota severe beating. He no doubt had a narrow shave,but, luckily for him, some of his relations wereamongst the rebels, and at night they secretly untiedhim and let him go. Such was the cause of his longdelay, and in proof he showed the very visible marksof his beating. But whatever risk he ran, the twentydollars he got seemed fully to make it up, as far ashe himself was concerned.

The calm way the spy mentioned his beatingreminds me of a curious custom amongst these Arabs.Before a boy is considered man enough to think ofmarrying, his friends get up a large party, theprincipal feature of which is a sort of dance, wherethe boy stands in the centre, whilst the dancers, eacharmed with a heavy whip, carol gaily around, eachone giving him a good hard cut as he passes. Theboy has to bear all this without wincing; if he uttersthe least sound or quails in the slightest, it has tobe gone through some other time. If he passes theordeal, he then becomes "a man." The Soudanese,and I believe these same Arabs also, have anotherkind of contest much in the same way. Some half-dozen or so argue on the beauty of their variousmistresses, till at last one of them gets so excited thathe rushes out to the front, shouting, "She" – meaning his lady-love – "has one brother." Upon whichhis rival gives him one cut with his whip, at thesame time calling out in his turn, "Mine has twobrothers," and accordingly gets two cuts, and so on,till one or the other gives in, or both get tired.The whips are no joke, and the cuts are viciouslylaid on, so much so that severe flesh-wounds aremade. These are kept open in order to make thescar as big as possible, because such marks are lookedon with the same pride that a German studentregards those he has received in his duels.

All the troops are being employed in strengthening the lines, as yesterday, the 15th of December,a woman in the bazaar overheard and reported aconversation about an intended attack. It appearsthat in the hut next to her a slave woman wasliving who belonged to one of the rebels outside,and her owner had sent a man in to tell her to comeout at once and join him, as they were going toattack Suakim next night. There was no reason todoubt the information, except that the moon rose at9.30, and, according to their usual method of attack,sufficient time was not left for the enemy to assemble.I was present when the police prefect brought thewoman to my husband, in order that she shouldrepeat her evidence before him. She was a veryugly little black individual, who never seemed tohave washed herself or her clothes. She had on asort of jacket and petticoat, with the usual burnoussort of cloak covering her face. She wore a necklaceof large coloured glass beads, and from her nosehung a huge ring. She stank so that we left thehouse, and, getting upon our donkeys, went to see themen at their work. From there we continued ourride outside the forts, taking care to keep a sharplook-out for any trace of the enemy. We also visitedOsman Digma's house, situated in the suburbs ofthe part of the town on the mainland.

It is a long low house, without any upper storey.The courtyard is entered through a small door.In the house itself is a single large entrance-room, and three small ones beyond. The furnitureconsisted of a lot of bedsteads, which, rangedalong the wall and covered with matting or cloth,form divans. There were some common carpetsand sutrinjees on the floor. From the roof hungtwo or three ordinary kerosine lamps and a verydirty glass chandelier, several pendants of whichwere wanting. In the inner room, evidently thefavourite wife's, was a rough sofa bench, at theback of which, and on the wall, was hung a matcovered with red cloth, embroidered with glass beadsand cowrie shells. This piece of work is curious,because it is a good specimen of what every girl whohopes to get married has to make up and present toher accepted lover, according to the custom obtaining in the Soudan. Beside these things there wereseveral camel ornaments, made much in the sameway, and used to adorn the animals on gala days.Not far from the house is Sheikh Tahir's dwelling,forming part of the mosque where he usually officiates.Near these two lived the Cadi, all of them, we believe,being much of a muchness and thorough rebels,although Suleiman Pasha insists upon trusting theCadi.

We had rather a long outing, as our way wasblocked by the high walls of the inner lines, which,joining house to house, block up nearly all the roads.This makes the defence very easy, as a few men oneach of the flat-topped houses can keep a long spaceclear without danger to themselves, circ*mstancesunder which the Egyptian soldier fights his best.By-the-by, the Euryalus came in to-day, the 16th ofDecember, and my husband went to call on AdmiralHewett.

On the 19th the Mahallah arrived, with forty-seven of the European police under Major Maletta,also a lot of Bashi-Bazouks and the gendarmerieband, the latter of whom, if they cannot fight, canalways be employed on some garrison duty, and sorelieve the fighting men. By way of a grand amusem*nt, we went to tea on board the Ranger. What awonderful difference there is between the Zagazig, thesteamer in which we came down to Suakim, and thisvessel. Nothing could possibly have been dirtier thanthe first, while nothing could be cleaner or more shipshape than the latter. Everything seems so exactlyin its place, the enormous guns have not a speck onthem, and the huge shells seem to be placed theremore for ornament than anything else. Anotherthing that one notices always on board an Englishnaval ship is the great hospitality one meets with,and in Captain Darwell we found the most friendlyof hosts.

CHAPTER IX.
CHRISTMAS IN CAMP.

MY HUSBAND MAKES A RECONNAISSANCE TOWARDS HANDUB – MY NERVOUSNESS OWING TO HIS DELAY – RELIEVED BY SEEING CAMELS – THEIR SPEED – BASHI-BAZOUKS DRIVING THEM IN – NUMBERS TAKEN – SULEIMAN PASHA WANTS TO GIVE THEM UP – HIS IDEAS – REFUSES TO ALLOW MASSOWAH SOLDIERS TO REMAIN – WANT OF REVOLVERS FOR OFFICERS AND SHOES FOR MEN – OUR FARMYARD – HORSES AND CAMELS ALWAYS SADDLED, AS IN THE "LAY OF THE LAST MINSTREL" – MAJOR GILES'S RECONNAISSANCE – BASHI-BAZOUKS NOT TO BE TRUSTED UNDER FIRE – DINNER TO THE ADMIRAL – GUESTS – WILD FLOWERS AND TABLE ORNAMENTS – MORE FIRING FROM THE ENEMY – ARRIVAL OF GENERAL BAKER – VESSELS IN HARBOUR – NEWS OF ZEBEHR PASHA'S NEPHEW – PARADE FOR GENERAL BAKER – DINNER ON BOARD THE EURYALUS – LUXURY OF NAVAL OFFICERS – CHRISTMAS DAY AT SUAKIM – THOUGHTS OF HOME – CHRISTMAS DINNER-PARTY – MEMBERS OF THE MESS, ALL VAGROM MEN – GENERAL BAKER DETERMINED TO GO TO MASSOWAH – THE LAST DAY OF THE YEAR – SUMMARY OF EVENTS – ARRIVAL OF SHEIKH MAGRANEE.

THIS morning, the 20th of December, my husbandstarted at 4 a.m., with Major Giles and 250 cavalry,guided by Mr. Wylde, in order to make a reconnaissance towards the hills in the direction of Handub.The Arab cavalry were of course not ready, norindeed had any preparation been made at the timethe parade was ordered. Even the divisional staffofficer, Major Izzet Effendi, was calmly sleeping,although he himself had translated the orders intoArabic. We ourselves got up and saw my husbandoff, as we felt very anxious, this being the first timehe was to go out so far. He told me they were toreturn by 11 a.m., and about that time we began towatch anxiously to see some signs of their comingout. Colonel Harington had sent out a party underYusef Bey to meet them, and to give whatever helpmight be necessary. But still hour after hourpassed, and I was getting more and more nervous,when all of a sudden Colonel Harington, or one ofthe party who happened to be looking through thetelescope, saw something white in the distance. Thesehe soon made out to be camels, driven by a fewcavalry. It took such a load off my mind, for, ifanything had happened, some one of the cavalrywould already have been in to give the news. Theytold me two riderless horses had arrived half an hourago, but luckily I did not see them, for I was nervousenough without that. Soon more and more camelsappeared, then a large herd of bullocks, then sheepand donkeys, and lastly a messenger with a pencilnote from my husband, saying he would arrive shortly.Mr. Brewster proposed our going out to meet him,so the donkeys were sent for, and out we went.

I had never seen camels, or rather dromedaries,like these: they are long, thin animals, with atremendous power of speed. When any of thembroke away, it required the cavalry to put theirhorses at full gallop before being able to catch themup. The rough sketch Major Giles made for mewas meant as a part caricature, but it really is exact,for the camels of this country, when going at fullspeed, throw out their legs just as in the illustration.Luckily, the Bashi-Bazouks in the cavalry were adeptsat driving cattle. Their manœuvres much interestedus, for, standing as we were on fort No. 1, we had agood view of all the ground about. At last they gotthe first batch in, and at the same time Mr. Wyldecame up and told us my husband was close behind, andthat he had made a most successful raid. Just thenwe saw him coming over the hill, and a moment ortwo after he joined us, and after giving some ordersfor the proper guarding and feeding of the loot hehad taken, we returned home to get the lunch thatall were more than ready for. Five or six men,suspicious characters, had been made prisoners atthe same time as the camels, but when they wereexamined they turned out to be people who hadbrought in a few sheep for sale some days ago. Asthis was a kind of thing to be much encouraged,they were released. They tried to get all the camelsback, but were told that the ownership must first beproved, as there was little doubt but that these camelsbelonged to rebels, and had been entrusted to a fewof the so-called friendly tribes in order that theymight safely graze in the plains below the hills. Inthe end, a committee, of my husband and six of theofficers and native merchants of the town, decidedthat all the male camels should be valued and paidfor, the female camels being exchanged for males onthe same condition. Ditto for the cows and ewes.The number of camels taken were 260; bullocks, 80;sheep, 180; and donkeys, 8.

Suleiman Pasha sent for my husband this afternoon, and said that the friendly tribes claimed allthe cattle taken, and proposed to give them up. Butmy husband objected, saying, "If they belong to thefriendly tribes, they have acted most unfriendly innot giving us anything when they knew we wantedcattle for meat, and camels for carriage. Next, incase I had to go out, I must have camels; if theowners were well paid, we should get more. Aboveall, the committee consider that in all probabilityalmost, if not all, the animals belong to the enemy.""Ah," then said Suleiman Pasha, "if the committeethink that, we must not pay at all." "That will notdo," answered my husband, "for we want more, andtherefore must invite confidence by carefully paying.It is better that the enemy should supply us, even if wepay them, than that we should get no supplies at all;and they cannot do any harm to us with our money,for no ammunition is to be bought." My husbandtold me this when he came back. He was also veryangry with Suleiman Pasha, as the latter insisted onsending back to Massowah the Soudanese soldiersthat had come in the Gafferiah, on the plea of privateinformation that Ras-al-Ullah was going to attackMassowah at once. Colonel Iskander Bey, whommy husband had sent up, reported, on the contrary,that everything was quiet, and that the aboveAbyssinian chief only complained that the caravanswere looted on Egyptian territory by bands ofrobbers, whose chiefs were runaway Abyssiniansprotected by the Egyptian authorities. He madealso various other complaints, all of which he hadvery good grounds for. Nothing could have beeneasier than to make terms, but Suleiman Pashawould do nothing except insist on the danger toMassowah. So my husband was unable to get hisown way, although he represented to SuleimanPasha that sending these Soudanese back quitestopped his proposed move for the relief of Sinkat.I copied a letter to Cairo for my husband to-day, inwhich, besides reporting the above and regretting hisconsequent inability to succour Sinkat, he complainsof the officers not all having revolvers, the few theyhave being of different patterns. Also the wantof a proper amount of ammunition, of shoes, etc.,although of the latter they have a quantity in thegendarmerie stores, which my husband had orderedfrom Messrs. W. Watson and Co., of 27, LeadenhallStreet.

Some of the cows lately raided were kept in ourcourtyard, and so we have quite a large farmyard.Let us look down from the verandah now, and see ofwhat it is composed. First are the horses, whichare always kept ready saddled in case of the enemyappearing, and the officers who might be in thehouse being required at the lines. This reminds oneforcibly of the picture drawn by Sir W. Scott ofborder war in his "Lay of the Last Minstrel." Sotrue it is to life that I am tempted to insert here aparody written by one of our mess, which exactlydescribes our situation –

Egyptian soldiers, funky still,
Waited the sign of the officer's will;
Camels, steeds, both fleet and wight,
Stood saddled in stable day and night,
Several more fed free in stall –
Such was the custom in Suakim hall.
Why do these steeds stand ready dight?
Why watch these sentries armed by night?
They watch to hear the Arab howling,
They watch to hear the bugle sounding,
They watch 'gainst Soudan's plucky tribes,
Lest Tahir or Kidr or Osman's powers
Threaten Suakim's coral towers,
From hill or plain or Tamanib's sides.

But to return: there are two cows, several goats,five or six sheep, two camels, a quantity of fowls,with half a dozen turkeys solemnly gobblingamongst them. The admiral's mule, a very fineone, was also there, generally in a state of intenseheat, having been exercised (?) by one of the midshipmen. Now and then there is a great commotion inthe yard, owing to a horse getting loose and tryingto fight all the others, or else it is the piteousscreams of some goat, who has been caught by avicious chestnut too near his grass – the latter makinga regular custom of catching any goat who comesnear by the scruff of the neck, lifting him up, andshaking him like a rat. An immediate rush has tobe made to the rescue, otherwise the goat would havebut short shrift. The whole is completed by somepigeons we have up in the verandah, a Christmaspresent from Mr. Brewster.

We have now, for the first time since we havebeen in Suakim, a good supply of delicious milk,No one knows what a treat it is except those whohave had to do without, and have, besides, beenshort of fresh provisions. We shall not suffer fromthe latter any longer, for the Gafferiah has come backfrom Massowah, bringing a lot of cattle. AlsoMahmoud Aly's vakeel has sent £100 worth, andM. Dubas has supplied some. If we only hadgood bread, flour, and eggs, we should be content,and these we expect in a couple of days from Suezand Jedda.

Major Giles, with his Turkish cavalry, made areconnaissance on the 22nd of December in thedirection of Tamanib, where Osman Digma is encamped. He got near the place where Major Cassimand his Soudanese were killed, but he was not ableto examine the battle-field, as the enemy appeared inlarge numbers about a mile away, and, on account ofthe Bashi-Bazouks he had with him having hadonly a few days' drill, it was not advisable to bringthem under fire too soon. Therefore, rightly considering discretion was the better part of valour, hequietly came back again. Lieutenant Lindsay, R.N.,was with him. Not deeming it right to bringthe Bashi-Bazouks under fire as yet makes mevery nervous, for I cannot understand how theEnglish officers are going to get the men drilled intime. We went out to see the parade this afternoon.and the formation of squares is still done very badlyand without any appearance of intelligence on thepart of the native officers, while the recruits, i.e.nearly all the Turks, can hardly be expected toknow much in a month, which will be the extentof drill that they will get. Zebehr Pasha's Soudanese will have even less time, while the oldsoldiers of the garrison are as bad as recruits; theMassowah men being only slightly better. It is tobe hoped the enemy will not fight, and will be keptoff by the look of the men when in a large bodytogether.

On Sunday, the 22nd of December, supplieshaving come in a little more freely, we determinedto give a dinner to the admiral, although myhusband thought it very hard lines to make himcome away from his comfortable ship, to our ratherrough fare. We invited all those we could to meethim, and I wrote down the names, as afterwards itwill be interesting to look back and think of thosewho were with us then. To begin with, there isthe admiral, looking every inch a sailor. He hasnumberless decorations, keeps constantly adding tothem, and will no doubt end in the peerage. Hehas twice earned the V.C., and that seems to mea distinction above all others. Captain Hastingsand Lieutenant Graham, his flag captain, camewith him. The other captains of the vessels were – Captain Nesham, of the Woodlark, who has justcome from a three-years' cruise in the Persian Gulf;and Captain Darwell, of the Ranger. Then therewere Captain Crowe, of the Coquette, and Lieut.-Colonel Harington, chief of my husband's staff, andformerly of the Rifle Brigade; Major Giles, of theSindh Horse, who here commands the Turkish cavalry(the last place he had come from was Afghanistan,where he had served at the same time as my husband); Mr. Oliphant, one of the residents; CaptainForrestier Walker, who went up with General Hicksas far as Khartoum and his first expedition to Gebel-Ain, or the two hills, where he got very ill, andhad to come back with Major Martin, and on recovering he joined General Baker's force as correspondentto the Daily News; Mr. Brewster, the head of theCustoms; and last, but not least, our pleasant friendMr. Wylde, thus, with ourselves, making up a partyof fifteen. There was a good deal of difficulty aboutthe table, for in Suakim dinner-parties have hithertoconsisted of at most four or five people; but, by thehelp of a couple of local carpenters and roughboarding, the original table was lengthened out,and, when covered with two tablecloths, lookedperfectly magnificent. Flowers (garden) were completely non est, so my daughter and myself, accompanied by a small party, rode out in the afternoonand got some wild specimens. An ornament whichwould not be easily found on an English table wasa bottle-bird's nest, hanging very prettily from thebranch of the prickly mimosa. During our ride wefound also a yellow kind of foxglove, and somepretty little wild flowers. The convolvulus, ofwhich there were several sorts, was too fragile totake away from its stalk. But if there was notmuch variety in our flowers, the same could notbe said of our crockery and plate, which, beginning with really valuable china and plate, veryrapidly came down to the commonest delf and theblack-handled kitchen knife.

