YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

SUAKIN, i885

j;EfA'G A SKETCH OF THE CAMTAfGX
OF THfS YEAR

.VN OFFICER WHO WAS THERE
^c3.:.--; -- - l-^.«^^<-^ ¦.¦•'ct-

L 0 N D O N
KEGAX I'Al'L, TKENCII & CO., i, TATEKNOSTER SQUAKI
1S85

PREFACE

The following- chapters were written to
while away many hours of pain and suf
fering, and for the amusement of some
few friends.
They contain a simple record of the
events which made up a war of peculiar
privations and dangers, due to the climate
we toiled in and the foe we fought against.
Every statement made may be taken as
fact, and the experiences are those of one
who took part in the campaign — the
author. No literary merit is claimed for the
story, such as it is, and the indulgence of
critics is therefore asked on behalf of one
who has carried a sword more often than
:t pen.

CONTENTS.

CII.APTr.R PAl.l-
I, The Voyac.e Oi''t... ... ... ... i
II. .Suakin ... ... ... ,,, 21
III, Landing ,,, ... ... .., ,,. 39
IV, Night Attacks ,,, ... ,,. 57
V. Prei'aration ,.. ... ,,, ... 92
VI. The Advance , . ... ... 124
VII, Hasheen ,.. ... ... ... ... 140
^TII, The Z.vrida ,.. ,,, ... ... 167
I-X, Convoys ,.. ... ... ... ... 203
X, Tamai ,,, ... ... ... 233
XI. Hospital ,,, ,,, .,, ,.. ... 262

SUAKIN, 1885.
CHAPTER I.
THE VOYAGE OUT.
In the dark days towards the end of January
news reached England telling us the exertions
of our soldiers on the Nile had been rendered
fruitless by treachery at Khartoum. For several
days the most conflicting accounts were received
as to the real state of affairs. At one moment
Gordon was said to have escaped the general
massacre and to have retired towards the
equator, at another that he was defending him
self in a church ; and then later on that he
had fallen —
" His front with wounds unnumbered riven.
His back to earth, his face to heaven. "
Few will ever forget those days ; a dull sense
B

SUAKIN, 1885.

of pain was felt by all as the cry was rai.sed
throughout the length and breadth of the land —
Too late !
In spite of all the months of toil, and all the
hardships and privations connected with Lord
Wolseley's advance up the Nile ; in spite of the
hazardous march from Korti to Metemmeh and
the shedding of some of England's best blood,
a fragment of the expedition had only sighted
the walls of Khartoum to find that treachery
had been beforehand, and that one of England's
greatest heroes had fallen when succour was
almost within reach. But this was no time for
inaction, the raison d'etre of the Nile expedition
was no more, the power of the Mahdi was
enhanced, and the fall of Khartoum had brought
thousands of recruits to his standards.
A perpetual succession of cabinet councils,
the closing of the telegraph wires for all
messages except those from the government to
Lord Wolseley for two or three days, and then
the decision was promulgated that a fresh
expedition was to be despatched immediately
to operate from Suakin.
There was no doubt about the feeling of the
country at this time. We had been too late, it
Was true, but we must strike afresh now, strike

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with an irresistible force, and quell once and
for all the power of the fanatic and the false
prophet in the Sudan.
It was no time now for further vacillation.
The people of England demanded action ;
prompt, energetic, decisive. The cost was not
to be counted ; cost what it might a blow in
real earnest was to be struck this time, and the
power of the Mahdi crushed out for ever.
For a period of a fortnight there was a hurry
and a bustle in all the war departments. Hun
dreds of fresh hands were taken on at Woolwich,
and a scene of activity took place in the yards
there such as has not been witnessed since the
days of the Crimea.
In a few days the details of the new expedi
tion appeared in the press, a number of vessels
were immediately chartered for conveying this
force to the scene of operations ; and orders
were sent out to India and Egypt for the
immediate purchase of a large number of
camels, mules, and horses, for the use of the
Transport. A week followed during which the
various portions of the force were inspected by
H.R,H. the Commander-in-chief, and then every
day a constant succession of transports left the
shores of England, carrying a force more

SUAKIN, 1885.

perfectly equipped in every detail than ever
force was before.
On the evening of the nth of February
I was on my way home from the club, where
I had been talking to various friends about
the all-absorbing topic of the day. I was
walking along the streets thinking what lucky
fellows they were who were sailing the follow
ing week, and wishing, like every other soldier,
that I could get a place somehow or other.
I had reached my door when my reveries were
interrupted by a telegraph-boy saying —
" Is this for you, sir ? "
Quite unsuspicious of what it contained, tele
grams in these days being pretty well as
plentiful as letters, I was somewhat astonished
when I found the purport of the message was as
follows : —
" From the Adjutant-General, — Be so good as
to hold yourself in readiness to proceed to
Suakin at once, and report yourself here the
first thing to-morrow morning."
Had it not been to save the feelings of my
wife, and otherwise alarming the household, I
should have relieved myself by a good cheer ; as
it was, however, I kept my feeUngs to myself,
and commenced at once to put my affairs in

THE VOYAGE OUT.

order, and to make out a list of things I should
require, and which were to be purchased the
following day.
The next morning early found me in Pall
Mall, reporting myself
" Yes," said my interviewer, " you must proceed
to Ireland at once, and fetch over some men
from there in time to sail from Southampton on
Tuesday next,"
I must confess that, in spite of all my military
ardour, this was rather a blow. To be ordered
out was one thing, but to be started off to
Ireland at two hours' notice, without a particle
of kit belonging to me, was quite another pair
of shoes. Putting on my pleasantest manner,
therefore, and giving my assurance that I was
perfectly ready to go anywhere I was ordered,
I finished up by suggesting mildly that, being
a married man with encumbrances, it was just a
trifle inconvenient.
" Well," said Sir  -, " we will see if we can
manage it. Sit down a moment."
In a few minutes my destination was, I am
thankful to say, changed for Aldershot, and I
went down there the same afternoon to ask for a
couple of days' leave.
Monday, i6th of February, found me again at

SUAKIN, 1885.

Aldershot, and the next morning at an early
hour, and in drenching rain, we marched to the
station en route for Southampton. We were all
oil board Transport No. 7 by one o'clock, and
by three o'clock that afternoon were clearing our
decks of visitors and saying good-bye to many
friends, while bands played and crowds cheered
again and again on the wharf It is always an
impressive sight watching troops embark for
active service, but one thing there is no doubt
about — it is worse for those that are left behind
on the shore than for those in the ship.
The next morning we were out of sight of Old
England, and getting into what seemed like
dirty weather ; and so it turned out, for in a few
hours our ship was kicking her heels very freely,
and many of us were feeling not quite the men
we did twenty-four hours before. The Bay of
Biscay kept up its old character, and \A-e got
severely knocked about. The men were in a
miserable condition, and the troop decks were
swamped with water and littered with every
conceivable article to be found in a soldier's kit.
I always find it very difficult to rise to the
occasion at sea. "A life on the ocean wave"
seems a horrible fate. This time proved no
exception to the rule, and like many others on

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board, I spent two days in my bunk on a little
ship's. biscuit.
Sunday afternoon brought us to " Gib,," which
was looking very beautiful and very grand, as it
always does. We were not long in getting on
shore, and as we were to stop for four hours to
take some gunners on board, we made up a party
and drove down into the town to luncheon at the
" Royal," " Gib.'' was looking its best ; there had
been plenty of rain, so wild flowers of all sorts
abounded. After a luncheon, such as we had
not eaten since leaving England, we took a walk
round the North Front, and out to the neutral
ground. There are few more imposing views
than the Old Rock presents from the neutral
ground. There is a wonderful air of majesty
and strength about the place, and England will
lose one of her brightest jewels when Gibraltar
ceases to be her property. It is a place to be
proud of, and there are few inches of it that are
not familiar to me, as I was there more than five
years one time. It was dark before we put to
sea again, and as we rounded Europa Point a
band was playing " Auld Lang Syne," and we
could hear away in the darkness the sounds of
cheering coming to us across the still waters of
the Mediterranean. The next morning found us

SUAKIN, 1885.

pitching and tossing about merrily in a heavy
sea, with a magnificent view of the Sierra
Nevada on our port quarter, the snow-clad
peaks standing high up in the sky and gleaming
brightly in the warm sunshine. It is almost
always rough in this part of the Mediterranean,
and a severe tossing is, as a rule, experienced
until Cape Gata is rounded, when the wind and
sea often drop suddenly. We were very unfor
tunate on this occasion as, by the afternoon, we
were only doing four knots instead of thirteen
or fourteen, our usual pace. The sea was dead
ahead and broke clear over us from stem to
stern. The destruction of crockery must have
been considerable, the noise was almost indes
cribable ; it was as if we were a big tin box full
of pieces of china which some big giant had
picked up and shaken to his heart's content.
Soon after this we ran into lovely weather, the
sun shone bright and warm, and the sea danced
past us with its waves of deep sapphire hue.
It was now time to set to work, for we had much
to do in the next fortnight. The men had all
to be fitted with their kharkee kit and served
out with their cholera belts, goggles, spine-pro
tectors, and veils. It certainly seemed as if the
people at home had determined no pains should

THE VOYAGE OUT.

be spared to protect the soldier against the
climate and the sun, although we on our side
felt bound to confess that when we appeared in
full battle array we resembled a number of
perambulating Christmas-trees more than any
thing else.
We were also anxious to get the men to a
little position drill, for many among them were
young hands and had much to learn. Among
my own men I found many who knew nothing
whatever about a rifle, and many more who had
never fired a shot ; so, explaining to them that
their own safety, to say nothing of my own, lay
in their being able to use their rifles with effect,
we started to work in real earnest and two
parades a day of an hour and a half each was
the order. But it was not to be all work and no
play on board, for we were all intent upon having
a merry voyage and enjoying ourselves while we
could, A list was opened for a series of athletic
sports, and in a short time the entries showed
that we should have many an afternoon's
occupation. The events were as follows : — Long
jump standing, wheelbarrow race, tug of war,
Chinese puzzle, and cock-fighting, and much
amusement was derived every afternoon by
carrying out the programme. But we were

SUAKIN, 1885.

going to have evening entertainments besides
this, and many of us were hard at work getting
up a concert. Wherever there are soldiers you
may depend upon it you will have music — music
of a sort certainly, and not quite of a " Monday
pop " order, but still music which gives a great
deal of pleasure, and a great deal of amusement,
and is not altogether without a little sentiment
and pathos sometimes.
By good luck we had among the officers two
excellent pianists, and several performers on
the mandolin, banjo, accordion, and penny
whistle ; we also had one of the best performers
on the bones it was ever my lot to hear. To
fall back on, we had also in the company a
professional dancer and a professional clown,
also a conjuror ; so we were a merry family all
round. Our days were taken up, then, as follows, and
one was pretty much like another. Reveille
sounded at six, then came breakfast at eight,
prayers at nine, when the whole company were
marched aft and at the word "caps off" the
clergyman began reading a psalm followed by
a few prayers, and finishing with the one for us
soldiers. There was always something impressive
to me in this service ; it only lasted ten minutes

THE VOYAGE OUT.

but every one was very attentive and all seemed
to join in it. Prayers over, there came the first
parade at 9.30, then dinners at twelve o'clock,
and parade again at 1.45, At 3,30 we were
running off the heats in the various athletic
events till five o'clock, when " retreat " sounded
and hammocks were drawn ; the men also had
their evening meal, but we did not have our
dinner till 6,30. At 7.45, the piano having been
carried on deck, music followed, till " First Post "
sounded at 8,30 p,m,, " Last Post" half an hour
later, and " Lights out ! " at 9. 1 5 . So ended
the ordinary day's routine at sea.
But I must go back a little. The next land
we sighted was the Galita Islands, which are
sadly in want of a lighthouse. These islands
belong to Italy, and though the Government
would be glad to erect a lighthouse there,
people refuse to live on these islands, as they
are said to be haunted — at least so runs the
story. On the 26th of February we saw Cape Bonn,
on the African coast, far away on our starboard
beam, and about midday we passed quite close
to Pantalaria, a very fine-looking place, and used
by the Italians as a convict station.
At 9,30 p,m. on the same day we passed

SUAKIN, \i

Gozo, and at lO p,m, we sighted Valetta lights.
After this we saw no land till we reached Port
Said at 4 a.m, on the 2nd of March, Mean
while our concerts were in full swing. The
officers began by giving one to the men, the
programme consisting of two piano solos, a
comic song or so, two vocal duets, and a reading.
The following night the men returned the
compliment by giving a concert to the officers,
and most amusing it was. A private soldier
took command of the piano, and, defying any
interference on the part of the singer, continued
to bang out an accompaniment sometimes at
the top of the piano and sometimes at the
bottom, but always alike utterly and hopelessly
independent of time and key. However, every
one appeared very well satisfied, and the pianist
above all. There was one man, a sergeant in
the A.H.C., who had a really beautiful voice, a
high tenor and well trained. He only knew
two songs by heart, but these were both very
good, and he took the precaution to have as his
accompanist the accordion-player. The refrain
of the most effective of his songs was one point
ing out the uncertainties of life, and finishing
with the words —
" What is coming, who can tell ? "

THE VOYAGE OUT. 13
This was encored again and again. The only
other song with a certain sadness in it was sung
by a trumpeter boy not more than fifteen years
of age. He stood up a little nervously before
the audience and sang a song the name of
which I never heard, but the verses finished
with — " It's only a leaf in my Bible,
I picked from my poor mother's grave. "
He used to sing this song very frequently, as the
men seemed fond of it, but I always noticed
there was a certain quietness when it was over,
though not from want of appreciation. There
were many other well-known songs, and one of
the most popular was that old friend the chorus
of which runs —
" Wrap me up in my old stable-jacket.
And say a poor buffer lies low,
And six stalwart comrades shall carry me
With steps solemn, silent, and slow."
It is always a mystery where the things come
from, but soldiers never seem at a loss if any
thing is required, never mind what it may be.
In this way, and to our utter astonishment, the
professional clown appeared rigged up in a com
plete fancy kit, with a wig, a very large false
nose and spectacles, and a "billycock" hat.

14 SUAKIN, 1885,

Some excellent step-dancing followed, and then
hats off and " God save the Queen," which was
never omitted.
Our musical talents were further turned to
account, and a choir having been formed, we
managed to chant the whole service on Sundays,
both morning and evening, very creditably.
The dawn was just breaking as we dropped
anchor at Port Said, and as we were to go
through the disagreeable proceeding of coaling,
every one who could get ashore did so directly
after breakfast. The town lies on a dead level
scarcely two feet above the water, and as far as
the eye can reach is one endless extent of sand
as flat as a billiard-table. We found some good
ship-chandlers, where we bought sundry pro
visions at a price, also one or two shops of the
Bon March^. order, where one could obtain any
thing, from a tea-tray to a double-barrelled gun,
or from a Bath bun to a complete suit of
Chinese armour. Port Said has, however, been
described over and over again, no doubt, so it is
not worth while wasting many words on it here.
By 11,30 a.m. we were all on board, and shortly
afterwards we started to wend our weary way
along the canal to Suez. I say "weary way"
because this is a very wearisome journey. The

THE VOYAGE OUT. 15
speed is limited to five miles an hour, and setting
aside constant stoppages, the risk of running
aground, and the compulsory halts for the night
after 6 p.m,, there is nothing to relieve the mono
tony of the surrounding scenery. The canal
is hemmed in by banks on each side, and as
these are in many places high, a sense of breath-
lessness and suffocation is experienced. We
were very unfortunate, as we had only reached
the first Gare, some seven miles from Port Said,
when the vessel in front of us went aground, and
in spite of much tugging and hauling could not
be got off again. There was nothing for it then
but to make the best of it, so, having made fast
to the banks, we took our men ashore in squads
of twenty and practised them firing at some
extemporized targets in the shape of old biscuit-
boxes. This kept us employed till dark, when
we returned on board hoping for better luck
next day. There are some curious anomalies
regarding the navigation of the canal. If a
ship goes aground those behind it must stop
too, though there is often plenty of room to
pass. If demurrage is claimed by the owners of
the vessels thus delayed the sum realized goes
to the Canal Company. Again, the company
compel every vessel to take one of their pilots ;

SUAKIN, 1885.

but if a vessel happens to go aground the pilot
is not to blame, and moreover the damage that
may be done to the banks of the canal by his
running the ship ashore is at once claimed
against the owners of the vessel. The cost of
going through the canal is nine shillings per
ton, and a further charge of nine shillings a head
for every one on board except the working
hands. Our ship, therefore, cost the sum of
£i?>2'^. This will give some idea of what it
must cost the country to send this expedition
through the canal. It must be a nice little
item in the total expenditure when the number
of ships and number of men are taken into con
sideration. The first point of any interest after leaving
Port Said is the Lake Menzalah, or ancient
Serbonian Bog, where the great plague of
the fifth century B,C,, which afterwards deso
lated Athens, originated, and from which too
almost all the plagues which swept over Asia
Minor and across Europe in the Middle Ages
are supposed to have had their origin. The
shores of the lake, as well as its shallow
waters, are almost always covered with thou
sands upon thousands of flamingoes, standing
all exactly in the same position and in lines

THE VOYAGE OUT. 17
fully three quarters of a mile in length. Ten
miles further on you pass the Gare of El
Kantara, through which runs the direct road
from Cairo to Jerusalem. There are a few reed
and mud huts adjoining the ferry, and it was
here we saw the first of our future friends — a
camel. We dragged along slowly and lazily in
the burning sunshine, for the weather had now
become very hot, and we had quite given up
work in the middle of the day, our parades
being early and late. The rest of the time was
employed studying maps and books on the
Sudan, We had each been served out with
four or five maps of Suakin and its surround
ings, also of the route to Berber. These were
all printed on white calico. We had also each
a small English-Arabic Vocabulary, and a
" Report on the Egyptian Provinces of the
Sudan, Red Sea, and Equator " issued by
the Intelligence Department, The Arabic
Vocabulary was the cause of endless amusement,
and shouts of laughter were to be heard over
the catechisms that went on and the efforts at
pronouncing some of the most unpronounceable
words. Just before sunset we arrived at Lake Timsah,
and got a sight of Ismailyeh, We did not stop
C