Tinned provisions were naturally predominant,but our wines were anyhow good, for they werepart of what had been amongst General Hicks'sstores. I am afraid the dinner was rather long, forthe servants were not accustomed to see so manypeople; and I suspect the old Portuguese cook wasmore than half drunk. Still, I think we had avery pleasant party. The admiral went off ratherearly, and the rest of us had a round game in theverandah.

We had a few more shots fired into us last night,but we are getting gradually accustomed to this,and did not even go out to look at it.

General Baker arrived to-day, the 23rd, in theMansurah. As usual, she had had a narrow shaveof running on the reefs, for just as day broke theyfound themselves fifty miles out of their reckoning,and almost on the top of a bank. The trip beforethe same vessel had brought Colonel Harington,when the captain had fully succeeded in runningher on the rocks on which they were for over twelvehours. Fortunately for the Khedivial Company, thesesteamers were all built long ago, and therefore ofmuch better iron than now, and consequently theybear the strain which their captains and pilots arealways putting them to. With General Baker camea lot of correspondents; also a number of Europeansof all nations, who had come to act as scouts. Principal amongst the native officers was stout littleColonel Abdul Russak. My husband went on boardthe Mansurah to report himself, and all then cameon shore to see the governor-general, and to givehim notice of the supreme powers his Highnessthe Khedive had given to General Baker.

We had a large number at tiffin that day at ourmess; eighteen sat down at the table, and all theafternoon deputations kept pouring in to see the newcommander-in-chief. The harbour is looking verygay, for we have now five English men-of-war, theEuryalus, Sphinx, Ranger, Woodlark, and Coquette;the two Egyptians, Gafferiah and Tor; and severalKhedivial boats, while several dhows, large andsmall, fill the port to an extent Suakim has neverseen before. General Baker took up his quartersin the next house to us for a day or two, till thebig house in camp had been got ready for him.The news from Cairo is that Zebehr Pasha is afterall not to come; in fact, he has been played a trickagain. The Soudanese having been raised throughhis instrumentality, it seems rather hard lines thathe does not come in command, according to thebargain made with him. We hear that ZebehrPasha's nephew, when he went out, proceeded toOsman Digma's camp, and instead of being, as heexpected, well received, he was, on the contrary,seized, imprisoned in a small hut, and his thingstaken away from him. For two days he was ingreat danger, his life being with difficulty saved atthe instance of some of his former acquaintances.At the end of this time, a note coming fromSheikh Tahir, who was then at Tokar, asking that heshould be sent up there, he accordingly went, and,excepting his safety, we heard nothing more of him.

Although it was the day before Christmas, therewas a grand parade of all available troops for theCommander-in-chief's inspection. They were formedup outside the lines, and made a great show as longas they stood still, but many of them are still unableto march past. After a little drill, a close inspectionof the lines followed, and it was determined to erectsome more small outpost forts, and to cut down thelength of the outer lines as much as possible.Admiral Hewett came in the afternoon to seeGeneral Baker. The admiral has a very determinedmanner of speaking, such as makes one sure thathe would carry out anything he had resolved on.It is also always interesting to see a man who hasthe reputation of being the bravest of the brave,and is the hero of the song, "The Midshipmite."General Baker afterwards interviewed a lot ofSheikhs, and gave them messages of conciliationthat they were to forward to all the rebel chiefsabout. He at the same time warned them of thetroops that were still to come, and which wouldenable him to enforce his wishes if the rebels wouldnot listen to fair words. We dined with the admiralon board the Euryalus, and I must say that sailors

OUR DONKEY RIDE.

may have hard times now and then, but they havethe pull of land-lubbers in such times as these, forthey carry with them all their comforts. There waseven ice on board, while the state cabins were mosthandsomely and comfortably furnished. The dinnerwas a very good one – far better, I am afraid, thanwe could manage to give the admiral a day or twoago. After dinner we amused ourselves with around game. I lost as usual, but, as my husbandwon, I intended to recoup myself from his winnings.It was a very dark night, the moon not havingrisen, so the admiral ordered a lot of portfires andother coloured lights to be lighted and held overthe sides of the boats, which were slung up alongside. We were thus enabled to see our way rightinto the harbour, and much admired the pretty effect.

Christmas Day! What a difference from home!Here the weather is most lovely, calm, and pleasantlywarm, a beautiful sun shining, while the atmosphereis so delicious that one seems to draw in fresh lifeat every breath. Looking out on the landscape, thecolours of the distant hills are vivid in the extreme.The plain in front, as a middle distance, diversifiedby long stretches of dark mimosa, has a perfect foreground in the shape of the white coral-built housesof the town, with the Christmas flags displayedover the various consulates. Towards the sea, theharbour is a picture in itself, filled as it is withwar-vessels. But how everything tells of war! Eventhe condensing steamer close by us is a reminder, forit has to be carefully looked after, in case the enemyshould cut us off from water, or destroy the wells.Although there appears to be no one in yonder plain,yet we cannot make certain that an enemy is nothidden under its bushes, and that half an hour wouldnot change all this peace and calm into the fearfulscenes of a desperate battle.

How totally different from the home where wehave left most of our dearest relations and friends,and to which our thoughts naturally return! Wethink of the church bells that are just now ringing,the crowds of people we should meet in going there,the comfortable house, and so on; but we do notregret the probable awful sleet and rain that weshould get in our faces as we came back from service,the landscape all obscured by fog and mist, themuddy roads and the bursting water-pipes, and thedemand for Christmas-boxes that would meet us forthe next week; and, after all, the excitement ofpossible fighting at any one moment is not a disagreeable sensation. I can well imagine how boysalways wish to become soldiers or sailors.

By-the-by, out of the number of camels that havebeen lately taken, two very good riding ones werepicked out by Mr. Brewster, who also got saddles,and thus, besides our usual donkey-ride, we wereenabled to take our first camel-ride to-day. Thesaddles are different from those I have seen elsewhere, as they cover the whole hump, and areintended only for one person. The seat is square,and has a sort of stick panel before and behind,while the camel is guided by a rope fastened roundhis muzzle, and also by a crooked-handled stick thatthe driver always carries in his hand. The motionis somewhat shaky, as the camel still keeps up thestyle of the antediluvian animals, moving both feet ofone side in the same direction and at the same time.But I should think one would soon get accustomedto it, especially with such good dromedaries as these.Mine was scarred all over, and got therefore thename of the "Map of the Soudan." My daughter'swas a much whiter one, but not so good.

At our Christmas dinner we had a large party,and we rejoiced in turkeys from Jedda, a sirloinof beef cut from a cow that had belonged to therebels, a tinned plum-pudding from England; theeggs used for the custard were from Suez; and lastly,the cake was one Captain Darwell brought fromAden. Was it not a wonderful assortment of thingsfrom different countries to get in such a place?Even the champagne had its story; for my husbandhad ordered it for poor General Hicks, and, owingto some confusion in General Hicks's Egyptian pay,there was no money, so my husband, to preventdelay, bought the wine on his own authority andsent it up to Suakim to be forwarded. The roadwas, however, blocked, and in the end my husband,being called on to pay, made a search and found thewine just in time for Christmas, Altogether wehad a comparatively pleasant day, though, say whatyou like, a Christmas in England, in spite of rain,wind, storm, and Christmas-boxes, is Christmas inEngland, and passing the day anywhere else leavesa feeling of want ungratified and a sort of runningregret that makes one almost glad when the anniversary is past. We had one pleasure, though, for myhusband's son, whom he had not seen for five years,was with us. We have got up our mess thoroughlynow, and it consists of the following members: – Ourthree selves, Messrs. Wylde, Brewster, Bewley,Cameron, Macdonald, Melton Prior, Lieut.-ColonelHarington, Major Giles; and besides these,the following come in occasionally: – Lieut.-ColonelMorice Bey, Captain Goodall, Mr. Scudamore,Lieut.-Colonel Fitzroy Hay, and Major Harvey.The other day we were comparing notes as to thewanderings during the last few years, of all thepeople we had seen on that day, and the countriesthey had come from. They were many and varied.For instance, Mr. Cameron, of the Standard, fromAfghanistan, Madagascar, and Tonquin; Mr. Macdonald, of the Daily News, from the Cape andEngland; Mr. Melton Prior, of the IllustratedLondon News, from the Cape; Lieut.-Colonel Harington, from Borneo, where he had got up thepolice; Major Giles, from Afghanistan and India;Lieut.-Colonel Morice Bey and Captain Goodall,from Egypt; Mr. Scudamore, from Turkey; Lieut.-Colonel Hay and Major Harvey, from the Egyptain war; my husband, from Turkey, Afghanistan,India, and then Egypt; and my daughter andmyself, from France and England. In fact, when wetalked it over we found that all, without exception,had for the last five or six years been roaming widelyover the world, and had converged here in an out-of-the-way place like this, and of which a few monthsago nobody had heard.

These last days of the year passed in much thesame way – drill and musketry practice for my husbandand his officers all day long, and donkey-rides andboating for ourselves. The only exception was on thenight of Thursday, the 27th, when a rather smartfire was poured into the camp by the enemy fromthe direction of fort No. 4. Fortunately, their aimwas high, and nobody was hit. We, as usual, wenton to the housetop, and got much excited on accountof seeing the above fort let off several guns, and thebooming of cannon tends naturally to make thingslook serious. Next morning we saw heaps of cartridges from the spot where the enemy had fired, andthere were also signs of a large number of camels.Our spies say that Osman Digma, who is close to usat Tamanib, sends out a party every evening afterdark. They watch all night, and, if they see anopportunity, come up close and fire away till we gettheir range, in order to worry more than anythingelse. Suleiman Pasha has come to the conclusionthat he must go himself to Massowah, for theaccounts he gets are so confused. Besides, he hasjust now plenty of time, for the expected troops havenot come yet from Cairo, and some weeks mustelapse before my husband could drill them sufficientlyto march together.

Accordingly, on the 30th of December, early inthe morning, General Baker started with AdmiralHewett in the Sphinx for Massowah, where theyexpected to arrive the next day, while we went onboard the Euryalus to service, as it was Sunday.After service Captain Hastings, the flag captain,kept us to lunch, and in the afternoon LieutenantMontresor took our photographs. After that welooked about the ship a bit, and then, happeningto talk about signalling with the flags, CaptainHastings asked us if we would like to see it; so Isaid "Yes," and then gave him a message for Captain Nesham of the Woodlark, which was promptlyanswered by an invitation to afternoon tea there. Iam afraid I do not understand any more aboutsignals than before, but it was all done in three orfour minutes, by what looked to us to be a multitudeof flags, almost as confusing as the semaphore signalling, which is done by a man holding two small flags,and then throwing his hands and arms into everypossible position in so rapid a manner that it wasalmost too quick for us to catch the separate motions.We were much interested, and remained so long thatthere was only just time to take tea on board theWoodlark before we were off again to see the proposed lawn tennis ground. The site chosen gave aclear view all round, so that the enemy could notcome on us unawares.

Here we are at the last day of the year, and,detailed trustworthy news having come from allsides, we can well sum up the situation. FromCairo there is no appearance of troops, although onChristmas Day the first regiment of Zebehr Pasha'sBlacks marched past the Khedive. They had hada few days' instruction from General Wood's officers,who show their capabilities by the wonderful waythey have got these men on, and thus enable themto keep their ranks, though drilled for so short atime; but then, they have the help of a multitude ofnon-commissioned officers as drill-instructors, and nofortifications to throw up and guard. From Massowah Mr. Wylde, who was sent up there about aweek ago by General Baker, reports no danger fromRas-al-Ullah, and that the latter is some distanceaway at Adetchai, a place about a hundred milesfrom the coast. Mr. Wylde also writes that the garrisons in the muderiehs of Massowah and Kassalaamount to over 4,000 men, of which 2,500 are goodSoudanese troops. As these are all fortified places,they could be easily replaced by Egyptian soldiers,and thus place at our disposal 2,500 fighting troops.These, added to the 1,600 of Zebehr Pasha's Blacksand the 500 Turks, would give 4,600 good men.Besides this, we have 1,500 of the best of the gendarmerie and 400 Egyptian cavalry to do all thecamp work, so with these numbers they ought toface all they are likely to meet. Osman Digmaremains, as usual, at Tamanib. He has with himNahadj Hassan, of the Hadendower, Mahmoud E.Ameen, of the Samara, and Sheikh Esa-ben-Ali.About a week ago Osman had 7,000 men with him,now he has only 4,000, and hopes are entertainedthat more will fall away. He still declares hisintention of fighting the Turks to the last, and thensettling the Shaiab and Noralb tribes, who have asyet not joined him. He sent off two days ago thegun he had captured from the Soudanese, with 500of the Kameilab tribe, to Tokar, with orders to keepup a continual fire and not allow the garrison tosleep. The rifles he has taken are piled up, to thenumber of 909, in front of his hut, and beside them,are five baskets of ammunition. These baskets areactually wicker-work enclosures, the uprights ofwhich are long straight poles, and it is in such thatthe grain of the country is kept. The morning ourspy was in his camp the Coquette sailed for Massowah,and Osman Digma, thinking some movement wasintended on Handub, the first station to Tokar, sentforty camel-men to the sea-shore to watch her out ofsight. Two thousand men are also at Teb, on theroad between Trinkitat and Tokar. When MajorGiles's cavalry approached his camp the other day,his scouts gave notice long before, and a generalturn-out was ordered to meet the advancing force.The spy also says that the enemy declared they cannever fail in their attack on the Egyptians, because,besides divine power making the latter's bulletsinnocuous, they – the Arabs – have only to wait tillthe troops have covered themselves with their ownsmoke, and then they rush without danger into thesquare. This latter is really a very serious bit ofnews, as it shows that the Arabs begin to appreciatenot only the ridiculous way in which the Egyptiansfire, but also are prepared to take advantage of it.We have a pull on them in one way, viz. the blood

GREEK CONSUL'S HOUSE AT SUAKIM.

feuds which must sooner or later break out, and alsothe great losses that the camel-owning tribes mustbe beginning to feel, owing to the road to Berberbeing closed, and their camels consequently notbeing hired out. The sum thus represented is avery large one in any case, but to them it representsalmost fabulous wealth.

The greatest event hitherto has been the arrivalto-day of Sheikh Magranee, who, next to the GrandShereef of Mecca, and the Sheikh ul Islam at Constantinople, is considered by Mussulmans the holiestman going. He claims direct descent from theProphet, and is certainly a most influential personamongst his co-religionists. Nothing could be moresatisfactory than the way he was received at Jedda,for long before the vessel had got pratique, Mussulmans of all descriptions, black and white, negro andArab, rushed up the sides, and were kissing hishands and feet, touching his clothes, and asking hisblessing. A great mistake has been committed inhis not having been sent before, and there is nodoubt that he should have gone up with poorGeneral Hicks when the latter first went to Khartoum. Still, better late than never, and we are veryglad to see him even now. I dare say he also iswell pleased to stand again on firm ground, as hissea journey from Suez to Jedda was very rough, andcoming out from the latter place they had twice toput back before reaching Suakim, during which timehe and all the people had been frightfully sea-sick.I wonder whether he thought of the old Arab proverb, "That there is no fool so great as the one whoputs only half an inch of wood between himself anddeath."

Such, then, is the close of the year, and, takingit altogether, though many difficulties have sprungup, and still more are likely to appear, yet there isfair hope of success, especially as the English authorities at Cairo are sure to see that troops come outquickly and are well supplied; for, as they have thefullest information from us, they can appreciate thedifficulties we have to contend with, the dangerousposition of Tokar, together with the not only dangerous but desperate condition of starving Sinkat,whose gallant commander and women and childrencall for our utmost and instant sympathy. Still, Itrust all will come right in the end, for I quite agreewith Swain, and think the following a very appropriate farewell quotation under our circ*mstances; –

"Let to-morrow take care of to-morrow,
Leave things of the future to fate:
What's the use to anticipate sorrow?
Life's troubles come never too late.
If to hope overmuch be an error,
'Tis one that the wise have preferred;
And how often have hearts been in terror
Of evils – that never occurred!"

And with this, we say good-bye to the old year.

CHAPTER X.
SHEIKH MAGRANEE.