SUAKIN, iJ

here, but proceeded through the lake and into
the canal again, where we anchored for the
night between high banks and in a suffocating
atmosphere. The next morning, by seven a.m,,
we were entering the Bitter Lakes, or Waters of
Marah, and glad we were to get into this wide
expanse of water, as we were able to quicken
our pace a bit. We had a fine view of the
mountains Gebel Geneffe, which run down the
western side of the lakes, and about five miles
inland. It must be twenty miles or more
through these lakes, and then you enter the
last section of the canal again, and before long
sight the Mountain of Deliverance, or Gebel
Attaka, at the foot of which stands the town of
Suez. It is at the base of this mountain that
the Israelites are supposed to have crossed the
Red Sea. We were out of the canal by three
p.m., and at anchor in Suez harbour before four
o'clock (4th March). The port or harbour of
Suez is connected with the town by a narrow
isthmus about two miles in length, and along
which runs the railway. A large open space
adjoining the main wharf had been turned into
a depot for the camels, which had been collected
from all parts of Egypt, and brought there to be
branded with the Broad Arrow preparatory to

THE VOYAGE OUT. 19
being forwarded on to Suakin. There were
about two thousand or more of these animals,
and a great number had been already sent on.
We had no time to go ashore, and only just
managed to get our first letters from England
before we were off again. While we were in
harbour three other transports came in, and as
we steamed out again about seven o'clock, the
troops on board these cheered lustily, rockets
were sent up, blue lights burnt, and trumpets
and bugles sounded the " Advance " and the
" Charge." Of course we cheered back again
till we were all as hoarse as crows.
We had been the first ship to leave England,
and were very keen to be the first to arrive at
Suakin ; so our disappointment may be imagined
when we suddenly discovered that we were going
dead slow, and that something was wrong with
our boilers. By the next morning these were
repaired, and though we had lost a good bit of
our start, we were still ahead of the other trans
ports. We all began to feel the heat very much,
and what little wind there was happened to be
right behind us, so we regularly panted for
breath in the middle of the day. Going down
the Gulf of Suez, we had the coast in view the
whole while. It is a fine, rugged outline, but

SUAKIN, 1885.

the mountains looked, utterly bare and barren,
and there did not appear to be a particle of
vegetation anywhere. The next day was rough,
but the wind still behind us. It always is more
or less rough in the Red Sea, and there is almost
sure to be a strong wind blowing either up or
down it. I know this time the sea was quite
high enough to make some of us feel very un
comfortable. We had lost sight of the coast
since leaving the Gulf of Suez, but as the sun
went down in a mist on the evening of the 6th
of March, there stood up against it the sharp
peak of some great mountain, and then we
knew that the end of our journey was approach
ing, and that the next morning would see us
saying good-bye to the comforts of board ship
life, for we should be off Suakin.

( 21 )

CHAPTER II.
SUAKIN.
(Lat. 19° 17' N., Long. 37° 20' E)
There are three different passages through the
reefs leading to Suakin. The northern passage
is the shortest route for vessels coming from
Suez, but it is the most dangerous of the three,
and ninety miles in length. The southern
passage is of course the most direct route for
vessels from India, and is somewhat shorter,
being only sixty miles long. The easiest and
shortest in point of mere distance is the middle
passage, thirty miles long, and running almost
due east and west. It was by this last-named
passage that we entered, our captain being, like
most other people, strange to the place. It was
a very hot morning, and the air was thick with
a hot haze, so that we did not sight the land
until we were getting quite close to it. Then

SUAKLN, i5

miles and miles of desert, and a lofty and rugged
range of mountains in the distance suddenly
came into view. As we approached nearer, we
could see, about four miles away on our right,
two camps ; these turned out to be the 49th
(Berkshire) and 70th (East Surrey). On the
left of the town of Suakin was another and
much larger camp, where a part of the Indian
contingent were lying. The whole country
looked a burnt, parched-up wilderness, without a
particle of vegetation except the dried-up bush
of the desert. It certainly looked the hottest
place I had ever seen, with a sky like one great
sheet of burnished brass over head, and with the
sun scorching down on an arid waste of sand.
It was midday before we entered the long
narrow channel leading into the harbour. The
navigation of this . channel is very hazardous, as
it is nowhere more than 300 yards broad, and in
some places much less than this. On both sides
run the low coral reefs, and woe betide the ship
that happens to run on them. This channel,
which is fully three quarters of a mile in length,-
opens into a lagoon or bay, in which are two
islands. One of these is known by us a,s.
Quarantine Island, and has been used all through
the war as a dep6t, where stores were landed,

SUAKIN.

and as a starting-point for the railway. Several
piers and landing-stages have been erected here
by the Royal Engineers, and vessels of 4000
tons are able to moor alongside these and dis
charge their cargoes. On the second island
. stands the old town of Suakin, and connected
with the mainland by a causeway built by
General Gordon some years ago. The town
proper, or old town, consists of a number of low;
flat-topped houses of the ordinary Eastern type,
built right up to the water's edge. The thorough^
fares or streets are of deep sand, there being no
necessity for roads, as wheel traffic is unknown
here. On the mainland, and adjoining the
causeway just referred to, is a suburb which has
outgrown the town both in population and
importance. Here there are several mosques
and buildings of some pretensions, as well as 3.
large open barrack occupied by a battalion of
Egyptian troops. Beyond this again comes the
native town, composed of a great number of
huts made of a sort of coarse grass matting
spread over a framework of stout sticks in
several thicknesses. Outside all are the earth
works and defences, running completely round
and enclosing the whole place ; they have been
all erected since 1881, as before this date the

24 SUAKIN, 1885.

town was quite open. These defences are
exceedingly strong, and of considerable extent,
and. stretch over a distance of nearly two miles.
The greater part of the lines are composed of
strong earthworks, but in parts high walls of
coral have been built. The principal forts and
redoubts in these lines, commencing from the
right or western side of the town, are Gerzireh
Redoubt, close to the edge of the lagoons, and
connected by a wet ditch with Yamin Redoubt
on its left. The lines here turn sharply to the
southward, the next strong points being Lausari
Redoubt, Oorban Redoubt, Wastanieh Redoubt,
and Forts Carysfort and Euryalus, the strongest
points of the whole of the defences. A little to
the south-east of these two forts are Fort
Commodore and Gedeedeh Redoubt, where the
lines trend eastward till they reach the lagoons
on the south side of the old town, passing
through Fort Turk, and the Arab and Sphink
Redoubts to the Left Redoubt. Outside these
lines, and' about three quarters of a mile distant,
there is a complete chain of small, circular
redoubts with the Right and Left Water Forts
on the west, and Fort Foulah on the south.
There are two principal entrances in the lines
on the right of Fort Carysfort, and at Yamin

SUAKIN.

Redoubt, this last being the one most used by
us during the campaign.
There is a cei^tain amount of trade carried on
between Suakin and Suez, but this is much
impeded by the heavy duties levied by the
Egyptian Government.
Suakin has been formed by nature as the
principal port of the Egyptian Sudaii and the
Nile provinces, but has never risen to a position
of any pretension, and even now its prosperity
is only comparative. The place was formerly
held directly subject to Turkey, but in 1865 it
¦was sold and handed over to the Viceroy of
Egypt. The inhabitants depend for their water
supply on two or three wells about a mile from
the town, and also on rain-water, which is col
lected during the wet season in a large sort of
reservoir at the same place. The supply is at
all times limited, and the quality of the water
not particularly good, being strongly impreg
nated with salts. Towards the close of the dry
season, when the water becomes very scarce, it
turns thick, and is dark brown ih colour. During
the early autumn the climate is almost deadly
for Europeans, and the natives themselves suffer
greatly frohi sickness, the most prevalent com
plaints among them being dysentery and enteric

-26 SUAKIN, iS

fever. The shallow lagoons and damp marshy
ground all round the north-west side of the
town add considerably to the unhealthiness of
Suakin. When the tide, which is only slight in
the Red Sea, runs out, these lagoons are left ex
posed to the burning rays of the sun, and as they
are full of filth and refuse of all sorts, the over
powering stench that arises from the foul black
mud, festering and fermenting in the heat^ simply
¦defies description. The most unhealthy time
of year is from August to the end of October,
and during this period the battalion of Marines
quartered here since May last had not unfre-
quently twenty per cent, of their strength sick ;
and at one time the percentage rose as high as
twenty-five. In September, the ratio of sick per
month, that is, men who passed through hospital,
was equal to fifty per cent, of the total strength.
During the ten months, counting from May
last year to February this year, fourteen hundred
men passed through this battalion ; that is, a
total of fourteen hundred men either died or were
invalided during a short period of ten ¦ months.
The weekly returns from which I have collected
these statistics were prepared for the informa
tion of the officer commanding the battalion,
who was in Suakin the whole time himself, and

SUAKIN. 27

who kindly allowed me to look through them;
The facts, therefore, are unimpeachable, and
show a degree of suffering concerning which
, people at home knew nothing at the time, and
know little now. The returns referred to were
most carefully made out, and amongst other in
formation contained in them, I noticed a calcu
lation of the per centage of sickness as applied
to the age of the men. The cases were divided
into three heads — men under 25 years of age,
men between 25 and 35 years, and men between
35 and 45. I found that at least sixty-five per
cent ofthe total number of cases occurred among
the men under 25 years of age, while the men
between 35 and 45 escaped with comparative
immunity. Of the fourteen hundred men who
passed through the battalion, by far the greater
number were lost during the unhealthy season,
that is between August and the end of October,
and I found that from the 15th of November
to the 27th of February, there were only 333
fresh admissions into hospital, the strength of
the battalion during this period averaging about
520 of all ranks. The battalion was split up
into various detachments, and the amount of
sickness was materially influenced by the posi
tion of the detachment. In this way those

SUAKIN, 1885.

who suffered least were those quartered at the
Right Water Fort, some two miles out from the
town ; while the detachments at Fort Ansari
and Island Redoubt, nearer the town, suffered
most. The prevalent diseases were enteric
fever, intermittent fever, simple continued fever
(including typhoid), dysentery, diarrhcea, and
debility, under which head were included affec
tions from the sun.
Such, then, is the effect of the climate of
Suakin on Europeans, and the above figures
are a fitting monument to what the British
soldier is called upon to suffer for Queen and
Country. I have no wish to be an alarmist, and
long ere these pages appear in print, I pray
that the English soldier may have left these
shores, never to return. I mention nothing
about the actual number of deaths, because,
although a great number occurred at Suakin, by
far the greater number took place at sea,
between Suakin and Suez. There was often a
difficulty in sending the worst cases away in
time, as the vessels available were few, and in
this way many valuable lives were lost that
might have been saved. There were, of course,
many who recovered when they reached home,
and numbers of these were not permanently

SUAKIN. 29

lost to the service, but the after effects of
climate are too well known to need a reference
here. We had a sad experience after the
Ashanti War, for I remember men being in
valided and discharged two years after we had
returned home, entirely owing to the germs of
disease gathered on the Gold Coast.
But let us turn from this somewhat depressing
subject, and go back to Suakin itself and its
surroundings. There is one thing I omitted in
dealing with the climate of Suakin, and that is
the rainy season. They generally count upon
rain during November or December, but the
heaviest rain does not last more than about two-
days, when it comes down in real earnest and
true tropical fashion, and in a way quite foreign
to all but those who have experienced it. This
one great downpour, is followed by showers,
which occur now and then, but by no means
frequently. The climate is not unhealthy during
this season, as it is in so many places during the
rains. The temperature is highest during the
month of August, and the highest point reached
by the thermometer last year was 125° Fahr. in
the shade ; this was on the 20th of August, The
official record of the temperature kept by the
Royal Engineers on Quarantine Island gives-

30 SUAKIN, \l

the mean temperature during August last as
follows : maximum ii6-iO°, and minimum 9070°.
On looking through these returns I found that
in this month there were six days when the tem
perature was over 1 20° and thirteen on which it
was over 116°, while there were only two on
which the maximum temperature was below 100°,
and on both tlyse the thermometer stood at 99°.
After the middle of September the temperature
became slightly lower, but there did not appear
to be very much difference between the two
months. I shall refer to the temperature that
we experienced during the campaign further on.
The population of Suakin is very " mixed,"
There are Arabs belonging to all the neighbour
ing tribes — -Hadendowas, Amaras, Fadlabs, Beni
Amers, Bisharems, and Shaharibs. There are
also a number of Soumalis.
They are quite black in colour, and naked
with the exception of a white cloth worn
round the loins. The women, at least some of
them, cover their faces with a thin white
material, which they wear wound round them
and over their heads. These are mostly the
married women. They all wear gold ornaments
in their noses and ears. Certainly the opera
tors who made the holes in their noses to

SUAKIN. 31

support these ornaments had no qualms about
the destruction of beauty, for if they had
bored them with an augur they could not
have been more roughly done. Some of the
women I saw, and who were not troubled with
any superfluous clothing, had their hair done in
curious fashion ; the commonest way, though,
appeared to be to wear it in a grfat number of
very thin, straight twists, about as thick as an
ordinary pencil. These twists were about six
inches in length, and each one preserved in a
thick plastering of grease. The men's heads
were much more curious, though ; I noticed some
who wore the hair frizzed till it stood out fully
six or eight inches on either side of their
heads. This extraordinary thick growth, half
hair half wool, was then parted over each ear
and round to the back of the head, the hair
below the parting being brushed downwards and
outwards, and that above the parting upwards. A
long wooden pin or thin stick was run through the
top part of this erection, and the effect was com
plete. The Arab boys had their heads shaved
with the exception of one tuft of hair, which was
allowed to grow long, and this tuft was generally
on the side and towards the back of the head,
and gave them a very rakish appearance. Many

32 SUAKIN, 1885.

of these little chaps are really nice-looking, with
cheery faces and bright sparkling eyes. Their
cheeks are almost always ornamented with three
long slashes on each side, done with some sharp
instrument when they are very young. I saw
one or two little girls of twelve or fourteen years
of age who were far prettier than I ever thought
it was possible for blacks to be. They lose
these good looks, though, almost entirely as
they grow older.
The population of the place varies a good
deal; but, counting Italians, Greeks, and Egyptian
soldiery, there must be at the time I am writing
little short of eight thousand people here.
One of the chief points of interest to us in
Suakin was Osman Digna's house ; not that
there was anything particular about the house,
either inside or out. It stood close to the
water's edge up a small creek on the south side
of the town, A stick cut from Osman Digna's
garden was considered a great trophy.
Most people now know Osman Digna's history,
but for those who do not it may be as ^\'en to
give a short sketch of his antecedents. This
person, then, was born at Rouen, and is the
son of French jDarents, his family name being
Vinet He was called after his father, George,

SUAKIN. 33

and began his education at Rouen, but after a
while was moved to Paris. A few years after
this his parents went over to Alexandria in con
nection with some matter of business, and shortly
afterwards his father died there. His mother
then married a merchant of Alexandria, Osman
Digna by name. This man took a great fancy
to his step-son, young George Vinet, and brought
him up as a Mohammedan, sending him to com
plete his education to the military school at
Cairo, where he had for his companion Arabi,
Here he studied tactics and the operations of
war under French officers. It was at this period
that his father-in-law migrated to Suakin, where
he set up as a general merchant and slave-dealer,
and very shortly was doing a very lucrative
business. At his father-in-law's death George
Vinet continued to carry on the business under
the same name. A few years passed, and when
the war broke out in Egypt, in 1882, Osman
Digna espoused the cause of his old friend and
companion, Arabi, and became one of England's
bitterest foes as the Mahdi's lieutenant In
appearance Osman Digna is a fine-looking man,
tall and well-proportioned, though rather fat.
He wears a long black beard, and has lost his
left arm. He never gets on a horse, and in the
D

34 SUAKIN, 1885.

few engagements in which he has thought fit
to risk his valuable life he has always been
present on foot As for the Mahdi, the prime
cause of all the misery and bloodshed of the
past four years, he is, I believe, the son of a
carpenter, and a native of Dongola. His proper
name is Mohammed Ahmed, and he was born
about thirty-seven years ago, and is much the
same age as his lieutenant In 1870 he went to
live at the island of Abba, where he gained a
great reputation for sanctity, and gradually col
lected a great number of holy men or dervishes
around him. His subsequent actions are now a
part of the history of the last five years of blood
shed, and call for no recapitulation here. How
long he may be able to retain his position as the
true prophet is a matter of doubt, but it is to be
hoped that the poor deluded Arabs may be shown
the folly of being carried away by the professions
of a man whose sole aim is self-advancement, and
who is ready to sacrifice everything, his religion
included, for the attainment of this one end.
The Mohammedan religion appears to present
peculiar attractions to the native tribes in Central
Africa, and the false prophet is indebted for the
number of his recruits to the enthusiasm of the
converts to Mohammedanism, with whom the

SUAKIN. 35

idea of the regeneration of Islam by force of
arms is amazingly popular. The teachings of
the Mahdi may be summed up as follows : uni
versal law, religion, and equality ; destruction of
all who refuse to believe in his mission, whether
they be Christians, Mohammedans, or pagans.
The causes of the rebellion have been ascribed
to the unjustness and venality of the Egyptian
officials, the suppression of the slave-trade, and
the military weakness of Egypt.
It was noon before we were safely piloted
through the treacherous inner reefs, some of
which run out only two or three feet below
the surface. The channel had been buoyed out
by the sailors, and an officer came off to bring
our ship in. We eventually made fast to shore
half-way up the channel leading to the inner
harbour, and right abreast of the English ceme
tery, which consists of a straight line of about
thirty or forty graves, each with a cross at the
head, some made of rough pieces of wood, and
some of iron. Almost all are ornamented with a
border of rough stones round them. This burial-
ground is only about thirty yards from the water's
edge, and is not at present enclosed in any way.
Since we have been here there have been men
at work perpetually digging graves at the rate

SUAKIN, li

of two or three a day, so that there might
always b'e several ready. Whenever it has been
practicable we have always brought in our dead
and buried them here ; the officers being for
the most part buried in coffins, the men in their
blankets. There are one or two of the common
mimosa bushes among the graves, otherwise
there is no vegetation of any sort, and nothing
but the dry, hot sand of the desert
We were all hoping we should be disembarked
that afternoon ; but orders were sent off to say
that this was to be postponed till the following
morning at daybreak. Some of us, therefore,
determined to try and get a boat and go
ashore, but it was with difficulty we did so, as
boats are scarce at Suakin. It does not seem
to have occurred to the native mind that a large
fortune might be made plying this trade. I
should be very sorry, however, to trust myself in
one of their very narrow canoes, which are of the
type one used to read of as a boy in Fenimore
Cooper's novels — mere long logs of wood hol
lowed out and sharpened bow and stern. The
dexterity with which they handle these frail
craft is marvellous, and they go along at a great
rate, with the water very often within an inch of
coming over the side.