NEW YEAR'S VISITS – MY HUSBAND INTERVIEWS SHEIKH MAGRANEE – HIS QUARTERS – RECEPTION OF THE ENGLISH OFFICERS – THE SHEIKH'S SERMON – ARRANGEMENTS FOR HIS OFFICIAL RECEPTION – WE GO UP TO CAMP TO SEE IT – DESCRIPTION OF PROCESSION – WOMEN SCREAMING THE "ZAGHAREET" – RECEPTION BY MY HUSBAND OF THE SHEIKH – OLD WOMAN CURED BY TOUCH OF SHEIKH – DINNER GIVEN BY ABDUL RUSSAK – SPEECHES – BAND PLAYS "GOD SAVE THE QUEEN" – FIREWORKS – NEWS FROM KASSALA AND SINKAT – TEWFIK BEY'S LETTER – THE COMPLAINTS OF WANT OF PROVISIONS, COLD, AND THE NUMBER OF THE ENEMY – STORY OF MESSENGER – HIS NARROW ESCAPE – NEWS FROM TOKAR – THE ENEMY SEIZE PART OF THE TOWN, AND PLUNDER THE PRINCIPAL MERCHANT'S HOUSE – ARABS ANXIOUSLY INQUIRE ABOUT NEW GOVERNOR-GENERAL – MAJOR GILES – BASHI-BAZOUKS – THEIR WANT OF DISCIPLINE – MR. BEWLEY APPOINTED CHIEF OF TRANSPORT – NUMBER OF CAMELS ENQUIRED FOR ARMY – GLANDERS – MAHDI'S INTENTIONS – WRECK OF THE TANTAH – MELON-FIELDS – CAMELS EATING THORNS – BOTTLE-BIRDS – NATIVE HUTS IN TOWN – COLONEL OF BASHI-BAZOUKS – OLD PISTOLS – EASTERN AUCTIONS – SALE OF THINGS RECOVERED FROM WRECK OF THE BURNS – NATIVES LOOKING ON.

January 1, 1884. – We have had a great crowd thisafternoon of well-wishers; even the natives, aftercalling upon my husband, came over to us afterwards.My husband went to see Sheikh Magranee at 10 a.m.,as the poor little man was too ill to receive himyesterday. He went accompanied by all his staff, inorder to receive the Sheikh with all possible honourand ceremony, and thus counteract the reportspersistently set going by the rebels, to the effect thatthe Egyptians, or Turks, as they call them, havingcalled Christians to their help, are all Kaffirs, andthat they do not attend to their religion. The Sheikhis quartered in a musjid close to the sea. He cameto the door to meet my husband and staff, andseemed really glad to see the English officers. Theroom inside was the ground floor of the mosque; halfof it was carpeted and raised about a couple of feet,and round this part were divans. One of the officerswho was there told me about it, and he says it was acurious thing to see the third highest representativeof the Mussulman religion sitting down in his ownmusjid, surrounded by English officers, who werecome to help him in keeping up the power of hisfaith. In front and on the carpet knelt or sat,crossed-legged and shoeless, some forty or fiftyEgyptian officers, amongst a lot of thick-lippedSoudanese, hairy Arab Sheikhs, and three or fourexceedingly dirty, nasty-smelling, half-witted mendicant fools of that class that are so much reverencedby the Mussulmans, owing to the latter's idea thatAllah especially protects half-witted people.

Just as the Sheikh had begun to talk to my husband, a poor old man pressed in, and rushed upto the former to touch his clothes, nobody thinkingof stopping him. Amongst Oriental people nothingshows their want of business habits so much as this,for the biggest swell will allow the poorest man tocome at any moment into his presence and stopany discussion or work that may be going on. WithMussulmans, the European saying that there is atime for everything sounds absurd. What they sayis, "If not to-day, then to-morrow (Bookra) is timeenough." Fortunately, there was no other interruption, and Sheikh Magranee went on to say thathe hoped everything would now be satisfactorilyended, and that the tribes would see the evil of theirways. My husband then proceeded to complimentthe Sheikh on his excellent discourse preached thatmorning at the Great Mosque, and what a good effectit had already produced on the townspeople. Achorus of Inshallahs echoed from all the nativespresent, after which, coffee and sherbet being handedround, the interview ended by my husband askingwhen the Sheikh would return his visit, in orderthat proper preparations might be made, The timewas settled for 4 p.m., so my husband came backto have his breakfast and give the necessary instructions. These were that the Gafferiah, which was closeto the causeway, should hoist all her flags and fire asalute as soon as the Sheikh started. An escort ofcavalry and infantry, together with the band, wassent down to the musjid to accompany him, andthe road for half a mile from camp was lined bytroops.

We mounted our camels about half-past three,and came up there with several naval officers whowanted to see the ceremony, one amongst them beingthe captain of the Italian vessel, the Rapido. Wedismounted close to the head-quarter tent, and tookup our position where we could observe everything,We heard the guns of the Gafferiah just as we hadarrived, but the Sheikh's progress was so impeded bydevotees that it took him fully half an hour to getwithin sight of us. About the end of that time thehead of the procession began to appear, as it passedthe police guard, close to the corner of the tents, andturned towards us. The leading men were a motleycrowd of the inhabitants of the town, all dressed intheir best, then came the band; after them the escort,in brand-new blue cloth uniform; next a crowd ofwhite-robed Sheikhs, carrying the sacred banners,surrounding Sheikh Magranee, who was himselfdressed in the Prophet's colour – green. The procession then closed with a long tail of Arabs,Soudanese, Egyptian soldiers, etc. During all thistime a great number of women, who had assembled from all parts of the town, kept up thatshrill kind of shaking scream called in Arabic"Zaghareet," and which is their sign of greatemotion, whether pleasurable or the contrary.

As soon as the Sheikh came in sight the guns ofthe flagstaff fork began to salute, and they had notfinished before he approached near enough to dismount and walk up to my husband, who, with hisstaff about him, was standing at the door of thereception-tent ready to receive him. The Sheikh,as he advanced, was supported on either side byAbdul Russak and Izzet Effendi in the way customary in the East, where a great man is supposedto be overweighted by his honours and unable towalk unsupported. After shaking hands, all stoppedfor a moment while the German photographer, Bode,took a picture of the scene. They then went insidethe tent, where the Sheikh was set down in a chair,over which a Cashmere shawl had been thrown.The band then played the Khedivial march, and allwere settling down to the usual talk, when a poorwoman, who was all doubled up with some diseaseand extremely dirty, insisted upon seeing the holySheikh and being touched by him. As usual, shewas admitted, touched his hands, and received hisblessing. A moment afterwards, and before leavingthe tent, she straightened herself out, declaring shewas now cured through the miraculous power of theholy touch. The Mussulmans present looked, ortried to look, highly edified, though it was all probably pre-arranged; still, the Soudanese fanaticism isso great that the poor woman's intense belief mayhave worked on her mind sufficiently to produceconsiderable temporary effect.

After she had gone out, the imam or priest ofthe Turkish regiment entered the tent and madea short speech, finishing up with a "fatah" or Mussulman prayer, on which all the Mussulmans presentmade the usual responses and stroked their faces, fromtheir foreheads downwards, in the orthodox manner.The plans for the future were shortly discussed,coffee served, and the Sheikh then retired to a private tent prepared for him. In the evening ColonelAbdul Russak Bey gave a grand dinner to all theofficers, European and native, and the principalresidents. We were asked also, and were glad toaccept, it being something so new for us. We had justtime to go home and dress a little before dinner. Itwas laid out under the tents, and we were astonishedto see how well all was done by the Greek contractor, although things must have been so difficultto get. At the table I was at was the Frenchconsul, M. Lemay, the English consul, Mr. Baker,Colonel A. Russak, Colonel Harington, my husband,and several others. The band of the gendarmerieplayed during dinner, and when the time came forproposing healths, the first was of course theKhedive's, to which the Khedivial hymn wasplayed; next was the Queen's, with "God save theQueen." After this every toast got our national air,even when Sheikh Magranee's health was drunk.The Egyptians have a great idea of this custom,and like the excuse it gives for unlimited libation.When the speechifying was over, we went out towatch a few fire works that had been got up impromptu;after which, being thoroughly tired with our longday, my daughter and myself, escorted by several ofthe party, returned to the house, leaving my husbandin his quarters at the flag-staff fort. This time hehad the pull of us; usually it is he who comes downto dinner, and has to leave directly afterwards.

On the 2nd of January a telegram was brought to

IZZET EFFENDI.

In back ground Major MULETTA Captain WALKER. Captain GOODALL. Col. HARINGTON. Under Major MULETTA'S left shoulder is Major PALISKA, (afterwards killed.)

SHEIK MAGHRANEE AND EGYPTIAN OFFICERS.

my husband. It was despatched by the Governorof Kassala to Massowah, and came thence by postalsteamer. In it the governor said that all the tribesabout him were perfectly quiet, that the Sheikhs wereon good terms with him, and that he had plenty ofsoldiers, and was drilling them daily.

Almost at the same time the following letter wasbrought in from Sinkat. It was addressed to myhusband, and in it Tewfik Bey complains of wantof provisions, and the cold, for Sinkat is 4,000 feetabove the sea-level.

The messenger seems to have had a nasty timeof it. He started from here with his brother, andreached the rebel lines safely, but found the watchthere was too good for them, as, in trying to sneakthrough, they were seized and brought before Ibrahim Mahmoud, a Sheikh of the Haddendowas, whogave orders to kill them. They naturally remonstrated, declaring that they were messengers fromMahmoud Aly, and that their mission was to tellTewfik Bey that he, Mahmoud Aly, was going tojoin the rebels, and that he advised Tewfik Bey todo so too. Being asked for the letter, they weresharp enough to answer at once, that all knew thatMahmoud Aly could not write, and that, being ina Government place like Suakim, he was afraid toemploy an outsider to do so; besides, said the spy,"you can keep my brother as a surety till I comeback and give you Tewfik's answer." This wasagreed to, and accordingly the messenger went offto the entrenchments, and, seeing Tewfik, called outto him. The latter recognized the spy's voice, andwas much pleased with General Baker's letter. Thespy then told him the difficulty he was in, and gotTewfik to write a sham letter to Ibrahim Mahmoud,offering to give in, etc., etc., but intimating doubtsas to his good faith. He therefore required himto send in a camel and twenty sheep, as a proofthat he really meant what he had said. SheikhIbrahim was nearly doing so, but, unfortunately,some of his followers objected, so the matter wasreferred to Osman Digma. Still, one point wasgained – both spies were released, and came back toSuakim.

From Tokar yesterday's news is that thesoldiers are in good health, and had all swornon the Koran to defend themselves to the last, butthey were in great want of ammunition. Theenemy attacked them day and night, and left themno rest. On the 20th of December the enemy,coming in force, had seized part of the town (outside the lines; the next morning they were drivenaway, but in the meanwhile had sacked the houseof the principal merchant, a man called Khrames.They beat and had seized his concubine and daughter, the former till she had disclosed where he hadput his money. The troops lost five men killedand five men wounded in this affair. Verbal reportsabout the roads and country say there is a greatquantity of cattle in all directions, attracted, nodoubt, by the splendid crop of grass that has sprungup this year, owing to the unusually good rainsthat have fallen. The Arabs have exhibited greatinterest in asking who is the new governor-general(Suleiman Pasha having just been sent away);whether he is Egyptian or Christian; or, if the latter,is he likely to remain after the war is over? – manyof these tribes appearing to be tired of the war,but are afraid of coming in, as they say that, inspite of all promises, an Egyptian governor wouldmake them smart when once he had got them inhis power. They are greatly astonished at payments being made so promptly, and are very impatient at not getting their share of the high pricesnow ruling. I wonder what will be the upshotof all this? The above news has given us a gooddeal to think of, and I really believe that if wesoon get a good show of force here, Sheikh Magranee's letters will have great effect, and everythingmay quiet down. The whole thing really lies withCairo now, and it is such a pity that the telegraphline has not been laid as originally intended. Theysay, though I can hardly believe it, that the EnglishGovernment interfered in this, to us, most momentous question, on account of some commercial reason,and so caused the delay.

The officers of the Euryalus are most energetic,and have got up a capital lawn tennis ground;they are even suggesting a cricket-match, the armyagainst the navy. If it comes off, it will be thefirst that Suakim has ever seen. We had a longand pleasant ride on our camels this afternoon, andwent a good way beyond the water-forts. My husband was in a state of mind till our return, for whilewe were out he got news that a considerable body ofthe enemy had come in our direction, and might behiding about the bush; and, indeed, though we laughedit off at the time, it was not at all an impossiblething to have happened, for the mimosa bush growsso high and thick that hundreds of people mightbe within a few yards of us without our knowing.Before going home we went to see them playinglawn tennis; one or two Egyptian officers were alsothere, but they evidently understood nothing aboutit. We could not stay long, as we had some distance to go before we could get into the gates, sohad our tea, mounted our camels, and trotted off.We met a lot of Major Giles's Bashi-Bazouks, takingtheir horses to water, and showing how little discipline they yet had, by wildly careering about theplace, and racing with each other. The navalofficers with us could not help remarking howunreliable such men must be. I hope and trustthey are mistaken.

Mr. Bewley has been regularly appointed chiefof the transport. He is very anxious about it,as he insists that we want 1,200 camels, at least,while we have actually only 200. My husbandsays this estimate of Mr. Bewley's is not great,as in Afghanistan transport was calculated tocome to as near as possible a camel a man. Thetroops we expect to have will be 5,000, and therefore one camel to every four men is a very lowestimate. But then, Egyptian troops have theadvantage of wanting very little. They can carrytwelve large soldiers' biscuits with them and callit four days' provisions, for they get absolutelynothing else. Their hospital requirements areequally small; and then, again, all would have tobivouac, so no tents hardly would be necessary.Glanders has broken out amongst the horses to-day,and several have therefore been shot. We hopethat these strong measures will have stopped sodangerous a disease. General Baker is expectedback to-morrow, and we are all anxiously lookingout for his news. The reports from Osman Digmastill point out to a decline in his power. He wanted,it appears, to kill Zebehr Pasha's nephew, but wasnot allowed to do so. The most important eventwith him is the receipt of letters from the Mahdi,brought down by messengers from Khartoum, inwhich the Mahdi declares his intention to seize allCentral Africa, march down on Egypt, cross overand seize Mecca, then the whole Turkistan empire,afterwards all the world.

Day by day, as in the story of "Blue Beard," weturn our eyes towards the horizon, hoping to see thesteamers carrying the troops so much wanted. Butnothing appears, and we cannot imagine what is thecause of delay, for the English authorities at Cairomust be fully aware of our situation and that of thebeleaguered garrisons.

We have just got a letter from my step-son, wholeft at the same time as Suleiman Pasha in theMahallah. He says that just as they had gone out ofthe harbour they met a boat coming from the Tantah,which vessel had got itself on to a rock, "MoreEgyptian Postal Company." Instead of letting theboat go on to give notice, and so get proper help,for several English vessels were at Suakim at thetime, the captain of the Mahallah took her up andsteamed down to the Tantah. He found there alittle paddle-wheel condenser, the Deb-el-Bar, thathad been helplessly looking on at the Tantah forfour days. The Mahallah stayed there two moredays, took off a great part of the men, who wereBashi-Bazouks destined for Suakim, but neverattempted to do anything else, not even to save themail, although the weather for the first twenty-fourhours was beautifully calm. On the second day ofthe Mahallah's stopping there, a half gale arose, andthe Tantah slipped off the coral reef into eightyfathoms of water. The mails, with all our Christmasletters, a lot of transport animals, and a quantity ofammunitions of war, were lost. Some geese andturkeys, which the English engineer quietly tookoff in his boat, were the only things saved. All thishappened within fifty or sixty miles of Suakim.Those "who know" here say the only thing thatwill astonish them will be if any notice whateveris taken of the affair.

We have been buying a lot of photographs thismorning from two German photographers who happento be living here. They do not seem to have beendoing much business hitherto, but they have lots ofwork now. The name of the principal man is Bode,and he is the son of a clergyman in some out-of-the-way place in Prussia. All the Suakim photos in thebook are by him. Unfortunately, he does not understand working up a negative, and without that noprint can be very good.

During our camel-ride to-day we came across largetracts of melon-fields; the melons seem to thrive inthe most arid soil, and to get their moisture morefrom the dew than anything else. They are certainlynever watered. Besides these, there does not appearto be any other cultivation about Suakim, exceptabout an acre of vegetables close to the big water-tank. There are a few pretty wild flowers, especiallya convolvulus of the brightest blue, and some yellowflowers something of the foxglove genus. There arealso no end of the colocynth, looking like the mostdelicious little melons, but the taste is not like thelook, and quite fits them for the nastiest pills. Duringthe time we were examining the different flowers,our camels began to graze on the prickly bushesabout. What they liked most was the camel thorn,which is very abundant here. It is a small, ratherthorny bush, known in India as "jowassa." Ifthey do not get this, they seem to enjoy the mimosaequally well, in spite of its two or three inch thorns,which will easily pierce a man's thickest boot. Itis astonishing to see the camels eat this. They takeit into their mouths and chew it with a mild satisfaction, the sight of which would enable Mark Twainto add half a dozen extra chapters to his books oftravel. We came across, in our meanderings, a smalltree, from the branches of which were hanging anumber of bottle-bird's nests. Their shape is like anelongated egg, very sharp at the small end, ratherbulging out at the other end, while the opening isat the side. The bird is something like a sparrow,with a considerable touch of the yellow of a canary.We brought some of the nests home, intending tokeep them.