SUAKIN. 37

Our first object oh landing was to find the
post-office, and such a post-office it turned out
to be — four walls and a flat roof, the floor of
sand, the furniture a very rickety table, appa
rently made out of old biscuit-boxes. On this
table and on the floor lay a pile of letters and
newspapers a foot and a half high. We routed
among these for some time without much result,
so contented ourselves by handing to an Egyp
tian boy, who appeared to be in sole charge as
the local postmaster-general, the letters we had
brought ashore to post, feeling that they had
a very poor chance of ever getting to their des
tination. On our way back to the wharf we
passed a row of about fifty Arabs, all sitting in
the same position, with their backs against a
white wall. This being my first introduction to
black and withal naked people, the contrast of
their black skins against the white wall struck
me as very funny as they sat in a long row in
solemn and perfect silence, staring at us as we
passed. It is a curious thing how many ways there
seem to be of spelling the name of this placfc.
One sees " Suakin," " Suakim," " Souakin," " Sa-
wakin," and many others ; but .1 Ipefieve, if one
wished to be absolutely correct, the proper way

38 SUAKIN, 1885.

is " Savagin," with the " g " pronounced hard, as
in the word " begin," The Arabs have a legend
about the place, and the story they tell you is
as follows : — " Many hundred years ago a prince
came from the north bent on some warlike
enterprise, and, according to the custom of that
day, he carried with him his women. Among
them were seven virgins, who, before he com
menced his further advance, he placed for safety
on the island on which the town of Suakin now
stands. Many months after the prince returned
to find his seven virgins the mothers of seven
children. No explanation being forthcoming he
christened the place ' Savagin ' {sava, with, and
gin, a fiend or devil), literally, ' the place of the
devil.' "
I can only assure my reader that we found
the literal translation of " Savagin " to agree
perfectly in our minds with the opinion we very
shortly formed of the place.

( 39 )

CHAPTER III.
LANDING,
The dawn was just breaking on Sunday, the
8th of March, as the barges came alongside to
put us ashore. It was a most lovely morning,
and the air so clear and bright that one could
distinguish every feature in the mountains miles
away inland. The sun was just showing itself
above the horizon as we landed at one of the
piers of Quarantine Island, and even at this
early hour gave promise of the heat of the
coming day. My company was sent on with a
guide to show us where our camping ground
was to be. We marched along the field railway
for about a mile, leaving the town of Suakin
behind us ; and as we advanced H,M,S, Dolphin
opened fire over our heads at some groups of
the enemy five miles away on the desert We
could see the great shells pitch and throw the
sand up into the air thirty or forty feet high.

40 SUAKIN, 1885.

The mounted infantry were also out skirmish
ing ; and the first intimation we had that real
work had begun was passing a man lying in
a dhoolie, and wounded in both arms.
Turning to the left off the field railway, we
marched along parallel with the earthworks of
the town and about a mile from them, till at
length we were halted on a bare piece of sandy
desert — just a sample of the country for miles
and miles, except that there was no scrub — and
told that we were to start marking out our camp,
and that tents would shortly be sent out to us.
We accordingly piled arms and let the men take
off" their kits, as it was uncommonly hot.
We had provided each of our men with a
piece of bread and a quarter of a pound of
cheese ; so this, with a suck from a water-bottle,
made an excellent breakfast We had to wait
a long while before our tents made their appear
ance, and it was ten o'clock before the first string
of camels arrived with a part of them. We
were all soon at work, though, and in a couple
of hours we had transformed our bare patch of
sand into a smart camp, all alive with the hum
of many voices and the bustle of men getting
everything ship-shape.
Our tents were certainly excellent, and were

LANDING. 41

those known in India as "European privates'."
These tents are made of a thick white cotton
fabric, and are double, so that, I think, no sun
could ever get through them. The roof of the
tent is supported by two stout bamboo poles
standing about six feet apart, and there is a
space of a foot or more between the two thick
nesses composing it, both of which are again
lined, the outer one with a deep maroon-coloured
material, and the inner one with a pale yellow,
A wooden bar connects the two poles, and forms
a useful place for hanging things upon. The
walls of the tent are about four feet high, and
are made in four pieces. There are thus four
doorways to the tent, each having an awning
over it, which is fastened to the roof and sup
ported by two bamboo sticks. This awning
can be let down and the walls closed in at night
if desired. As we had expected to find ourselves
under double bell tents of the home pattern, we
were agreeably surprised. We were four officers
in a tent, so had plenty of room, the inside
measuring about eighteen feet by twenty-three.
The men were about twenty in a tent.
We arranged our tent in this way — a camp
bed in each corner, with our kit-bags and spare
baggage along the walls. We drew an ordinary

42 SUAKIN, 1885.

deal barrack table out of store and put this on
one side of the pole bar; on the other side was
our mess-box, the top of which served for a side
board. Our swords, belts, and water-bottles
we hung on pole straps, and the floor we
carpeted with the sacks in which the tent was
packed on the march. We had each brought
a camp-stool, so these completed our furniture
and added materially to our comfort.
About noon some mules arrived, bringing our
rations of bouilli beef and biscuit — also some ten-
gallon tins of water. This was all very quickly
served out and swallowed too. The bouilli beef
is the ordinary tinned stuff, and always went by
the name of " iron rations,'' to distinguish it from
fresh-meat rations, which we got sometimes twice
a week. The biscuit is very nasty, and quite
uneatable unless stewed in some way, as it is as
hard as steel. We always used to stew our beef
and biscuit up together, putting in any fresh
vegetables we could get — such as potatoes and
onions, and occasionally some pumpkin. This
concoction we called " soup ; " and precious
nasty soup it was too, even when swamped
in Worcester sauce, or eaten with chutney or
pickles, of which we had brought a plentiful
supply. On days when we had no fresh vege-

LANDING. 43

tables served out, we had at first each a ration
of lime-juice, which was excellent stuff", to my
thinking. In the afternoon I went into the town and
had a look round, and much to my delight found
one or two houses where all manner of tinned
provisions were sold. These were kept by
enterprising Englishmen, and a wonderful busi
ness they must have done with us soldiers. The
best one was Ross's, but there were others which
fell little short of this. It was here I discovered
some really good white bread, which I promptly
bought and carried back to camp in triumph.
There was, however, not much use in buying
this afterwards, as the ration bread served out to
us was very good, though rather bitter, and we
always had plenty of it.
By the time I got back to camp our horses
had all come in, and were being picketed in rear
of our tents. Some of them looked a bit tucked
up after their voyage ; but this was not to be
wondered at, as they had had a roughish time of
it They all pulled round but two, both these
having been very bad at sea.
I ought not to omit to mention that during
the interval two men arrived in camp, of foreign
and uncertain origin, bringing with them some-

44 SUAKIN, 1885.

thing which always appeals at once to the soldier's
heart — a barrel, of beer ! Having obtained leave
to sell to the men, the amount being limited to
a pint a man, they very soon came to the end
of their barrel, no doubt with a handsome profit
to themselves. The cask bore the homely and
familiar name of " Bass," but the liquid that
issued from the tap would have astonished any
member of that excellent firm ; it was dark in
colour, as thick as pea-soup, and as sweet as
treacle — which last, indeed, it rather resembled.
But Thomas Atkins is not to be denied ; beer is
beer to him, and he is not over particular about
the taste, more especially when the cask is
labelled " Bass," and he is four thousand miles
away from home and in the middle ofthe desert
Having watered our horses and posted our
guard and sentries, we had another turn at the
" soup," and then lay down for the night in
happy ignorance of any danger. We heard a
few shots about eleven o'clock in the direction
of the 70th camp, and in the morning were told
they had had two men wounded and one killed.
This was the first of those memorable night
attacks which were afterwards the cause of so
much misery to us. I don't think any of us
got much sleep after our hard day's work, for the