By this time the shadows were lengthening somuch that we were obliged to move in order to getback before dark. As we passed the lines we noticeda quantity of old and good thorns being piled outsidethe ditch, and at the same time a group of nativesof the town objecting strongly. It turned out thatorders had been given to take all the hedges fromround the native huts, and give them new mimosainstead, as the new mimosa was equally good forthem, while the old, intensely prickly, was invaluable to us for the defences. The owners of the samedid not believe in these promises, hence these tears;but when some bush was brought in and given over,they got more contented. Their huts were mostlyoutside the town, and were built in exactly the sameway as the tents of the Bedouins, only instead ofblack blankets or skins matting was used; insteadof string, skewers of wood to pin the mats together.The supports were bent poles, as with Bedouin tents.Round each tent or matted hut was a hedge of thorn,intended to keep out intruders, and to hide thewomen within.

We went on to the roof of my husband's quarterson the flag-staff fort on our way back, and foundthe colonel of the Bashi-Bazouks there. He is a fine-looking old man of about sixty. His dress was veryhandsome, and consisted of a beautifully embroideredjacket and waistcoat à la Zouave, very loose darkcloth trousers, embroidered leggings, and Turkishshoes. He had a splendid red silk sash, twisted inseveral folds, through the right side of which wasthrust a curved scimitar; while more in front weretwo silver-mounted, old-fashioned pistols, secured inthe same way. Over the sash was a band, tightlybuckled on, which supported three or four filagreesilver boxes, intended to hold powder, shot, and thesmall necessaries belonging to the pistols. DirectlyI saw the latter, it struck me what a splendid setthey would make for a fancy ball, and as luck wouldhave it, a few days afterwards this very colonelcame to my husband about some arms belonging tothe men that had been killed in the first affair nearSuakim, and which he wished to sell. It appearsthat amongst the killed was a Bashi-Bazouk majorof an old Albanian family, who owned a magnificentpair of jewelled pistols. No arms could be soldwithout permission, and therefore the colonel hadcome to ask it, and show what he wanted to sell.I was very much taken with them, for they hadevery mark of antiquity, as not only had they flintlocks, but also bore anterior traces of having beenmatchlocks, and this would send back the date oftheir construction a very long way. According toregulations, everything belonging to a deceasedsoldier has to be sold by auction, and so my husband,while giving the desired permission for the sale,commissioned a man to outbid any offers that weremade; thus we got them, and I intend to keep themas a souvenir of Suakim.

Eastern street auctions are always worth goingto. The excitement of the would-be purchasers, andthe gesticulations of the auctioneer, lend a life to thebusiness which is rarely seen in Europe. The mostcurious of all, though, is the auction of live animals,especially a valuable horse. The auctioneer, takingthe horse, goes through the streets, shouting "Haraj,haraj," that is, "Auction, auction." Every now andthen a man stops him, looks at the horse, and makesa bid; the auctioneer then continues his shouting,adding the amount of the highest offer up to thatmoment. Suddenly out rushes a man from his shop,shouts out a bid, and bolts back to his customers,whom he has left without the slightest warning.In, one case it was a barber, who left his customerreclining in a chair with his face covered with lather.Another time the bid came from a man who hadjust finished his prayer in the most hurried manner,evidently having heard the voice of the auctioneeras the latter was coming up the street. Sometimesa bidder would shout out from the housetop; then awoman, with her face well covered up, would openthe lattice an inch or two and make a bid. Thusshouting, disputing, praising his horse, and altogether making a great row, the auctioneer continues his rounds usually till the gun or themuezzin announces the time for evening prayer.This is equivalent to the auctioneer's hammer,and the highest bidder up to this time gets thehorse.

There has also been an auction at the Customhouse, of some very handsome Persian pottery thatwas saved from the wreck of the Burns. The vesselwas a British India steamer that had come almostdirect from Persia, and was to have called at Suakimon her way to England. Unfortunately, she ran onto some of the coral reefs a few miles out of theharbour, and became a hopeless wreck. Her generalcargo was wool, and the pottery and other curiositieswere said to have belonged to a Frenchman, whodied in Persia, and who, from his long residencethere, had known how to collect articles of realvalue. I do not understand why these things werenot sent on, after all; but I was told that, the vesselhaving been entirely given up by her owners, everything was being sold for the benefit of the underwriters. Several English vessels being in harbour,the above pottery went at what appeared to me tobe fancy prices. Amongst it were some blue tilesof that peculiar hue like those seen on the greatmusjid at Lahore, and the colouring of which issupposed to have been a secret brought from Persiamany centuries ago, and now quite lost. Besidesthe above, the most noticeable articles were someold Damascened pistols and very quaint brassworklamps. There were also a few carpets originally ofconsiderable value, but these the salt water hadquite spoilt. Although the bidders were nearly allEnglish, yet the crowd round about was made up ofevery possible person that could get into the Customhouse yard. A little Jew called Levi was the onlyoutside bidder; he certainly made up for the rest,for he bought half the stock exposed for sale, havingprobably a good appreciation of the price they wouldfetch elsewhere. As to the rest of the crowd, theyno doubt thought the Feringees had gone mad whenthey wanted to buy such old and broken rubbish.But while they looked on at our proceedings, wewere remarking them and observing how easy itwas to pick out the Egyptians, on account of theirinvariably having some defect in their eyes. TheArabs of the desert are almost free of this; why, Ido not know, for dirt seems even on both sides, exceptthat the Arabs use more mutton fat, and thereforestink greatly at times.

CHAPTER XI.
ZEREBAS.

GENERAL BAKER RETURNS FROM MASSOWAH – COMPLAINTS OF ABYSSINIAN GOVERNMENT – RAS-UL-RIAH, THE HEAD OF THE BANDITS – ROUTE FROM MASSOWAH TO KHARTOUM – ITS ADVANTAGES FOR AN ADVANCING ARMY – ESCORT OF EGYPTIAN SOLDIERS PRACTISING "HOWLING DERVISHES" – HAND-CHARGES – CRICKET-MATCH AND SPORTS – ATTACK BY THE ENEMY – GENERAL BAKER GOES TO EXAMINE TRINKITAT – MAKING A ZEREBA – NO TROOPS COMING – ARAB TRIBES – ZEBEHR PASHA'S MEN AT LAST – COLONEL FRED. BURNABY – GENERAL BAKER'S RECONNAISSANCE – FALSE REPORTS OF DEFEAT – MY HUSBAND MARCHES OUT – MEETS GENERAL BAKER – THE CADI DESERTS TO THE ENEMY, LEAVING A LETTER BEHIND – DINNER TO MY HUSBAND AT FOREIGN OFFICERS' MESS – CHORUS BY ITALIANS – DANCE BY ALBANIANS – OUR CAMELS STOLEN – CORAL REEFS – MY HUSBAND IS ATTACKED IN ZEREBA – EGYPTIAN SOLDIERS OBJECT TO STOPPING OUT ALL NIGHT – BEHAVIOUR OF DOCTOR OF THE TURKISH BATTALION – THE ENCHANTED CAMEL.

GENERAL BAKER came back on the 5th of Januaryfrom Massowah, and has brought very favourable impressions from there. He appears to thinkthat the troubles between the Abyssinians and theEgyptians could easily be settled if the EnglishGovernment would only send a commissioner. Forthe principal complaints made are about the debatable land of Bogos, which Ismail Pasha claims tohave annexed in 1870, but which the Abyssiniansdeny; the free passage and proper protection ofmerchandise to the sea, instead of its being plunderedwhile in transit, as is now done; and lastly, the givingup of a renegade Abyssinian, Ras-ul-Riah, who,although head of all this looting, is protected by theEgyptians here, and is, I believe, actually on his wayto Cairo. Unfortunately for him, he has as yet onlygot as far as Suakim, and General Baker has orderedhim to be made a close prisoner. The difficultywith him is that, if tried, found guilty, and condemned by an Egyptian tribunal, his close relationship to King John might make the latter disinclinedto allow him to be punished by the EgyptianGovernment. Then, on the other side, if we gavehim up to King John, the history of the prisoners ofMagdala, about whom we engaged in the Abyssinianwar, have made us aware that not much mercyis to be expected. Anyhow, for the present heis a prisoner in the police barrack, next to the flag-staff fort, and amuses himself by drinking as nearlyas possible two bottles of brandy a day. But anew route to Khartoum is the important point,brought into shape by General Baker's visit toMassowah. It would go by Massowah, Sunheit,Kassala, Abu-Heraz, and on to the Blue Nile, nearSenaar, then down by river to Khartoum. Myhusband was discussing the advantages when wewere on board the steamer coming from Suez, andthey are, first, that, with Abyssinia friendly, the leftflank of an advancing army would be absolutely safeas far as Kassala, while water in plenty is to befound along the whole road. Again, the armywould go on increasing in strength as it got furtheron, for several fortified towns and posts would haveto be passed, whose garrisons, good Soudanesetroops, would be exchanged by Egyptians and thenincorporated into the army; thus the troops eventually emerging at Kassala would number at least8,000 men, well armed and equipped. Nor shouldit be lost sight of that Kassala itself stands on acomparatively elevated plateau, from which easyroads lead down to the homes of the tribes inrevolt. Once there, with plenty of water and provisions, the left flank comparatively secure, in aposition threatening the homes of the enemy, themoral effect alone would be very great, and even ifno further advance were made, the retreat of thegarrison at Khartoum would be greatly facilitated, asthe road between this and Senaar goes through acountry whose inhabitants, the Shukerie Arabs, arenot particularly unfriendly, while from there, byriver, the possession of armed steamers makes thepassage quite safe for us. The objection is thelength, as, even after having reached Kassala,the distance to Abu-Heraz on the Blue Nile viâTomat and Suk-Abu-Sin is just two hundred miles.Still, the probable safety, and therefore feasibility, ofthis route overweighs all defects as to distance.Besides, the Berber route is quite impassable for largebodies of men, even if we leave the enemy out of thecalculation.

The Shaiab and Fadilab tribes the other day sentin a large number of their representatives, and thismorning they rushed past the house on their way toSheikh Magranee at such a pace that they had tolean right back on their camels. Bode, the photographer, took a good picture of them. The old grey-bearded chief, with his young son sitting behind him,comes out very well. So do the amulets each hastied on just above the elbow. By-the-by, the youngman has his hair done up in ringlets, while his fathersticks to the old style, so perhaps the ringlets are anew masher fashion of the Arab tribes. In the oldman's hands are the driving-stick and the guiding-ropes of the camel. The younger has the usualspear. It has been determined that they are to relieve Sinkat, as they have promised to do so on consideration of a large bribe.

Later in the day Sheikh Magranee called on the governor. There was a guard of honour assembledthere to receive him, and a most ludicrous sceneensued; for while he was inside, the guard, brought upto the wildest pitch of excitement at seeing so holy aman, opened out their ranks, faced each other, and,taking time from their officer, began to go throughthe ceremony that strangers who visit Cairo know sowell as that of the howling dervishes. The officerwas a little bandy-legged man, and his being in fulluniform anything but added to his dignity when hebegan to rock himself backwards and forwards andyell "Allah! Allah!" louder and louder. The men,with their arms in one hand, copying him, made the

SHAIAB TRIBE AND SHEIKH.

whole thing the height of absurdity. We saw allthis from a boat, the crowd being too great round theGovernment-house. I do not think the Arabs wereimpressed any more than we were; indeed, theyappear to have a hearty contempt for all thingsEgyptian. They thought much more of some hand-charges that Lieutenant Montresor showed them onthe big parade ground. One of the principal Sheikhs,a fine, tall man called Moosa Adam (Moses Adam),had been to see our holy man, and it was thoughtadvisable to impress him a little with our power:accordingly he was taken out to the parade ground,and the hand-charge burst in front of him. Thishand-charge is a tin canister containing four poundsof gun-cotton, to which one end of a long instantaneous fuse is attached, the other end being fixedinto the muzzle of a small pistol. When required to beused, the canister is thrown amongst the enemy, andexploded at will by firing off the pistol. Anythingthen within a radius of eight yards is blown to pieces.After this the Sheikh, seeing a horse close by, beggedfor a mount in order to show off his riding, whichwas not much, as all he did was to gallop furiouslyup and down for about two or three hundred yards,and nearly tumble off. Still, he was much pleasedwith himself, and it amused us.

On Monday, the 7th, we had a cricket-match,and two or three days after a regular day of sports.Our eleven were formed of my husband, Colonel Hay,Colonel Harington, Lieutenants Maxwell and Barton,Major Giles, Mr. Bewley, Captain Goodall, MajorTahir Bey, of the Turkish Infantry, and others,whose names I forget. The navy were represented byLieutenants Paris, Lindsay, Montresor, Gubbins, etc.The latter got the best of it, for we had, as ColonelHarington says, an awful "tail," which, I believe,means in cricket parlance that our makeshifts werevery bad. In the sports, though, we took our revenge,for in the tug-of-war the officers of the army got upa team of ten whose average weight was fourteenstone – our sheet-anchor, as the jealous navy officerscalled him, being the camp quarter-master, Malcozi,who weighed fully twenty stone. We all enjoyedthe sports very much, the running in sacks, pick-a-back, or wheelbarrows being specially approved of bythe native spectators. The tug-of-war amongst thenative troops was won by the Turks, who got sofuriously excited at it that it was almost a reliefwhen it was over. It is wonderful how small anidea even the native officers have of fair play, for itwas with the greatest difficulty that the Englishofficials could prevent men giving a sly tug at therope whenever they thought they would not be foundout. This caused much delay, as the men had severaltimes to pull twice over. One other event was worthnoticing, viz. the splendid performance of LieutenantCaulfield, of the Euryalus; he would have carried offthe palm in any gymnastic contest, and here, ofcourse, he was facile princeps. As a last wind-upthere was a little tent-pegging, but as my husbandand Lieutenant Carrol were the only ones whocould do anything, it was soon over.

Excepting drill, which is never-ceasing, therehas not been much to note for the last few days,except that the enemy have been several times firinginto us. But this evening, the 10th of January, wehave had rather a bigger scare than usual. We hadhad some people to dine with us, and, after havingplayed cards until we were tired, went out for a row,when suddenly our attention was attracted by aflash of light and a rumbling sound, which by thattime we well knew was the sound of cannon in thedirection of the water-forts. Then, looking there, wesaw several flashes from rifles, and presently a bulletwhizzed very close to us. This made us anxious tohave a closer look, but the gentlemen of our partyinsisted upon our going back, and we only walkedup as far as the causeway to find out the news.There was, however, nobody there but the Egyptianguard, so we returned to our regular station, thehousetop; but by that time it was all over, andshortly afterwards Captain Goodall, my husband'saide-de-camp, came down with a message thatthe enemy had retired. The reason the enemy keepsso far out is that General Baker has made a seriesof small fortified posts all round, and the rebelsdo not quite like getting inside.

General Baker has gone with Admiral Hewett inthe Sphinx to take a look at Trinkitat. He sent theTor beforehand, and told the captain that he was toanchor in the harbour there; but as the enemy fireda shot or two at him, he promptly removed himself,and General Baker found him a long way out of hisproper place. A very good spot for landing has beendetermined upon. It is an island separated from themainland by a marsh a mile long, and which in partsis covered by a few inches of water. This will be anuisance when a march inland is attempted, but itgreatly adds to the safety during the operationof landing. As far as the telescope shows, thecountry is very clear and good for cavalry, andhaving ascertained this the general returned.

General Baker took out all the troops to-day fora couple of miles into the bush, in order to practicethe formation of a zereba – zereba meaning thornhedge in Arabic. It is the kind of defence troopsin this country always throw up at night or duringa long halt. General Baker's plan is to make it witha sort of little triangle shooting out from the centreof each side, and thus enable the men in thosetriangles to fire along the sides. It would, of course,be no defence against musketry, but, as the thicknessof the thorn hedge is six or seven feet, it is perfectagainst those whose only arms are swords and spears.About 3 o'clock all came back, and the first question,as usual, asked was – "Has a troopship come in?"Few people outside can imagine how disgustedwe are. The so-called friendly tribes are beginningto get a little shy when they see no reinforcements coming, and it is a question of the mostvital importance just now to keep them faithfulin their engagement to relieve Sinkat. Friday,the 11th, being as usual a Mussulman holiday, myhusband was enabled to accompany us to see someof the tribes coming in, and also the Egyptiantroops performing à la howling dervish. Theywere assembled in circles of forty or fifty, shaking,bowing, howling, going up and down on tiptoe, andmaking as big fools of themselves as they could. Itwas a pleasure to turn back and look at a number ofone of these tribes coming in; they, indeed, lookedfit to fight. One cannot help admiring their strongactive figures, with their pleasant countenances,though they are savages.