LANDING. 45

heat was tremendous, and I lay all night with the
perspiration pouring off" me. The first part of
the nights were generally very hot, as the wind
which blew in from the sea during the day
dropped altogether. Towards morning it be
came quite cold, and one was glad to get under
a blanket The next morning we were up before light, and
out and about getting everything into its place.
We generally had a cup of hot coffee or cocoa at
half-past five or six o'clock, and then breakfast
about eight, when there was more soup for those
that liked it ; but I am thankful to say we had
brought plenty of sardines and potted meats
with us, so there was an alternative.
At this time the force was composed as
follows : The 70th (East Surrey), who were
encamped about half a mile to our left front and
close to the Right Water Fort ; their camp, like
ours, being completely isolated from the rest of
the force. To our right front and about a mile
away lay the 49th (Berkshire), and behind them
were the Royal Marines and a battery of Horse
Artillery. Further in rear still was the Head
quarter camp, and between us and them lay the
Medical Staff" camp at " H Redoubt"
The Indian Brigade was on the south side of

46 SUAKIN, 1885.

the town ; our camp was all on the north-west
side. The Medical Staff" were at this time under
single bell tents, and suffered severely from the
sun, I never saw fellows more sunburnt in so
short a time, for they had only arrived the pre
vious day ; and some of them came over to us,
complaining bitterly about it, as well they might.
One of the newspaper reporters mentioned this
in his telegram home, but the press censor
struck it out as not the case. Seeing is be
lieving, however, and there were the single bell
tents right enough. Even at home in summer
time a bell tent is almost unbearable, but under
a tropical sun it must have been frightful, and
never ought to have been allowed for a moment
They had a few double bell tents, but the sun
came through these just as severely as through
the single ones.
Our camping-ground was by no means well
chosen ; it was down in a hollow to begin with,
and therefore damp. The sand, so close to the
sea as we were, and on so low a level, is full of
salt, and in the mornings the floor of the tent
was always quite wet. The first night we hung
our clothes up in the tent, and the next morning
they were all wet through from the moisture

LANDING. 47

rising from the ground. Only one of us was
foolish enough to put his clothes on in this
state, and suffered by getting a sharp touch
of fever. After this we always, when we did
undress — which was not often — put our clothes
under our air pillows, and thus kept them dry.
Another unpleasant fact connected with our
camp was, that it was quite close to the Arab
burial-ground, and there were some hundreds of
graves within sixty yards of our tents. As the
Arabs do not bury their dead very far beneath
the surface, but rather on the top of the ground,
with a covering of stones over the bodies, the
atmosphere at nights was unpleasantly loaded
with the foulest odours. This, one would have
thought, was hardly a healthy spot in a hot
climate for even a temporary camp.
Of course, we all very soon had the skin burnt
off our faces, not only by the direct heat of the
sun, but by the refraction from the sand, which
is almost as bad. One thing which nearly all
of us suffered from was sore lips. Our lower
lips would swell up to an enormous size and
then break and fester. It was very painful, but
when once cured we were not troubled again in
this way. A good thick moustache was the
best preventative, and I am sure a beard pro-

48 SUAKIN, 1885.

tected one's face a great deal. Some few of us
shaved, but nearly all let their hair grow. With
all due deference to the remarks in " our only
General's " (,'') pocket-book, that it takes as long
to clean a beard as to shave one off, I am in
clined to think that a beard is by far the best
thing on service. If cut once a week and kept
short it is no trouble at all to keep clean. An
other thing most of us did was to have our hair
cut off" quite short to the head, but I am not sure
that this was a good thing. It was cooler and
more easily kept clean, certainly ; but in a hot
climate a good crop of hair is a protection from
the sun, hair being a non-conductor of heat
Two battalions of the Guards arrived to-day
(9th), and marched out to their camping-ground
on the side of the field railway just beyond the
49th camp and in the direction of the West
Redoubt. The camp of the Guards Brigade
was at this time at right angles to the general
run of the rest of the camp and in advance of it
The next day there were more arrivals, and,
in fact, all this week there was a constant stream
of great transports coming into harbour full of
either troops or stores. Gradually the whole of
this side of Suakin was turned into one great
town of white canva.s, and unoccupied ground in

LANDING. 49

the morning was ere night transformed into a
scene of busy life. Long strings of camels were
to be seen traversing the desert in all directions,
bringing up supplies of all sorts to the camp
from Quarantine Island. Fatigue parties were
marching here and there, or toiling under the
burning sun. Mounted orderlies galloped over
the plain, and generals and staff" officers visited the
different detached camps and inspected the fresh
arrivals, Down at Quarantine Island there was
indeed a busy scene. There men of all nation
alities worked night and day like great swarms
of bees, unloading the transports as they arrived
in quick succession one after the other — at one
time full of stores and equipment, at another
of forage and fuel ; at a third, perhaps full of
camels from Berbera or India, when each camel
had to be slung up from the hold and swung
over the side.
At last Quarantine Island contained some
thing of all sorts — tons of railway plant, camel-
saddles in thousands, harness, gigantic cases
full of clothing and equipment, mountains of
compressed hay, camels, mules, horses, tents,
ammunition, and a thousand other things, a list
of which would fill a volume. We had to work
and toil, to be sure, from daybreak to sun-
E

iO SUAKIN, 1885.

set, in the sweltering heat of that foul harbour,
the air filled with dust and the sickening odours
from the foetid swamps around, with the shouts
of the niggers as they slaved in a state of
nudity, and with the, roar of steam and the
scrunch and rattle of a hundred donkey-engines!
Those were days not easily to be forgotten;
there were stirring times coming, and we all
worked cheerily and merrily enough as we
looked forward to the day of the general ad
vance, and the chance of a good fight with
Osman Digna and his hardy followers.
The most disagreeable part of the work at
Quarantine Island was unloading the camels.
These long-suffering creatures are by no means
sweet at any time, more especially after having
been crowded up in the hold of a ship, where
red mange has spread among them, and where
fleas and ticks have multiplied innumerably.
Our camels were from all parts. The finest
to look at were those from India. They were
much taller than either the Egyptian or the
Berbera camels, some of them being nine feet
to the top of the hump, and were able to carry
heavier loads ; but for all this they were nothing
like so handy as the Berbera camels with their
Aden drivers. We could form these up in

LANDING. 51

lines of twenty and march them abreast, but
the Indian camels were generally marched four
in a string, one behind the other, and thus it
was difficult to close them up so as to occupy
as little ground as possible. The camel is a
curious sort of beast, and he gives one the im
pression of being in a chronic condition of low
spirits. He grunts and moans in a doleful way
when made to lie down or stand up, and at
night gives vent to the most awful sounds, some
thing between the roar of a bull and the grunt
of a boar. As to his capabilities as a beast of
burden, he is, no doubt, admirably suited to the
ordinary requirements of desert travelling ; but
-many of us thought we should have done better
had we had more mules. The Indian brigade
did the greater part of their own transport work
Tvith mules during the campaign, and of course
we had many hundreds too, chiefly from Cyprus,
and driven by natives from that island. Our
ammunition column was composed almost
¦entirely of mules. An average camel carries
a load of four hundred pounds, and though
an Indian camel can carry more than this, it
is unadvisable ever to attempt to overload him.
We found three hundred pounds quite enough
-for the little Berbera animals, and also for the

52 SUAKIN, iS

Egyptian, some of which last were too small and
too young to be of any use, and never ought
to have been bought even at a push. Loading
a camel is not so easy a thing as it sounds, and
though it depends mainly on balance, it depends-
also greatly upon the position of the load, and
the lashing of the load in the celita to the saddle ;
unless great care is taken, a sore back will ensue,.
and the camel be rendered useless for some
considerable length of time.
Many people labour under the idea that a
camel can and will, with comparative comfort
to himself, go for a considerable length of time
without water. That he can do so I do not
wish for one moment to deny, but that he does
so only with a corresponding loss of power was
apparent to us all at Suakin,
General Gordon has stated that in his ex
perience camels have lived without water for
as long a period as nine da}"s ; there is, however,
no doubt that when in hard work and hot
weather camels should, whenever it is possible,
be \\-atered twice a day. Seven to eight gallons
a day is a fair allowance for them, but this may
be greatly increased with advantage.
Many of our camels were driven with the
ordinary nose-rope and nose-peg, but I think

LANDING.

this unnecessarily cruel, and though it is a
check on refractory animals, I see no reason
why an ordinary running nose-band should
not be amply sufficient. Some of our camels
were vicious, but not many of them ; a few were
kickers. The bite of a camel is very severe, and
their kick, even with their soft feet, is quite
sufficient to break a man's leg. When you see
a camel open his mouth and give vent to a loud
gurgling sound, a large red-coloured iiiflated bag
as big as a good-sized melon appearing at the
same time from his throat, my advice would be,
±o those who are strangers to camels, to stand
off" ! A well-bred camel may be known by the
fineness of his coat and the smallness of his
hind feet
The camels from India came accorhpanied
by native drivers, and a certain number of trans
port officers from the Indian Transport Staff.
These drivers were a mixed lot, and for the
most part understood their business well. They
¦worked well enough under officers who could
speak to them in good round Hindustani,
but one would have to be a linguist indeed to
speak to each different class of drivers in his
own language. There were among them natives
from all parts of India — Punjabees, Sidiboys,