At last a steamer has arrived with part of ZebehrPasha's Soudanese. Better late than never, is allthat we can say. It has, however, brought usdisastrous news, namely, that the English Government have determined that Egypt shall give up thewhole of the Soudan. If they had only kept thenews to themselves for a time it would not have beenso bad, but we are all in despair as to the probableeffects the publicity of the same will cause on thefriendly tribes who have started for Sinkat, and areto be there on the 25th. Hitherto we have feltpretty certain, the inducements held out to thembeing so great; but now we doubt exceedingly.Still, we were very glad to receive a quantity ofhome letters, all expressing sympathy for thedreadful danger they think we are in. ColonelFred. Burnaby was also on board; he had beenunwell lately, and was travelling about for a change,so he came to take a look at Suakim.

On the 22nd of January we had a day of greatexcitement and anxiety, for General Baker took thecavalry out to reconnoitre in the direction of OsmanDigma's camp. He was only to go out a few miles,and be back by 1 p.m.; instead of which it was3 p.m. before anything was heard of his party, andthen only through a native officer, who came inwildly galloping, in a state of most abject fear. Hesaid that the general had been attacked, surroundedand cut to pieces. The news put us in a state of greatagitation, for though we did not believe the wholeof the report, yet we could hardly doubt but thatsome considerable disaster had befallen the reconnoitering party. We rushed up to the top of thehouse, and got more anxious still on seeing with agood telescope more men hurrying in on horseback,and here and there a few riderless horses. Then weheard the bugles sounding the assembly, my husbandhaving already got the news. There was animmediate stir in the camp, and the troops beganmarching out from all sides. We saw my husbandforming up the troops, sending out scouts, Mr.Brewster being one of them; then a few officers andorderlies tore about in all directions, to get, as Iafterwards found out, extra ammunition and water,and to give notice to Dr. Leslie and his ambulanceto be in readiness. This was all intensely absorbing,but when I saw my husband actually going, myheart leapt into my mouth, and we both felt as ifthe awfulness of war had really come home to us;the glamour of excitement passed, and we had agood cry. In the meanwhile, the troops havingbeen formed up, they marched off within twentyminutes of the time the first news was broughtin.

We were dreadfully excited and nervous, and couldhardly hold our telescopes steady, as we expectedthat the enemy would appear at any moment,flushed with a first success, and rush on to the onsetright before our eyes. It would not have been sobad if we ourselves could have been in it, but whatneither of us could bear was to see my husbandactually go out.

In the midst of all this we suddenly saw thetroops halt, and then stand at ease. We weredelighted, for it proved to us that the news broughtin by the runaway cavalry was false, as, if GeneralBaker had met with a hopeless disaster, and theenemy had been coming on in force, the troopswould not have waited thus, standing at ease. Fromwhat we afterwards heard, the false alarm originatedwith a number of Major Giles's cavalry who hadbolted, and had invented all these lies on the spurof the moment in order to excuse themselves. Itappears that General Baker had gone out furtherthan he had at first intended, and that when withina couple of miles of Osman Digma's camp, he cameacross a lot of rebels' cattle; these he promptlyseized. The owners, getting news, sent a numberof camel-men to try and recover them, and so GeneralBaker with his 300 cavalry quietly retired, keepingthe enemy sufficiently back to enable the cattle to bedriven in. It was when the word was given toretire at a walk that part of the Turks, who were onthe flank, took fright and flight at the same time.We lost four men, and the enemy several more.

These little expeditions are meant to keep up thespirits of the troops, and to accustom them to theenemy. I hope it may, for it will be needed, asthe friendly tribes are more doubtful than ever.Suleiman Pasha's favourite, Cadi, has gone over toOsman Digma, leaving a letter behind him, in whichhe says, and I think quite rightly, that, as theGovernment have determined to give up the Soudan,and as his family and himself are inhabitants of thecountry, they cannot go away, and therefore would bethe first, in such an eventuality, to feel the revengeof the rebels, he cannot but try to make his peacewith them. He also says that the news comingpublicly in the newspapers proves that the Soudanis certain to be abandoned, but that should theEgyptian Government, after all, elect to remain, hewould return and serve them faithfully, as he hadhitherto done.

Last evening my husband dined at a mess gotup by a lot of the foreign officers in the barrackoccupied by the police. Amongst them wereColonel Messadaglia Bey, Major Maletta, CaptainsRucca and Manheim, Major Yusef Bey, LieutenantsCarrol, Cavaliere, and Malcozi, Captain Walker,Major Paliocca, Mr. Cantel, etc., etc. Toasts inFrench, Italian, and German were proposed, towhich my husband answered in the language thetoast was proposed in, making in each case a shortspeech, much to the delight of all the foreigners,who afterwards told me about it. After dinner, achorus by the Italian police, led by Messadaglia Bey,was sung splendidly. Then, to wind up, a bonfirewas lit, and the Albanians assembled to perform theirnational dance. This consists of a number of menstanding hand-in-hand in a semicircle, the leaderholds a handkerchief with which he waves the signalfor a gradually increasing speed or a higher seriesof jumps, for the dancing amounts only to two orthree steps, a jump, and then a step side way, thusgradually moving round in a circle. The dance isguided in time by a monotonous chaunt sung by theperformers, the words of which consisted of someshort sentence improvised at the moment by theleader. Captain Goodall told me that the words inthis present instance were praises of General Bakerand my husband, and saying, "We will show whatthe Albanians can do."

We had rather a slow afternoon to-day, as ourcamels were stolen yesterday. It is a great nuisance,as such good riding ones are not easily found. Wehave also to take more care as to the distance we gooutside the lines, for the spies constantly bring innews of the enemy being close at hand. This afternoon, for a change, we went fishing, and also toexamine the coral reefs. As to the first, we caughtnothing, not having enough patience; and as to thelatter, we were very much disappointed, for theyare simply a most solid and very thick wall, ratherrough, rising from great depths to within a foot of thesurface. There is nothing pretty about them – noneof that feathery, light-looking stuff which in ourideas we usually associate with the name of coral.The real interest lies in the fact that so small a wormcan build up such stupendous works that quiteexceed the power of man in spite of all the help ofmachinery, for the work of the coral-worm bidsdefiance to the utmost strength of the ocean, whilenothing raised by man has ever succeeded in doingso. The outing was very agreeable, and we camein with a capital appetite. My husband has left us,as he has gone out to-day with some infantry tobuild a zereba, and to remain there a couple of days,by way of another little exercise for the troops.

We were, of course, a little put out by this, andwere not quite quiet till relieved by Captain Goodallcoming in next day and telling us my husband wasall right; that the zereba had been attacked lastnight, but that the rebels found the troops on thealert, and probably lost several men, for they lefta quantity of shields and spears about, also onecamel. Besides this there were many traces of blood.Mr. Scudamore, the Times' correspondent, was in thezereba, and came in with Mr. Goodall to give us thenews, and to get some provisions. They say thatthe rebels who attacked the zereba were most likelya party that were going on to Suakim, and stumbledacross it by chance, and this accounts for theircoming so close.

General Baker went with my husband yesterday,and looked on while the zereba was being formed.On its completion, he was just preparing to returnto Suakim, when several Egyptian officers went upto him and actually had the cheek to tell him thattheir men, the Egyptian regiments, would not sleepout of camp. General Baker, in his usual quiet way,and between the puffs of his cigarette, said, "Then,any man or officer who leaves the zereba and comesinto Suakim without order, will be shot within tenminutes of his arrival. I shall not try him by court-martial; he will simply be shot." Nobody wentaway, but the mere fact of their daring to avow suchcowardice bodes ill for the future. Of course theTurks had nothing to do with this, though theirArab doctor annoyed the English officers by theintensity of his fear. From dark up to 9 p.m. hekept looking over the zereba, trying to see into thedarkness, his fears turning every bush into camelsand men; the longer he looked the more he saw,until at last he was so overcome that he would onlymove from place to place on all fours, and with hisnose well to the ground.

My husband had originally intended to advancea few miles in the direction of Osman Digma's camp,but, hearing from his spies that Osman Digma hadgone away, he naturally gave over his intention, andprepared to march straight back. Ibrahim Effendicame up to find out the reason of this, and was greatlyelated at finding that there was no enemy to confront. He insisted on an advance, saying, "Thereis no danger now, so let us make a granddemonstration"!

But amongst all stories told lately, I do notthink they can beat that of the enchanted camel.It is so out of the way and shows so clearly that theEgyptians still live in an atmosphere of the ArabianNights, that I insert the letters in full. It alsoexplains, to a degree, the belief the Egyptian soldiershave in the Mahdi's promises to make their powderwater, for they say, "If he is not inspired, he iswithout doubt a great magician."

My husband, naturally astonished at the receiptof a letter like this, wanted to have it complete, sohe pretended to take it seriously, and returned theletter to the commandant of the battalion with thefollowing memo: –

To this the answer came as below, and besides,Khalil Aly, the commandant, verbally declared thathe himself had one night shot what appeared to bea hyena, but that in death it had suddenly returnedto its original shape, namely, that of a man. KhalilAly is a very well-educated man as far as generalsubjects go, and it is extremely astonishing to findhim seriously insisting upon such a subject.

Khalil Aly finishes up with the following: –

The return back to Suakim was without anyinterest, nothing occurring to vary the monotonyof a regular march, carefully carried out with allits accessories of guards, vedettes, etc., etc., and theyarrived about noon, the European officers lookingsunburnt, but all the better for their outing.

CHAPTER XII.
EMBARKATION OF TROOPS.

ARRIVAL OF LAST BATTALION OF ZEBEHR'S SOUDANESE – BAD ARRANGEMENTS AS TO PAY AND RATIONS – MAHOMED ALY WILL NOT ADVANCE TO RELIEVE SINKAT – MANY THINGS WANTING FOR THE ARMY, BUT DELAY NO LONGER POSSIBLE – ARRANGEMENTS FOR WATER – EMBARKING TROOPS – ABYSSINIANS OBJECT TO BE CLOTHED – SPHINX RETURNS FROM TRINKITAT – FANATIC BOY – HEARTRENDING LETTER FROM TEWFIK BEY – MY HUSBAND'S ANSWER – TELEGRAPH SHIP CHILTERN – SCARE OF GARRISON – DEPARTURE OF MY HUSBAND IN THE ZAGAZIG – EXTRAORDINARY WAY OF PULLING CAMELS INTO THE BOATS – A SPY FROM TOKAR – ADVENTURES OF LEVI THE MERCHANT – FIRING AT NIGHT – RETURN OF LEVI – MESSENGER COMES IN FROM BERBER.

THE last battalion of Zebehr's Soudanese has come.They are hardly able to march; they do not knowhow to fix bayonets; their commanding officer, amost intelligent, French-speaking Turk, and thesmartest native officer here, reports that his officersare the very worst he has ever seen – fancy theworst of the Egyptian officers! – that they arelieutenants and sub-lieutenants who have been manyyears on the retired list, and that none are fit todrill a company. The want of discipline of themen was soon proved by their rapid refusal toobey orders. They had to be brought to reasonin the same way as the Bashi-Bazouks before them.A very bad thing, as far as they were concerned,was that they had got three months' pay in advanceat a higher rate than the Egyptian troops, but, tomake up for it, their ration was proportionatelyreduced. The consequence was, that they spent theirthree months' advance, and found themselves on warservice with only a prospect of a ration of drybiscuit for the next two and a half months. Besides this, all the Soudanese had brought heaps ofwomen and children with them, and naturally therewas more discontent than ever about the ration.

I am sorry to say matters are looking veryserious, for Mahomed Aly has sent back to say thathe cannot advance without the help of the soldiers hewas promised. Now, as this was exactly what hewas not promised, it is very evident, he wants to backout of it. He also says that Moosa Adam, instead ofjoining him with 600 men, had only ten followers incamp. The same thing with the old grey-beardedchief Rhotodon, whose photo on the camel we have,A most painful decision has lately been arrived at,namely, that we ourselves cannot relieve Sinkat, forit would be madness to trust our troops in a brokenand mountainous country like that through whichthe Sinkat road runs. We intend to do what wecan in the Tokar direction, hoping that a successfulmove on Tokar may be a great moral support toTewfik Bey, and a probable incentive for MahomedAly to advance.

FLAG STAFF FORT AND CAMP – TURKS AND CAVALRY.

We are still in want of a great many thingsabsolutely necessary for the army, but it is no usewaiting, and a final decision having been come to asto the direction in which we are to act, GeneralBaker left to-day for Trinkitat. He took with him acertain number of troops, sufficient to form a fortification, for the purpose of protecting the landing ofthe rest. The Tor and Gafferiah have also gone up,the first as a condenser, for at Trinkitat there is nowater, and the troops will require about 4,000gallons a day.

For the last few days we have been watchingthe troops going past with great interest, knowing,as we do, that the culminating point of our expedition is rapidly coming on. Our anxiety makes usscan closely the looks and the equipment of thesoldiers, and certainly, as to size, arms, and regularityof their march, the Egyptian gendarmerie leavenothing to desire; but we can easily see that theyhave no wish to go on, for parties and sentries haveto be kept all round the embarkation points, so as toprevent the men taking advantage of some trivialexcuse and getting back to camp again.

The men come down in detachments to a kind ofrough quay just behind the governor's house; therethey embark in big, deep boats, which are rowedgradually alongside the Khedivial steamers by acouple of men who have only sticks by the way ofoars. Fortunately the distance is only about eightyyards, so the first shove off is nearly enough to makethe boat reach its destination; but it takes, anyhow,from ten minutes to a quarter of an hour, and muchtime is lost in the operation.

Colonel Abdul Russak Bey and the native officersof the head-quarters staff superintended the whole,and very well they did it, for Abdul Russak was upto every one of their dodges and kept them hard atwork, and yet he himself could not get over theAfrican abhorrence of work by night; for in spite ofGeneral Baker's strictest orders that all were to beready by daylight, the whole officers and men left offwork soon after sunset the night before, althoughonly two hours more would have completed everything.

All the English officers are loud in the praises ofthe Egyptian soldier when it comes to embarking orprovisioning. They say he is quite as easy tomanage as the Indian soldier in this way, and nevergrumbles at his accommodation, or the kind of foodhe is given. Under Abdul Russak's supervision, theywere embarked in the most rapid and expeditiousway, each steamer taking about 850 men or theirequivalent in horses; and the next morning, when wehappened to be on board the Euryalus to see thempass, we noticed that they looked so crowded thatnot a single extra man, horse, or camel could, wethought, be crammed in.

They dipped their flag in passing, and theEuryalus returned the compliment, and then theband on board played the Khedivial hymn. Seeingthem go off like this made us feel very sad, for,though we hope they may be victorious, still, onecannot help knowing that some of them at least willnot come back. Their poor wives seemed to thinkso too, for they followed their husbands down to thequay with very sorrowful-looking countenances; and,on returning to the camp, threw up their arms, andmade all the gesticulations usual to them in greatsorrow.

The Deb-el-Bar follows soon, for the two condensers together will only just make up watersufficient. I was much interested to see how all sortsof dodges had to be tried in order to store water.Arm-chests were pitched in and out, powder-barrelsditto; old iron tanks were furbished up, while evena boat was fitted with canvas inside. I had no ideabefore that unpainted canvas supported by woodensides would hold water, but so it is.

My husband had now no time to spare, for hehad to superintend the whole embarkation himself.He tried one evening to leave it to his staff officers(Egyptian), as he wanted to look after some new workin the lines, and to remain until late at night onaccount of a report that the enemy might attack, buthe found that the moment he left, the whole of theemployés walked off, as they said it was getting nearsunset, and to-morrow (Bookra) would do as well.

While my husband, who happened for the moment to be in Mr. Wylde's house, was giving ordersabout the embarkation of more troops for the front,his aide-de-camp, Captain Goodall, came into theroom, looking much amused, and reported that theAbyssinians would not be clothed, explaining furtherthat on being shown trousers they almost mutinied.It appears that, their original dress being very dirty,they had been sent down to get uniform, but thatthey objected to anything but their customary loosestyle of clothing. These Abyssinians, twenty-four innumber, were all Christians, and came to us fromMassowah as volunteers. They are a handsome-looking, copper-coloured race, but quite as savage asthe Arabs outside. Nobody speaks their language,and it was therefore only by their horrified gestures,and the faces they made, that one could understandthe disgust they felt at the idea of putting on thecoarse white trousers of the Egyptian soldier. Thisindignation was further increased at the sight of theshoes. They had to have their own way at last, forthey made us understand that they could not moveabout with such things on; that they came to fight,but not to wear trousers and boots.

This afternoon we were able to get camels again,and were riding close to the outposts after witnessing some tent-pegging by the cavalry, when anofficer came galloping up to us, saying that thegeneral, my husband, wished us to come in asquickly as possible, as the enemy had been seen inthe neighbourhood. We therefore returned at atrot, and passed a squadron of Egyptian cavalrywho were going out to reconnoitre.

Next day, the 29th of January, three Khedivialsteamers came back from Trinkitat, with urgentletters from General Baker to my husband, thattroops should be embarked and sent off sharp, as thesteamers would have to return another time beforeall was completed. My husband then stopped theHodeidah that was going to Massowah, and, as usual,had to superintend the whole himself, as it was absolutely necessary that there should be no delay.

On the 31st Sir W. Hewett came in at twelve inthe Sphinx. There is no fresh news from Tokar.The troops are all encamped very comfortably atTrinkitat. While the Sphinx was there, they sawsome rebels on the shore, and let off their big gunat them at 6,000 yards. The shots fell close to andamongst them, and the naval officers told me theynever saw any animals run like the camels. Theyparticularly noticed a camel and horse which startedoff together, but the camel soon out-strode the horseand got far beyond him. One shot killed a man,and the next morning the son, a boy only aboutthirteen or fourteen at most, rushed in amongstGeneral Baker's troops with a spear, and woundedone of the soldiers before he was caught.

31st. – Very bad news has come in from Sinkat.In answer to a letter sent by General Baker, sayingthat Mahmoud Aly was on his way, a most pitiableone has been received from Tewfik Bey. We nowknow that only a miracle will save him. At thesame time, his letter breathes so much determinationand pluck that I cannot help inserting it here.

My husband could only write, in answer to this,a full explanation of our circ*mstances, and tell himthat, by order of General Baker, he might maketerms with the enemy or take any measures whatever that he might think best for himself. It was aletter that my husband found very hard to write,and he complained bitterly all the time of the littlehelp we had received, and the untrained crowd wehad as fighting men. And yet he said we mustadvance, for all the world look at our numbers, andnot at the quality. It is making us here more thananxious, but it is no use our saying anything, for itwould do no good, and of course we must try andcarry out what the troops came for. It would neverdo to hesitate before foreigners. But I wish theywere safe back again. God grant it!

The telegraph ship Chiltern has just come in,and my husband has sent a full telegram to hisHighness the Khedive about affairs in general. Healso telegraphed the same to Sir E. Baring. Ourcamels have gone at last, and we shall have no morepleasant rides – not that that much matters, for myhusband goes off to-morrow, and we shall be in toogreat a state of anxiety for some time to come.

The inhabitants do not seem to think the garrisonleft behind sufficient, for they yesterday petitionedmy husband to remain. The troops in garrison arealso uneasy, for at 11 a.m., while he was superintending the embarking of the camels, M. de Benelcantered down to him from the camp, saying thatthe whole of the men had turned out, as theythought the enemy was close by. My husband galloped up, and found Colonel Iskander Bey there,who reported that the cavalry vedettes had been outall night, and had reported all right, and that hewas not able to see anything of the rebels, nor couldhe tell where the scare had begun, but he had hadthe greatest difficulty in stopping the soldiers firingaway their ammunition in daylight at absolutelynothing. We went up to the roof of the house atonce, and with a telescope saw about twenty camel-men that belonged to a friendly tribe; as these werethe only ones that could be seen for miles, I supposethey originated the scare. Colonel Iskander Bey isin command until Colonel Harington comes back.He is expected in to-day.

My husband left this morning, the 1st ofFebruary, for Trinkitat in the Zagazig with the restof the men and camels on board. He had to be upall night about it, because, difficult as it is to embarkhorses, it is still more so as regards the camels; andas to keeping native officers working after dark, it isnext to impossible. Finding nothing else to do, wewent to see the embarkation last evening. There isno proper landing-place, and the boats are deepcargo ones, which obliged the horses or camels totake a good four-feet jump down into them. Theywere forced up to the boats by a rope thrown roundbehind them, and held on to each end by three orfour men, while another man in front, hitching anoose on to one of the fore feet, made the animal liftit up just as he came to the boat, after which hehad no help for it but to jump. The mules weremore troublesome, for they were up to every kind oftrick, and often cleared the space around them bykicking apparently in every direction at once. Thegreat trouble, though, were the camels. Their heavyweight and long splay legs gave them such leveragethat it took nearly twenty men to each animal. Then,again, they would sit down, and that was a positionin which they could not be pulled over the side ofthe boat; or else they would slip one of their longlegs between the boat and the land, all this timekeeping up a tremendous roaring, and shivering withgreat fright. One way of urging camels was nastyto look at, though certainly very curious; it wasthat of a man who hung on to the camel's uppernostril by his teeth. He stuck to his hold in themost extraordinary way, just like a bulldog; thecamel roared and tried to shake him off, but it wasno use, and at last the wretched animal was constrained to put his head down and be hauled into theboat.

Now all the troops have gone except a garrisonof 1,500 men. Last night the admiral sent in twosmall gun-launches to protect the causeway, buteverything was quiet. The troops being withdrawn,we feel rather like crabs without our shells; still, Ithink we really have enough for protection, if not forattack.

A spy came in the day after my husband left.He had been sent by Messadaglia Bey from Trinkitatto Tokar, but was unable to return that way, as hewas captured by the rebels and taken before OsmanDigma, who ordered him to be put into irons. But,a friend offering to stand surety for him, they lethim go. He says Osman Digma is three hoursmarch from here, and intends attacking the townto-night. Moosa, one of the rebel Sheikhs, and Levi,a merchant of Suakim, are with him; he also reportsthere being 500 rebels at Teb. This is probablynot true, all our other information leaking out thenumber at 2,000.

Levi, the man mentioned above, is a Jew who haslived some ten years in Suakim. He is small andspare, speaking several languages very fairly, andis, I think, a little off his head. Some days ago theidea struck him that he might turn his previousknowledge and acquaintanceship with Osman Digmato the advantage of the Government, by going outand arguing personally with him. For this purpose,he suddenly started with a few small presents to therebel camp. When he got near there, the rebels' scoutsseized and plundered him, and then took him beforeOsman Digma. There he found arguments of noavail, for he was desired to become a convert at once.To this he made no objection, but without hesitationrepeated the Mussulman profession of faith, viz.Allah il Allah, Mahomed r'esoul Allah (God is God,and Mahomed is His prophet). Even after this hefound argument of as little use as before, and it waswith difficulty he preserved his own life by repeatingthe profession of faith every time some strange faceapproached him. He stayed thus two days in therebels' camp, then made a bolt for it at night, andluckily got back to Suakim safe. There is no doubtthat Levi is a very courageous man, and I think hecould be made very useful. My husband intends totry and do what he can for him, as, after all, he dida very plucky thing.

I hear that when Levi came in he was dressedin very dirty clothes, and so, being mistaken fora native, was brought in by the vedettes as aprisoner. He says Osman Digma is close by with3,000 men, but does not intend to attack the town,as he only wants to get Mahmoud Aly over tohis side.

I was woke up at 3 a.m. by the sound offiring, and got up at once, and, of course, couldnot find the matches. I had to go upstairs to mystep-daughter to get a light; then we dressed sharp,and went out into the balcony, for it was so coldand rainy that we could not go up to our usualplace at the top of the house. From there we sawthat the troops were letting off their rifles at atremendous pace, and that there appeared to beno return fire. It was rather a nervous moment,as, had the attack really been serious, we shouldhave had to prepare to go on board one of the ships.It turned out, however, to be that a few shots fromthe enemy scared our raw troops so much that nobugling or orders could stop their letting off theirrifles as quick as they could. This afternoon, whilewe were with Mr. Brewster, watching the purchaseof camels, a messenger came in from Berber witha letter rolled up in a small bit of cloth. I havegot the cloth still as a memento. I also got themessenger to give me the pipe he was smokingwhile sitting outside the tent. I noticed it becauseit was such a peculiar shape. It turned out to bea regular Soudan one. The man was very civilabout it, and gave it over at once, saying "thatthough he would be deprived of his smoke, hewould not mind for the sake of the sitt (lady)."This Berber news was of no moment, as it hadlong been anticipated by telegraph.

CHAPTER XIII.
BATTLE OF EL-TEB.

DEPARTURE OF MY HUSBAND – COLONEL ISKANDER BEY LEFT IN COMMAND – EN ROUTE TO TRINKITAT – ARRIVAL THERE – THE CAMP – FORTIFICATIONS – PROPOSED ORDER OF MARCH – FORTS ON OTHER SIDE OF MORASS – ARRIVAL OF BASHI-BAZOUKS WITHOUT ARMS – TROOPS ALL CROSS TO THE FORT – MR. WATKINS JOINS MY HUSBAND'S STAFF – NIGHT BEFORE BATTLE – EARLY MORNING MARCH – COMPOSITION OF FORCE – ORDERS FOR FORMATION IN CASE OF ATTACK – SEASONS FOR THE ABOVE – FIRST GUN FIRED – SIGNS OF THE ENEMY – THEIR CAVALRY TRIED TO TURN OUR FLANK – MAJOR GILES'S CAVALRY SENT TO CHARGE THEM – SKIRMISHERS BEGIN TO FIRE – SUDDEN APPEARANCE OF ENEMY – SQUARES RAPIDLY FORMED – SUNHEIT BATTALION NOT OBEYING ORDERS – ONE SIDE LEFT OPEN – SCARE OF GENDARMERIE – TREMENDOUS RATE OF FIRING – COVER THEMSELVES WITH SMOKE, AND THEN BOLT – GENERAL SARTORIUS TRIES TO REFORM THEM – USELESS – NARROW ESCAPE OF GENERAL BAKER – GENERAL SARTORIUS FORMS TURKISH BATTALION – COMPLETE BREAK-UP OF EGYPTIAN SOLDIERS – IN THEIR ROUT CARRY AWAY WITH THEM BEZINGERS AND MASSOWAH MEN – GALLANT BEHAVIOUR OF COLONEL KAMAL BEY – LAST SEEN OF CAPTAIN WALKER, COLONEL MORICE BEY, AND DR. LESLIE – GALLANT CONDUCT OF MR. SCUDAMORE, TIMES CORRESPONDENT – RE-EMBARKATION OF TROOPS – OUR LOSSES – REVIEW OF BATTLE.

ON the morning of the 1st of February the fewlast camels were embarked in the Zagazig, and myhusband, placing Colonel Iskander Bey in commandof the garrison of Suakim, gave him the followinginstructions: –

The above instructions had to be minute and particular, as Colonel Iskander Bey, though a very braveman, was dreadfully afraid of responsibility.

At about 11 a.m., the whole arrangements beingcompleted, we took leave of my husband, and hewent on board. We remained in the house, for wedid not like to give way before the Egyptian officers.We watched the vessel out of sight with feelingsthat can well be imagined. But bad as it was, whatwould our thoughts have been if we had known howgreat a danger he was going into? He knew aboutit, though he did not tell me, for he made his willbefore leaving. How lucky it was I did not knowor even suspect it!

Now I must for the moment leave off my ownobservations, and write the rest of the chapter fromwhat was told me by the officers, especially Mr.Scudamore and Captain Goodall. They seem to havevery much admired the coral reefs with their littleincipient islands gradually forming. They say thaton the way to Trinkitat several of them were passed,and great care had to be taken in skirting alongside.The tops in many cases appeared above the water,and a little earth having been somehow wafted on tothem, they were covered with a luxuriant crop ofgrass. The bright white of the coral, with thegreen grass at the top, peeping out from the deepblue water, was very pretty indeed. Towards theland side the view was much the same as aboutSuakim, only the mountains retreated further inwards. Approaching Trinkitat, long reaches of sandbecame visible, then at last the lagoon, which hasthe island of Trinkitat in its front. Entering theharbour, the encampment came into full view.General Baker had thrown up entrenchments rounda sort of half oval, the diameter of which, runningalong the shore, was about 800 yards, and the perpendicular 400 yards. The left-hand corner wasmade into an inner redoubt, extra strongly fortifiedin order to obtain all the commissariat and otherstores.

It was afternoon when the steamer anchored, andjust at that time General Baker was returning fromthe other side of the morass which divided the landing-place and camp from the mainland. He hadbeen searching for the best road by which to cross – an all-important fact to know, for in some places themud was so deep that it would have buried guns andall. When he came back, General Sartorius went tomeet him at his tent, and they had an importantconsultation about the means of transport. Thedecision arrived at was, that the camels should allbe used for ammunition and water, while the mules,of which there were only a few, should be givenover for the little baggage that was absolutely necessary. No tents whatever were to be taken on, andprovisions were to be carried as much as possible bythe men themselves. The distance from here toTokar being eighteen miles, an unresisted marchwould only take one day to go and one to return.All Egyptian soldiers can carry three days' provisions, which, according to the above calculation,would be more than necessary. Still, the mile anda half across the morass would be an exceedinglytiring commencement for a long march, so GeneralBaker determined to throw up a fort on some risingground on the mainland, take water, etc., over there,and make that the place of his ultimate start.

Accordingly, early on the morning of the 2nd ofFebruary, Generals Baker and Sartorius crossed themorass with a large working party, and threw up afort of no inconsiderable size on the mainland. Thisfort was intended, in the first place, as a protectionfor the main body of the army while crossing themarsh, and afterwards to be used as an intermediatedepôt for stores, ammunition, and water. Its positionwas also important, as the slight rise it was onenabled it to command the plain in front for severalmiles.

If there is one thing for which the Egyptians areexcellent it is making earthworks; their fellaheenbringing-up just suits them for it. By 2 p.m. thetroops had completed the large fort, with a fairly deeptrench round it, and a smaller fort some seventy-fiveyards distant from it, on the left front. Two Kruppguns were with much trouble dragged across themorass, and with these the fort was armed. Thework was finished by 3.30 p.m., when General Bakerreturned to camp, leaving General Sartorius with abattalion of Massowah Blacks to guard it. MajorGiles had been out on reconnaissance during the daywith his Turkish cavalry, and had seen small partiesof the enemy on the rising ground in the distance,so it was thought not unlikely that an attack wouldbe made during the night. But the rebels made nomovement, and the time passed quietly.

On the afternoon of the 2nd another steamerentered the harbour, bringing 400 Shageer Arabsand 200 Bashi-Bazouks as a further addition to theforces. The steamer arrived straight from Suez,The Arabs had been provided with double-barrelledsmooth-bore muzzle-loaders, while the Bashi-Bazoukshad only twenty stand of arms between them. Thesem*n had no knowledge of drill, and had left Cairoafter the date of our advance had been known there.

On the 3rd General Baker, leaving 200 Egyptiansand 300 Shageer Arabs to guard the camp, marchedout to the morass fort, with the entire advancingforce, the guns, ammunition, and all, and also thesmall amount of baggage absolutely necessary. TheDeb-el-Bar and the Tor had been condensing forseveral days past, and water enough to last all themen and animals for some time was taken out to thefort and stored there.

The march across the morass was a most fatiguingone, and no doubt General Baker was quite right indeciding that a halt should be made at the fort. Themen did not all arrive until late in the afternoon,and they bivouacked behind the fort, the infantry inline right and left, with the cavalry closing the rear.During the day a Mr. Watkins joined, and was attached to General Sartorius' staff. He had come upfrom Suez in the vessel with the last detachment ofShageer Arabs. To save the biscuit as much aspossible, a lot of cattle were distributed amongst themen. The Blacks were highly delighted, for theyare great meat-eaters, and, as their colonel declared,would eat it somehow, cooked or uncooked. TheEgyptians were not so content; they do not like rawmeat, and looked on with great disgust at the Massowah men, who hardly warmed the flesh before tearing it to pieces and divided it amongst themselves.

By 8 p.m. they had all done, fires were put out, andsilence prevailed over the camp. A few of theEuropean officers were still together, discussing theprobable events next day would bring forth, but atlast even they retired to rest, and so make ready forthe fatigues to come. A few shots were fired intocamp about 9 p.m., evidently directed at a brightlight burning close to General Baker's camp cot;but on its being put out, no more were heard.

The réveille was sounded at 4.30 a.m. on themorning of the 4th of February, and by 6.30 allwere ready to move. At 7 a.m., the order was given,and the troops marched in two parallel columns ofmass of battalions, with battalion deploying distancebetween the columns. The right column was madeup of the Cairo battalion, 650; the Alexandrian, 650;and the Massowah Blacks, 500. The left, the SunheitBlacks, 500; the Bezingers, 500; and the Turks, 400.