54 SUAKIN, 1885.

Bengalees, Scindees, Pathans, Hindoos, and
sundry others.
The. Aden drivers, Soumalis, with the camels
from Berbera, were hardy fellows, and of course
well used to the climate, caring as little for the
sun as the Arabs themselves. You would see
them going along with their camels during the
hottest hours of the day with no covering to their
shaven heads, and no garments except the white
cloth round their waists.
It was curious to count up the number of
different languages one heard spoken in and
about Suakin at this time. Besides English,,
French, Portuguese, and Italian, there were
amongst others the following : Turkish, Arabic,
Somali, Greek, Armenian, Hindustani, Punjabi,
Gujarati, Bengali, Mahrathi, and Pukhtu.
There was another native Indian corps — the
Bhisti corps, water-carriers, composed mostly
of Punjabee Mussulmans and Punjabee Hindoos.
These were capital fellows to ^^'ork, and did good
service. We often used to talk, as we looked round on-
all these vast preparations and this great con
course of men of all sorts and conditions, on the
enormous outlay of mone}- that was being spent
without stint, on the toil and sickness and death

LANDING. 55,

around us, and we used to wonder then what it
was all for. We knew that, being soldiers, we
went where we were told, and did what we were
told when we got there, but beyond this I do
not believe there was a man in the whole of this
magnificent force who could have given you any
intelligible reason for which we were fighting, if
indeed his ingenuity enabled him to give you
any reason at all.
And yet there we were, a picked force, armed
with every scientific means to effect our end —
everything, from an air balloon, with its gas com
pressed and brought all the way from Chatham,,
to mule batteries of screw-guns, Gardners, and
rockets, and to rifles of the most perfect pattern
and greatest rapidity of fire. And all this to
war against what ? A foe worthy of our steel i*
Yes, undoubtedly yes. Armed ? Yes ; but with
spears of the rudest make, with swords of the
days of the Crusaders, with shields of crocodile
skin, and with a certain number of Remington
rifles which they scarce knew how to use. A
foe fighting with all the wild pluck and deter
mination of their race, and supported by a
fanaticism which turned them into men who
courted death for two reasons — first, because it
transferred them to a happier land; and secondly,.

56 SUAKIN, 1885.

because they preferred it a thousand times to a
life which might show them their freedom gone,
their land wrested from them, and their race
decimated.

( 57 )

CHAPTER IV.
NIGHT ATTACKS.
We received orders on the nth of March that we
were to shift our camp, and I was sent off to the
Camel Depot to get a hundred camels and fifty
Aden drivers.
The Camel Depot was inside the town lines,
and was always the scene of much activity, as
all camels, horses, and mules were taken there
¦on being landed, and then turned over to the
various departments and brigades on requisition
or order, when they were numbered and branded.
A more pestilential place it would be difficult to
imagine, for all round it there was an expanse
•of open cesspools and stinking swamps. The
native town was quite close round it, and the
collection of filth from the huts was simply
indescribable. There were some thousands of
camels there that morning, and a perpetual
stream of fresh arrivals was continually pouring

58 SUAKIN, 1 8

in. There were camels of all sizes and shapes —
camels from India, camels from Berbera, from
Upper Egypt, from the Sudan, and from any
other part of the world where camels were to
be bought and sold. Some were strong-looking
animals, and others weak and thin, while some
had already given it up as a bad job and suc
cumbed to the hardships and privations. Their
drivers, too, of every hue and nationality, each
wearing a tin medal bearing his number, were
hustling these wretched animals about, whack
ing them with sticks, and getting them up to
the picketing-lines. Their screams and holloas
added to the general state of noise and confu
sion. Interpreters roared the orders in a variety-
of languages, and officers at their wits' end
endeavoured by superhuman efforts to establish
something approaching to order. Add to all
this a scorching burning sun, deep sand, clouds
of dust, and every one running down with sweat
and begrimed with dirt, and you may have a
faint idea of what sort of place the depot was.
I had a terrible job to thread my way through
the line of camels to the commandant's tent, as
the mare I was riding was simply terrified at the
sight of a camel, and resorted to every trick she
could think of to get rid of me and get out of

NIGHT ATTACKS. 59
the dep6t ; added to which she was quite
unbroken. So, to say the least of it, it was hot
work. It took a long time before my hundred camels
were picked out, and then I formed them up in
line against a wall, and made them lie down
while I went round and inspected them with the
Soumali headman, who was to accompany me.
It was ^^•ith feelings the reverse of pleasant that
I at length gave the order for them to follow me,
as I could not help wondering, first, how I was
to get the long string of animals through the
maze and confusion in front of me, and second,
how I was to retain possession of my mare
(which by this time was nearly mad with fright)
and keep my eye on the camels at the same
time. Like many other things, we achieved it at last,
and as soon as I got outside the town I halted
to allow time for stragglers to come up.
The drivers now had a difference of opinion
as to whether they were being led in the right
direction, and, unfortunately, I laboured under
two difficulties with them that day, as I could
not speak a word of their language, and, more
over, was entirely unarmed. I had been on
foot up to this, my horse being led by a couple

6o SUAKIN, 1885.

of friendlies, who, I could see in the distance,
had their work cut out for them ; but I now
again determined to mount, and see what could
be done towards pushing along, as we had two
miles to go to the Ordnance Store camp, to
draw saddles and equipment for each animal,
before they would be of any use in transporting
our camp and baggage to our new ground.
It was midday before I got back to our camp,
where I found all the tents struck. We were
soon hard at work loading up, which we found
very disagreeable work and somewhat difficult,
as we were quite inexperienced. Sometimes we
had to load a camel three or four times over.
First, one would get up before the load was
adjusted; or perhaps, with another, the load was
too heavy for him, and he would not rise at all.
Then, with a third, a part of the saddle would
give way, frighten the camel, and off he would
go at a gallop, gradually kicking himself free,
and smashing up saddle and load as he went
Then two men would have to go and catch him
and bring him back, when a fresh saddle would
be fitted, and a load beautifully balanced would
be put upon him. Then he would get up when
his head was let go, and, with an awkward lurch,
round would go the load under his stomach.

NIGHT ATTACKS. 6i
Tommy Atkins would sit down on the sand'
then, and scratch his head and look at the
animal in front of him with despairing eyes, as
much as to say, " I wonder what your next little
game will be."
By half-past six we had pitched our camp again
on a fresh site, and on the extreme left flank
of the front line. The position of the various
regiments was at this time somewhat peculiar.
There appeared to be no particular system
about it, and we were told that military require
ments had been allowed to sink before sanitary
considerations in choosing the camping-grounds.
It appeared to us as if every one had been
allowed to take his choice, and regimental camps
were scattered about pretty much like plums in
a cakCj and with just about as much foresight
on the part of the chief cook.
The front line, two miles from Suakin town,
was taken up by a chain of redoubts running
from the Right and Left Water Forts on the
left to the West Redoubt on the right Both of
these were signal-stations, and rendered quite
impregnable by deep ditches and Gardner guns.
The redoubts were circular-formed, and sur
rounded by a ditch ten or twelve feet broad,
iacross which ran a plank which could be drawn

SUAKIN, 1885.

inside at will. The line of the camps started
from the Right Water Fort, where we were,
and extended to a point about two miles away
and half a mile in rear of the West Redoubt.
Two regiments of the 2nd Brigade, the 70th
and 53rd, were on the left; then came an interval
of a mile' or more to the Guards Brigade, which
ran at right angles to the front ; the Coldstream,
Grenadiers, and Scots Guards camps, being in
line facing towards the Water Forts,
In rear of the Guards came the Sandbag
Battery and the camp of the 49th. To their
left rear was a battalion of Marines and a battery
of Royal Horse Artillery. Further to the left
was a part ofthe cavalry, the 19th Hussars, who
left us shortly after this. Then half a mile to
the right rear came the Head-quarter camp ; and
further back still ' H Redoubt," the camp of the
Army Hospital Corps.
The Ordnance camp was a mile to the right
rear and close to the water's edge, while the 5th
Lancers and 20th Hussars were stationed in
rear of the centre of the line and about three
quarters of a mile from the town lines.
The Indian brigade, both cavalry and infantry,
were all encamped on the south-east side of the
town, where there was also a long chain of

NIGHT ATTACKS. 63

redoubts and forts, the most important point
being Fort Foulah, where there were some
wells. Thus it will be seen that the camps were
much scattered, and placed in such positions that
not only were they unable to protect themselves,
but were a source of danger to each other as
well, for, with the exception of the front line,
there was no direction in which the scattered
units could fire without endangering comrades
in one direction or the other.
The Arabs were quite alive to our condition,
and, with their consummate craftiness, took
advantage of the folly of our dispositions.
It seems almost incredible that a trained force,
¦ and some of the finest troops in the world, should
have been liable night after night to be "rushed"
by a few savages. Nothing goes further towards
demoralizing troops than a sense of insecurity
at night Men are unable to get proper rest,
and without sleep, especially in such an enervating
climate as that of the Sudan, a soldier cannot
be depended on in daytime either to march or
fight in the way he should. Added to this, a
perpetual series of night attacks, carried on by a
few determined and reckless individuals under
¦cover of the darkness, tended so to shake the