The artillery under Captain Walker, consisting oftwo Krupps, two gatlings, and two rocket-tubes, wereformed between the columns. The Cairo battalion,deploying to the left to form the front face as detailedbelow, would thus at once protect the guns. Theyhad an escort of two companies of the Alexandriabattalion, and also the forty-seven European policeunder Major Maletta and Captains Rucca and Manheim. The infantry were especially brigaded underColonel Kamal Bey, who had orders to form squaresthe moment the enemy appeared, viz. one big squareof the Cairo battalion on the front face, the Alexandrian on the right, the Sunheit Blacks on the left,and the Bezingers in the rear. At the same time,the Turks and Massowah Blacks, moving out a littleeach on their side, were to form battalion squares,flanking both sides of the big square.

Before starting, General Baker warned the troopsthat should there be an attack he expected it fromthe left front. The Egyptian cavalry (300) was infront of the left, and the Turkish cavalry (150) wasa couple of hundred yards in front of the main bodyof troops. The baggage and ammunition camelswere in the rear, and, when the square was formed,were to be in the middle of it if the rear was in anyway pressed, but not otherwise, as the two flanksquares were sufficient protection.

The reason the whole march was not made insquare was, that the troops were so little drilled as tomake it very difficult for them to advance in thatformation; also the progress would have been so slowas to necessitate for the march more than double thetime we could afford, on account of our want oftransport to carry water and absolute necessaries.The least trustworthy troops had to go in front, forthey were the only ones that could march decently.General Sartorius had also proposed battalion squares,but was overruled, as it was conclusively provedthat the want of training would almost certainlyset one battalion square firing into the other.

The cavalry were for the moment specially directedby General Baker, who sent them a long way inadvance in order to give plenty of notice when theenemy appeared. General Sartorius himself, afterrepeating the orders as to formation in case of attackto every officer concerned, joined General Baker for ashort time, and then dropped behind a little, so as tohave a full view of his whole division.

It was on the above plan that the advance wasmade. The morning was very dull and misty, heavyrain fell from time to time, and frequent halts had tobe made to close up the columns.

The ground marched over was a rolling plain,sparsely covered with small bush about eighteeninches high, and which formed no impediment toa horse galloping. Each roll of the plain covereda distance of about two and a half miles. For thefirst couple of miles nothing occurred; after thatGeneral Baker, who was about 400 yards ahead ofthe infantry, sent to General Sartorius for a gun, inorder to search out the crest of the next rise of theground. Seeing some difficulty about it, GeneralSartorius, who by this time had come close up, gotoff his horse and sighted the gun, and the first shotwas fired. Nothing, however, appearing, it waslimbered up, and the whole of the troops advancedagain, but very cautiously, as the rain that camedown now and then much obscured the view ahead.In this way another two miles was got over, whentwo small flags were seen on the top of the next rise,and at the same time the scouts, who had almostreached the place of the flags, began to fire, and oneof them came back to report. General Baker orderedthree more rounds to be fired from the gun, the lastof which, fired with an elevation of 1,800 yards, fellaccurately. Just then the skirmishing cavalry beganto fire, and a small body, some twenty or thirty, ofthe enemy's cavalry were observed trying to getround our right flank. General Baker then orderedMajor Giles to draw swords and gallop after theenemy. The Turks did so in capital style, but, aswas to be expected, soon became wild and out ofcontrol.

The rebels did not allow them to come up close,but led them a long chase round across our front tothe left. General Baker, seeing that the Turks werepursuing too far, despatched Major Harvey to recallMajor Giles; Major Harvey, accompanied by ColonelBurnaby, galloped off, but before he could reachMajor Giles, the Turks from pursuers had becomepursued. They had been led right up to the mainforce of the rebels, who, lying behind the rise, werehidden from the Egyptian scouts. At this timemore of the scouts from the left front came in to reporta large force of rebels on that side, and immediatelyafterwards the enemy were seen running over thehill towards us, and the Egyptian cavalry and skirmishers rushed back en masse, breaking in uponBaker and his staff. Six of Major Giles's men werekilled by the fire of our own skirmishers. At thevery first notice of the approach of the enemy, ColonelAchmet Kamal Bey ordered the squares to be formed,and for the first few seconds all went well. TheCairo and Alexandria battalions both formed up, butwere no sooner in their places than they commencedfiring furiously in the air at such a rate, that in lessthan a quarter of a minute the whole place wascompletely covered with smoke, and no orders couldbe heard, besides which their example had unfortunately caused the others to fire in the same way. TheTurks even did so, although they were undoubtedlybrave men, thereby proving the uselessness of untrained soldiers, however good they might becomeafter proper instruction. General Sartorius, whowas waiting at his post a couple of hundred yards infront of the infantry, came up at a gallop. By thetime he arrived, of the whole of the formation orderedonly the left of the square was not formed, so he triedto get the reserve companies to come up; but insteadof obeying orders they remained where they were,and the front ranks, kneeling, began firing.

Fortunately for General Sartorius, who was butten or twelve paces from them, they fired in the air,A like happy chance attended General Baker shortlyafterwards, who rode down the left flank under aheavy fire, trying to stop them. Luckily it was somisdirected as to kill one person only of his staff.This was Lieutenant Camelieri, an Austrian officer,who had volunteered as a scout. At the same timethe Egyptian part of the escort to the guns firedstraight into them, and killed many of the men.The rest of the gunners took the hint and bolted.General Sartorius, meeting Kamal Bey, told him totry and get the reserve up to close the square, whilsthe himself went over to the Turkish battalion andsaw that they formed theirs up. In the confusionthe Turks had instinctively tried to make up for theSunheit battalion; but General Sartorius, seeing theCairo and Alexandria battalions on the move, orderedYusef Bey, the commanding officer of the Turks, toremain where he was, and to close up his square,which was at once done. A moment before GeneralSartorius had seen the Massowah Blacks going quitesteadily about their work, that is, moving to theright to form their battalion square. The Bezingers,too, were in the act of formation; and, in fact, theonly ones who went wrong were the Sunheit Blacks,whose commander seemed to have gone off his head,and ordered his battalion to deploy to the front, insteadof wheeling back the companies to form his side ofthe big square. The time occupied by all thesemovements, etc., was less than a couple of minutes,and the enemy still being a long way off, everythingcould easily have been remedied, when suddenly theCairo and Alexandria battalions surged inwards,carried away a part of the Turkish square (the latterafterwards got into position again), and completelyrouted the Massowah Blacks. General Sartoriusand Achmet Kamal Bey rushed into the midst ofthem and endeavoured to persuade them to stand,telling them there was no enemy behind them; butall to no avail. The first sight of the rebels, whowere not within 1,000 yards of them, made them soaltogether panic-stricken that it was impossible toget them to do anything. General Sartorius andColonel Achmet Kamal Bey were carried away inthe surging crowd for nearly 200 yards, and wereonly able to extricate themselves when the rebels,coming up, had thinned the confused ranks withtheir spears, and enabled their horses to move. TheTurks and the Sunheit Blacks got together, owingto the latter falling back on the former; but theirfire was about as wild as the Egyptians, and theymust have got rid of their hundred rounds in lessthan fifteen minutes, as might, indeed, have beenexpected from young troops such as the Turks, orfrom troops so badly drilled and officered as werethe Sunheit Blacks. When the enemy first approached, General Baker had ordered back the Kruppgun he had forward with him; but, on account of thefear of the gunners, and the confusion into whichthey were thrown by the rout of the native cavalry,the gun never reached the square, the gunnersdeserting half-way, some of them being killed byone or two rebels on horseback who pursued thecavalry. The other guns also were not brought intoaction, it being impossible, in the confusion and crushcaused by the rout of the Alexandria and Cairobattalions, to get the mules to wheel. It was nearthese guns that Captain Walker, Colonel Morice Bey,and Doctor Armand Leslie were last seen. WhenGeneral Sartorius got out of the square he joinedGeneral Baker, who sent him to try and stem theretreat of the Egyptian cavalry. General Sartoriusheaded the cavalry, and for a short time checkedthem by shooting two men, but when he left themfor a moment to speak to General Baker, they atonce bolted off again. There was now no longer anysquare, but only a confused, struggling mass ofcavalry, infantry, mules, camels, falling baggage,and wounded or dying men. All were straggling,shrieking, firing, and their only device seemed tobe to shelter themselves one behind another.

The rebels were now all round the disorganizedcrowd, and were spearing men right and left, theEgyptians offering no resistance, but falling on theirknees and holding up their hands, begging formercy, which, needless to say, was not granted them.

During this time a most gallant action was performed by Mr. Scudamore, the correspondent of theTimes. Lieutenant Barton had lost his horse, and,being very stout, could not get on further. Justthen he came across Mr. Scudamore, and begged forsome help. Mr. Scudamore, in the most gallantway, dismounted, gave the stout man his horse, sayingat the same time that he, Scudamore, was light andable to run. Such an action in the middle of somuch danger deserves the greatest praise. Fortunately, Lieutenant Maxwell, one of the scouts, wasnot far off, and he shortly after took Scudamore upbehind him. Mr. Macdonald, the Daily News' correspondent, had also an escape, for his horse got ill inthe beginning of the day, and he would have beenin great danger had not General Sartorius lent himhis second charger. He himself afterwards said thegeneral had saved his life. Both Mr. Cameron andMr. Macdonald saw from the very first that a disasterwas going to ensue, and, seeing there was nothingelse for them to do, they made the best of their wayback again from the beginning.

General Baker, finding that it was no use tryingto do anything with the cavalry, sent General Sartorius on to stop the men at the fort. In this hewas aided by Mr. Bewley and Lieutenant Maxwell,and by firing at the men as they sought to passthem, they succeeded for a time in arresting theirflight, but to no great purpose, as most of them hadthrown away their rifles and side-arms while escapingfrom the rebels. General Baker shortly afterwardscame up. He had been at one time in great danger,for while seeking to rally the men in the brokensquare he had been quite cut off for a time and hadnarrowly escaped a spear thrown at him. GeneralSartorius, while also trying to reform the square,had lost Mr. Watkins and three of his staff, whowere killed close to him; and Captain Goodall, whothroughout behaved very well indeed, so my husbandsays, came up about the same time. He had had aspear thrown through his coat, but he shot thethrower of it for his pains.

The whole remnant of the wretched army nowcrossed in straggling parties to the landing-place.By the time General Sartorius reached the shore,the Egyptians and a good many of the Bezingershad already got on board ship, and seeing the stateof panic of the men, and the impossibility of doinganything with them should the rebels attempt tofollow across the morass, it was decided that thetroops should embark at once. As soon as this wasknown, all the Egyptian officers made haste to geton board, leaving their men on shore. They hadto be sent for, and when they were brought back,most of them escaped and crept off again as soonas the general's back was turned. General Baker,General Sartorius, Major Harvey, and Lieut.-ColonelHay had to do the work themselves, and were upnearly all the night. A more disgraceful endingto a desperate day's work could with difficulty beconceived.

The names of the English officers killed were – Colonel Morice Bey, Doctor Armand Leslie, CaptainForrestier Walker, Lieutenant Carroll, LieutenantSmith, Lieutenant Watkins, and a groom of GeneralBaker's, named Wells. Colonel Abdul Russak Bey,General Baker's native chief of staff, was killed closebehind him. His horse was ham-strung, and he wasspeared while falling. Besides these, the whole ofthe European police, forty-seven in number, exceptMajor Maletta, and two who remained behind sick,were killed, and the latter escaped by a mereaccident.

The total loss of men was 2,332. Of all thoseleft behind not one was saved, for of the rebels, whoby that time had become very numerous, somefollowed up to the fort, while the rest had completelysurrounded the struggling mass, of which theremains of the square was then composed. Theships remained in Trinkitat till midday on the 6th,but not one straggler appeared from the momentwhen the generals quitted the morass fort.

The enemy's loss was probably small. Their wholeattacking force was perhaps about the same as ours,but when they first approached they were not morethan 700 or 800 strong. They hesitated for sometime to attack, only hovering round the flanks, andany show of forming front would have repulsedthem.

Going over the account of this battle, or ratherflight, it is wonderful to think that such a thingshould happen to 4,000 men, whatever their individual value might be. The slightest show ofresistance would probably have prevented the enemyclosing, and yet our men broke before a single onehad been killed or even wounded. Even theTurkish cavalry behaved badly, for once brokenand turned, they allowed themselves to be pursuedand cut down unresistingly by a single horseman.Without actually seeing it, no one could believehow the troops fired in the air. They did not puttheir rifles to their shoulders, but, holding themclose to their cartridge-boxes, loaded and touchedoff the trigger as fast as possible. General Hickscomplained of this; and also in the great Abyssiniandefeat the same was the case.

With General Baker's army were a great manywho might have become first-rate soldiers, but theyrequired good drilling. This they could not havegot with the native officers sent, even if there hadbeen time. No one knows this better than a militaryman, and if the Egyptian army could not go as awhole, yet the pick of their officers should havecome. What did come, the commanding officer ofthe last Bezingers reported as being unable to wheela company, as lieutenants and sub-lieutenants manyyears on the retired list, and as the worst officershe had ever seen!

Another remark by an officer deserves, I think,to be noted here, namely, that the bayonet is a goodweapon, but its use must be taught. Now I myselfknow that there was no time for anything of thekind; the troops had to be shown how to move, andthe time taken up in making fortifications quiteprecluded the possibility of any other instructions.I still say that the military and other authoritiesat Cairo should not have allowed General Baker toadvance, they ought not to have left it to him, forthey could not but know that he himself had nochoice.

Transport in any quantity was found when theBritish troops came, and yet the Egyptians hadhardly enough to carry water. It is impossible that,with the authority possessed then at Cairo by theprincipal English officials, there could have been anyreal difficulty.

What was done was that Mr. Clifford Lloyd tookthe opportunity of abolishing, without previousnotice, the places of those who were then loyallyand faithfully risking their lives for the EgyptianGovernment. I need hardly say that this was quiteagainst the wishes of his Highness the Khediveand the native ministers, who strongly disclaimedhaving any hand in it, and declared such conductto be monstrous.

CHAPTER XIV.
DEPARTURE FROM SUAKIM.

ARRIVAL OF RANGER FROM TRINKITAT – CAPTAIN GOODALL BRINGS NEWS OF MY HUSBAND'S SAFETY – NAMES OF ENGLISH OFFICERS KILLED – DISEMBARKATION OF TROOPS – SOUDANESE WOMEN MOURNING THEIR HUSBANDS – ENGLISH SAILORS MANNING FORTS – CAPTAIN OF THE TOR AND HIS CONDENSER – SIR WILLIAM HEWETT APPOINTED GOVERNOR-GENERAL – MR. BREWSTER SUB-GOVERNOR – FALL OF SINKAT – MASSACRE OF GARRISON – BIOGRAPHY OF TEWFIK BEY FROM HOME NEWS – WE EMBARK ON BOARD NEGILAH – REGRETS AT LEAVING SUAKIM – ARRIVAL AT JEDDA – EVE'S TOMB – ARABS' SUPERSTITION ABOUT ADAM – DESCRIPTION OF TOWN – RE-EMBARK AND ARRIVAL AT SUEZ – CAIRO AGAIN – ABOLITION OF GENDARMERIE BY MR. CLIFFORD LLOYD – RECOLLECTIONS OF MINISTERS AND OTHERS WE MET IN CAIRO.

THE Ranger came in on the 5th of Februaryat 3 p.m., bringing the news of the defeat ofGeneral Baker's army. We had had lunch, our messhaving been reduced to Colonel Harington, whowas commanding the garrison, Mr. Brewster, mystep-daughter, and myself, and had ensconced ourselves in long chairs for a doze, when LieutenantPhilips from the Euryalus came in, saying that theRanger had arrived from Trinkitat, and that theadmiral wished to see Colonel Harington; but hewould tell us nothing else. Colonel Haringtonaccordingly went off, and we were left in greatsuspense, though we did not expect any bad news.We then went on to the balcony, and were watchingfor about half an hour, when we saw CaptainGoodall coming up in one of the ship's boats. Ashe neared our landing-place, he called out, "Mrs.Sartorius, your husband is safe!" and then I beganto think there must have been some severefighting; but when he had landed and taken meinto the drawing-room, telling me he had something very important to tell me that for the presentno one else must know, I felt there had been somedisaster, and so it proved. He then explainedGeneral Baker's defeat; how the Egyptian soldiershad become demoralized, and had even laid downtheir arms and allowed themselves to be butcheredby the rebels. I could not help feeling what asad termination it was to all our hopes, for thoughwe had great doubts as to the Egyptians reallyfighting, still we did not expect such a completedefeat. In continuation, Captain Goodall showedme the names of those who had fallen, amongstothers poor Colonel Morice Bey, little AbdulRussak, Captain Walker, and Dr. Leslie. It wasexceedingly sad, for it seemed like losing relations,we had been so intimate with them.

About 5 p.m. my husband arrived, and I wasvery glad to see him safe and sound, and to hearthat General Baker and Colonel Burnaby wereequally so. By-the-by, they say about ColonelBurnaby and General Baker that one is asplucky and cool as the other; and everybodyknows what a compliment it is to be thus comparedto General Baker. I hear that if the rebels hadfollowed them up, hardly a man would have escaped. General Baker also returned about 6 p.m.with the rest, as he feared an immediate attack onSuakim, and therefore wanted to mass his troopshere. It was a most painful sight to see thesewretched men land, all in a fearful plight, manyof them only half clothed, having thrown awaytheir things to run all the faster from the enemy.Horses without any owners passed our house, somewounded, others tired out. One poor horse had aspear-wound through its nose. Instead of goingon to camp, it wandered into our farmyard, wherewe gave it water and food, and had its nosewashed; but in spite of our care the poor brutedied the next day. By the time the men hadlanded the news had reached the camp, and crowdsof Soudanese women rushed down to meet theirhusbands. It was really most painful to see theemotion of these poor creatures. On finding thattheir belongings were not amongst the survivors,they screamed and yelled, threw up their arms,and got so excited that I began to cry in sympathywith them. One woman sat down in the road, andwas with difficulty raised and taken into camp byher people. I hope never to see such a sight again;once in one's life is quite enough.

We were all wondering what will be the effectof the news of General Baker's defeat in England;for now it is evident Egypt has no force with whichto attack, or even to defend herself. How easilyall this might have been obviated if a little helphad been given before the Arabs had got theirfanatical courage up by continual small successes!If the Egyptian army even had been sent out inOctober, very likely not a life need have been lost,for, being ready drilled, they could have marchedoff at once, and relieved Sinkat and Tokar beforethe tribes had gathered together. But, as the oldadage says, "It is easy to be wise after the event."

The admiral has landed 250 sailors to holdthe principal forts, in case of an attack by theenemy. Of course he does not intend to man theentire lines, as that would take too many men; heonly insures being able to drive out the enemy inthe morning, in case they should by any chanceforce their way into the town at night. There isno counting on the Egyptian soldiers, as they areso demoralized that some of them even refused togo up to camp, preferring to remain in the island,where they think they are safer.

The enemy did not attack as we expected, so wehad a quiet night, which was much required afterthe excitement of the day. It seems a long timealready since the troops came back, and yet it isreally only two days, for it is the 7th to-day.General Baker went round about 1 a.m., and forthe first time was unable to pass at one of the fortswithout knowing the word. We always used tohave it, but, in spite of repeated orders and punishments, could not make the native troops understandits use. . . . In this case General Baker tried to getpast by announcing his name. "I don't care," saysthe sentry; "General Baker or any one else, youcan't pass without the word." "Call your officer,"said General Baker. "Can't leave my post," wasthe answer; and so General Baker had to leave thatpart of the lines unvisited. English officers goround three or four times a night now, and the mostcareful precautions are taken to prevent our beingsurprised.

We heard to-day about some of the doings of thecaptain of the Tor condenser. As explained before,there was a great want of water at Trinkitat, so theTor was sent to condense as rapidly as possible.The evening after the arrival of the first troopsGeneral Baker happened to look in her direction, andfound that the fires were not alight. He at oncesent for the captain, who, after much trouble, wasfound quietly taking coffee on board one of the othersteamers. When questioned by General Baker, hecalmly admitted that he had put out the fires, andwas going to begin again next morning. Now, asall the calculations for water were based on twenty-four hours' continuous work, General Baker naturallygot very angry, and gave notice to the little captain,that if the tanks and water-receptacles were not allfull by nine o'clock the next morning he would betried by court-martial and shot. Accordingly smoke

SUAKIM FROM THE HARBOUR.

was soon seen issuing from the funnel, lights werekept up all night, and when at the appointed timeGeneral Baker inspected the tanks, they were allfound full! The above proceedings seem greatlyto have raised the general in the captain's esteem,for he has several times since said that his Excellency the Pasha is a great man; no one can mistake his orders!

There has been little going on for the last twodays; and, indeed, we have not had the spirits to domuch, the sight of the men coming back in sodeplorable a condition, and in such a state of fearand misery, being so depressing. But, above all,there are the painful thoughts that many with whomwe were so intimate are lost to us for ever – all thismakes us very sad, and prevents us having theenergy to set ourselves to do anything even in theway of amusem*nt. Amongst those we seem tomiss most is kind and pleasant Colonel Morice Bey.Scarcely a week has passed since we were at tiffin withhim, and he was talking so gaily about our return toCairo. What dreadful news it will be for his poorwife! Colonel Abdul Russak Bey is also gone, and,poor fellow! he had many depending on him. Iheartily hope that the families of the Europeanpolice volunteers will not be left unsupported, forthose men fought indeed bravely, three only out ofthe forty-seven coming back to Cairo. Good-naturedlittle Yusef Bey, too; it will be a terrible blow to hisfather, who my husband knew well when he was atConstantinople. Captain F. Walker, who escapedwith General Hicks, and therefore the massacrethere, has, after all, met that fate here. LieutenantWatkins, who went up with my husband, joined oneday and was killed the next; he, poor fellow! wasmarried to Miss Hansard (Hansard the parliamentary recorder). He had left his wife's direction, withall necessary instructions, so he evidently had someidea of the probable danger. What a dreadful blowit will be to her! Lastly, of those we knew, comethe two German photographers (from the father ofBode my husband has received a most sorrowfulletter). General Baker has lost his English groom;and, indeed, the subject is too much for me tocontinue writing about. But, with all these losses,how grateful I feel that my husband was notamongst them! They all say he had many narrowescapes. How angry it makes one to think of theintense cowardice that brought all this about!

On the 10th of February a telegram cameappointing Sir W. Hewett governor-general, andone of his first acts was to get rid of the Egyptiangovernor-general, Mahomed Pasha Wassif, who wastrying a little obstruction. All the earthworks arebeing increased in strength. My husband has beenemployed very hard reorganizing the shatteredtroops, and he finds great difficulty, as so many officershave been killed. There was always a very shortcomplement, and now it is worse than ever – theSoudanese especially having come from Cairo soshort-handed as to be hardly workable. It is nowwe find out how much poor Abdul Russak waswanted, for he knew his men too well to permit ofthe opposition that my husband has to meet with.But there is no help for it, and certainly my husbandis beginning to get over it and reform the regimentsinto order. This evening at 11 p.m., while sittingin the verandah, we heard some shots, and, looking inthat direction, saw a lot of big fires just lit up abouttwo miles away. All the troops moved on to theirpositions, but nothing came of it.

Next morning I heard that these fires were madeby the rebels whilst they plundered some melon-gardens. The fuel was close at hand, for in each ofthese melon-gardens the cultivator piles up the grasshe digs up in some central place. General Baker,Colonel Burnaby, and my husband had rather anarrow shave last night. They were sitting together just when the first shots were fired, and abullet passed within a few inches of them.

On the 12th of February Mr. Brewster wasappointed sub-governor, and from his perfect knowledge of Arabic and the manners and customs of thepeople, he will no doubt be a first-rate man for theplace. Our latest news tells us that a great fuss isgoing on in England over this business; even Cairohas awoke at last, and now it will be worse thanever, for I am very sorry to have to write that newshas come of the fall of Sinkat, and the massacre ofall the men but six, and part of the women andchildren. Tewfik Bey died, as he had said he would,bravely fighting. The first knowledge we had ofthe sad event were the screams of the womenwho had relations at Sinkat. It was inexpressiblymournful.

One of the men of Zebehr Pasha's black battaliontook his commanding officer's horse and deserted tothe enemy to-day, the 12th of "February. The2nd battalion of these same men were also verymutinous, and my husband had to severely koorbashtwo of them. The telegrams to-day tell us of thedetermination of the English Government to takethe affairs of the Soudan into their hands. All thenative troops are to go back as soon as possible, andEnglish are to replace them. One ridiculous thingthat has lately happened is sending Colonel Parr,with fifteen Egyptian officers, to pick out and form ablack regiment. Colonel Parr himself is, they say,an A-1 officer, but even I cannot help laughing atthe idea of more officers of the type I have seen.

The Carysfort has just come in with 800marines. Admiral Hewett does not now think thetown safe for us, and as my husband is soon going,we have determined to return to Cairo on the 16th,by the Negilah. We commenced, therefore, to makeour preparations, and are rather glad to go, as itis evident that all in future must be done by English troops, and we shall not have anything to dowith them. They are coming in rapidly, and willno doubt soon show the Arabs a very different styleof fighting to that which they have as yet seen;but I will not go on about them, as the Englishpapers have chronicled minutely every possible factfar better than I can write. It was, nevertheless,with a feeling akin to regret that we took a last lookat Suakim on the 16th of February, when we sailedout of the harbour in the Negilah, for we had spentthere many happy, if some sorrowful, moments, andthe exciting life we had led there during the lastthree months we cannot expect to experienceanother time. We have left friends behindwhom we hope to see again; we have left otherswhom we shall not meet here below, but whoseremembrance is indelibly impressed on our minds,and whose gallant conduct, when they fell on thefatal field of Teb, has won for them undyingrenown.

Colonel Harington went with us, and we startedat 11 a.m. for Jedda, which is to be our first port.It took us twenty-four hours to get across, and onarrival we went to Mr. Wylde's house. His agent,Mr. Russell, came on board to meet us, and was mostkind while we were there. We were very glad toget off the vessel, for it was a very dirty one, evenfor a Khedivial. We had plenty of leisure to seethe town, as the vessel remained there two days,Jedda itself is a somewhat magnified Suakim. Thehouses are very much higher, some having as manyas six storeys. Their general shape is like those atSuakim, and they have the same pretty carvedwooden balconies. A few of the houses are paintedin gay colours, thus giving a little contrast to theshining white of the coral. The principal bazaaris a very long street, decently clean, covered over,and all lined with small shops. European ladies areevidently a rarity, for whenever we stopped crowdsgathered round to stare at us.

One afternoon we walked through the Medinagate to see the celebrated spot which all Easternsconsider Eve's tomb. It is nothing but a simpleenclosure, 375 feet by 12 feet. At the head growsa palm tree, marking the position of Eve's head; inthe centre a little shrine, her heart; and anothersmall shrine, her feet. The devotees, on their wayto Mecca, come here to pray and give alms. Thetomb is not covered, and the walls around are onlyabout four feet high. Adam is supposed to beburied at Ceylon, and with reference to him thefollowing conversation, which took place betweenan Englishman, who was being shown Eve's tomb,and a native, indicates the Arab superstition. TheEnglishman asked, "Where is Adam buried?""Why," said in a contemptuous tone the native,"don't you know that he was buried at Ceylon?""No," said the Englishman, "I don't; and if he is,how did he get there?" "Why, in a dhow, to besure." "But, if Eve was 375 feet long, and you sayAdam was still taller, how did he go in a dhow?""One dhow!" said the other, not to be beaten; "hewent in a hundred, of course!" Thus, showing thatthe Arab's belief was not to be shaken by practicalarithmetic like that of Bishop Colenso's Caffir.

Leaving Eve's tomb, we came in by the Meccagate, which has only within the last few years beenopened for passage to Christians. The town itself isin the possession of the Turks, and owes its importance to being the landing-place of the many thousandsof pilgrims that yearly flock to Mecca. The lattertown is only forty miles distant. It has no particularcommerce, its sole product being apparently blackcoral, which is dull in colour, and only fit to be madeinto beads. We were unable to go far outside the wallswhich surround the town, owing to the Bedouins,who swarm close by. In the evening we dined withMr. Oswald, a very pleasant person who lives here.He gave me a pretty praying-carpet; I was glad toget it as a specimen of what the Mussulmans of thecountry use.

The passage to Suez was rather rough, and thesteamer did not anchor there till the 23rd ofFebruary. We stayed one day at the hotel, wherewe met Major Martin, who with Colonels Coetlogoneand Colborne are the only three now living of theoriginal officers with General Hicks. He is a veryfine, big man, and one would have thought able tostand any climate, but the Soudan knocked him overat once, and sent him back sick, fortunately for him.

On arriving at Cairo, we were very sorry to partwith Colonel Harington, for he has been so very kindto us, and was never tired of arranging everything,small or great. At our house we found everythingin order, Anna Debenac, our Italian servant, havingbehaved very well in looking after the house duringour absence. But there was plenty to do, and thetime soon passed, our only anxiety being that myhusband had gone up again to Trinkitat, intendingto accompany the British troops in the impendingbattle. About these events I will not write here, for,as I said before, the English papers have had thewhole details.

When my husband came back, the Khedive wasextremely gracious and kind, and so were all thenative ministers. But it has taken us somewhat bysurprise to find that Mr. Clifford Lloyd has, in theabsence of General Baker and my husband, changedthe gendarmerie into a so-called police, and abolishedthereby the place my husband held. So we shall returnin a week or two to Bombay, where my husband'spost in the Bombay Army has been kept open forhim ever since his services were lent to the EgyptianGovernment. It appears, from what my husbandsays, that Mr. Clifford Lloyd has completely doneaway with General Baker's system – for what reasongoodness knows, as General Baker was applying thenew ideas gradually, and everything was workingwell, and all the ministers were pleased. Now noone is pleased, and only yesterday they discusseda law to put Lower Egypt in a state of siege, owingto the enormous increase of serious robberies, therebyadmitting that the new police were unable to copewith them. I am very sorry to leave Cairo, but canunderstand that people having such diametricallyopposite views cannot work together.

A very good book, entitled "Khedives andPashas," has lately been published. I do not quiteagree with all the author says, but his description ofNubar Pasha is quite accurate. No man in Egyptcould be more civil, polite, and kind. In the opinionof all I have heard, he has a thorough grasp of affairs,and the splendid manner in which he has latelyguided the administration marks him out preeminently for the place he now holds. KhairiPasha, late Minister of the Interior, is one of thosenot quite fairly described in the same book. It istrue, he did not get on with Mr. Clifford Lloyd, but heknew too well that it was impossible for a set of newschemes to be foisted suddenly on the country, andhe was too independent to stand the way Mr. CliffordLloyd shoved him on one side. Besides, there hasnever been any doubt expressed as to his honesty.This, in a country where the slightest suspicion isquickly rumoured into positive fact, speaks volumesfor the Pasha. Of the principal Englishmen, namely,Sir Evelyn Baring, Sir Evelyn Wood, and Mr. E.Vincent, I do not intend to say anything, as theirfame is spread far and wide. The first as a greatfinancier; the second for his doings at the Cape, etc.(a long line of etc.'s); and the third as having fairlyearned a European position at the early age oftwenty-six.

Among the non-official foreigners Baron deMalortie holds the first place. He has written anexcellent series of papers on Egypt, showing aknowledge of the country only second to that ofNubar Pasha. A young friend of my husband's, Mr.Ornstein, is, they say, a most able and rising man,but I had not the pleasure of knowing him.

There has been occasion to say a great deal againstthe Egyptian proper as a soldier, and there is nodoubt that the fellah cannot be educated into bravery;but there are exceptions, and a very brilliant one isColonel Kamal Bey. My husband is never tired oftalking about his coolness and pluck during the Tebdefeat. He never lost his presence of mind for onemoment, and did all in his power to retrieve the day.Instead of making much of a man who, amongst hiscountrymen, showed such excellent qualities, thegross injustice was perpetrated of putting him, onhis return, on the half-pay of a rank below that heheld in the Soudan. Major Maletta, who volunteeredand commanded the detachment of police, was equallybadly, if not worse treated. Others, whose names Ido not remember, also suffered in the same way.

The Egyptian Gazette, which just now lies beforeme, reminds me of the two principal papers, viz.the Egyptian Gazette (editor, Mr. Philip), which ablygives the English view of any question that arises.To this paper Mr. Bell, the energetic correspondentof the Times, is a valued contributor. The otherpaper is the Bosphore Egyptian (editor, MonsieurGiraud), whose articles are always good and amusing,though they unfortunately lose a great deal of theirforce by being occasionally very scurrilous.

In conclusion, though, of course, I hardly expectanybody to pay much attention to my opinions, yetmy own knowledge of French and Italian has enabledme to talk confidentially with many foreigners, andmy idea is, that English employés to be successful,must know the language of the country to somedegree, but, above all, they should not land in Egyptwithout being able to speak French fluently. It isno use having the conventional school knowledge,but people must be able to explain thoroughly whatthey want done. If they cannot do so, misunderstandings invariably arise which make the superiorenergy, etc., of the foreign employé of less value thanthat of the usual native. I think it is even moreimportant for the subordinates to have this knowledge than the heads of departments, because it isthe former that have to carry out the details in immediate contact with the people of the country.

I attribute the intense dislike that the people ofthe country and foreigners have towards us, to thisfact, and no other.

THE END.

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