64 SUAKIN, I?

nerves of our men that the efficiency of the force
was to a certain extent undermined.
I must mention that there was a line of
pickets across the whole of the front, and these
were stationed in the redoubts. The interval
between these posts was, however, much too^
great, and in the intense darkness that prevailed
at this time small parties of the enemy crept
along on the ground and passed through the
line without being detected by the sentries.
They were then able to traverse the intervening
space between the outposts and the camps, and
choose their points of attack.
The unoccupied ground already referred to
between the Guards camp and the two regiments
of the 2nd Brigade gave them free ingress, and
thus they were able to attack us in rear or on
the flanks at will.
On the night of the 7th of March the 70th had
had their rear-guard attacked, and had lost two
men wounded. After this we had no peace at all
at night, as directly it became dark the enemy
would open fire on us from a distance which
was not at all pleasant, or creep into our tents or
up to our sentries and stab a man or two before
\\'(?. were aware of any danger.
The night of the nth was one ofthe most

NIGHT ATTACKS. 65
disagreeable of all, as parties of the enemy
attacked ever so many points at the same time,
'We had just sat down to our soup at about
seven o'clock, when heavy firing was opened by
our pickets, in reply to the " crack,'' " crack," of
the Remingtons which was going on in front.
As the night wore on, every now and then a
single shot would break the stillness, and then
would follow a volley or two, when, all would be
again quiet. The dismal cry of the sentries,.
"All's well ! " would be taken up by one post
after another, till it died away in the far distance.
This shouting of the sentries was very trying,.
as it alone rendered sleep impossible. The men
would call out at their very loudest, laying
considerable stress on the " all's," and cutting
short the "well," They seemed to call out far
more than was absolutely necessary, and for
the sake of company more than for anything
else. There was one great disadvantage besides;
in this calling, and that was that it enabled
the Arabs to determine the exact position of each
post. It was a relief to find that common sense
came to our rescue for once, and the next morn
ing an order was issued putting a stop to the
practice, and also doubling each post, so that,
by being two together, the men had more con-
F

66 SUAKIN, 1885.

fidence, as one was able to patrol to the next
post on the right or left, while the other kept a
.sharp look out
About midnight the firing grew heavier, and
as we stood in front of our tents we could see
the Sikhs in our rear hard at Avork, while firing
was going on up at the Guards camp and also
right away in rear at the Ordnance camp.
By 2 a.m. the whole of the front line of
pickets were blazing away as fast as they could,
and then there rose a cry that the pickets were
coming in. Immediately bugles and trumpets
sounded the "fall in" and the "double," and
then there was the rush of many feet and the
dull sound of many voices as men ran to the
posts told off to them in case of attack.
The firing ceased for a time, and the pickets
fell back on the main body, not without some
loss. A patrol of two men and a corporal were
set upon as they were retiring, and only one
man escaped, the others being killed. They were
marching back with their arms at the slope,
when some of these daring fellows came up
behind them, pulled them over backwards by
their rifles, and immediately despatched them,
only one of them, with a frightful wound in his
face, escaping with his life.

NIGHT ATTACKS. 67
No sooner had the pickets come in than a
•terrific fire was opened all along the line, and
the many detached camps in our rear appeared
to be having a merry time of it too, for their
Isullets came most uncomfortably near us.
To add to the weird appearance of the night,
the Dolphin threw the electric light far and
wide across the country, making everything
which came under its rays as bright as day. At
¦one time a whole camp would suddenly be
¦shown up distinctly, perhaps a mile or more off,
and one could distinguish the men standing to
their arms or firing away only too probably at
some imaginary foe. Then in an instant our
camp would be illuminated as if by sunlight,
and every feature of the ground would be as dis
tinct in our front as at twelve o'clock in the day.
This light, to our thinking, had its disadvantages
as well as its advantages, and I am not at all
sure that, under the existing circumstances, the
former did not kick the beam. In the first
place, the path of light thrown was not more
than about thirty yards broad at a distance of
two miles, and if by chance it happened to be
directed on a party of the enemy, they were
very soon put out of sight again as the light
swept across the ground. They could also, by

68 SUAKIN, 1885,
lying down when they saw the light approach
ing, completely evade observation, as they had
a trick of covering themselves with sand in a
moment and leaving nothing visible but their
heads. Sometimes the light was moved sud
denly from point to point, and when this was
done parties of the enemy were occasionally-
shown up and advantage taken of it immediatel}'.
The sailors working the light on board the
Dolphin were, of course, unable to see when the\"
hit off" a point suspected by us on shore, and
often and often after we had been peering through
the darkness at whatwe took to be moving objects^
the light would cross us, and, before we had
become accustomed to its brilliancy, would pass
on and leave the darkness doubly dark.
The gravest fault connected with the light
was that, from its position, it enabled the enemy
to take note of our movements, as it showed up
the various camps from time to time. I not
unfrequently saw the light turned on to a sus
pected point of attack, and kept there for five
minutes or more, when, of course, everything
coming under its rays, the whole wa\- from the
ship was thrown up into light. In this way
one could see solitary sentries or small pickets
standing at their posts like so many statues.

NIGHT ATTACKS. 69
I have no wish to derogate from the enormous
-advantages to be derived from this most useful
scientific appliance, for I believe it to be in
valuable. But I do wish to point out that its
utility is proportionate to the position from
which the light is thrown. Placed as we
were, there was no alternative but to use the
light from one of the ships in harbour. The
Dolphin was lying right away to our rear, and
two miles from our front line, so that the
enemy, I am inclined to think, reaped more
advantage from its use than we did, except in
certain instances.
For the light to be used -svith the greatest
effect it should be thrown from a point on either
flank, thus sweeping the whole of the front of a
position, and, so to speak, enfilading it It
should never be in rear of those for whose
advantage it is being used, if it can possibly be
avoided, as in throwing the light to the front it
is bound to show up everything from the point
where it is being worked. By working it from
a flank the additional advantage is gained that
the whole of the ground in front of a position is
illuminated at once, instead of a space of thirty
or forty yards, as it is then broadside on.
Modern science has not revealed to us at

70 SUAKIN, iS

present a perfect mode by which we can be
absolutely independent of steam power in gene
rating an electric current of any strength ; but
when a thoroughly complete system of storing
electricity has been invented, there is no doubt
that apparatus for electric lighting \\\]S. form a
part of the equipment of every army, just a»
much as it does now every ship of war.
We stood to our arms for an hour or more,,
but the Arabs appeared to have drawn off, and
contented themselves with firing a few shots at
us at long range, resulting, so far as we were
concerned, in one casualty only. Soon after
this the day began to break, the firing ceased,
and we were soon beginning another day of
ceaseless toil.
Our killed were buried in front of the redoubts,.
where we found many traces of blood, but no
dead. The Arabs always carried awa}' their
dead with them, so we were never able to arri\-e
at what execution we had done. The firing had
been very heavy off" and on all night, and there
is no doubt they must have had many casualties;
I was told afterwards that the Sikhs did some
execution, and that a part}- of Arabs returned
five times to try and fetch awa}- one of their
number who had fallen dead close to the tents.

NIGHT ATTACKS. 71
The detachment in charge of the Camel
Dep6t had also a rough time of it ; they were up
all night under a heavy fire, but, being behind
the town lines, escaped without any casualties.
The most determined attack that night was
made on the Ordnance Store camp, where there
was some severe fighting.
This camp, as I have already said, was in
rear of all the others, close to the water's edge,
and adjoining two landing-stages or piers.
Deep water close up to these piers enabled ships
of considerable draft to come alongside and
unload in the same way as at Quarantine Island,
and all stores in the way of equipment and
ammunition were landed here — clothing, arms,
boots, helmets, blankets, harness of all sorts,
pack-saddles, camel-saddles, carts of all sorts,
sizes, and description ; tents, storage-tanks for
water, portable tanks and barrels, miles of
telegraph wire, cases of stationery by the
hundred, ammunition for all arms ; and, in fact,
anything and everything that could possibly be
wanted by an army in the field.
It may be imagined, therefore, that many
hundred thousand pounds' worth of stores were
collected at this dep6t, and it appeared that the
enemy were fully alive to the importance of

SUAKIN, 1885.

the place. In the creek behind the camp lay
the Dolphin and the Carysfort, but the camp
itself was almost entirely unprotected by any
form of earthworks or laager.
I had occasion to go down to the Ordnance
¦camp the next day, and received the fol
lowing account of the fight from the senior
¦Ordnance Store officer in command there, which
I think it better to put as nearly as possible in
his own words. His story of the fight ran as
follows : —
"When I first arrived at the Ordnance camp
on the 8th of March, it consisted of four
Indian double-poled tents and a sepoys' tent.
Enormous quantities of camp equipment and
stores of all sorts were pouring in in an endless
stream from early dawn to late at night.
" The depot was scarcely safe from attack, and
very weakly defended by a laager of ]Maltese
carts on the north and west sides only, the east
and south sides being left open,
" It had been protected up till then by a
nominal guard of one non-commissioned officer
and twelve men at night-time, but I had this
increased to one non-commissioned officer and
twenty-four men of the 49th Berkshire Regiment,
which at this time were finding the guard. It

NIGHT ATTACKS.

was generally believed that the enemy would
never venture to penetrate so far in rear of our
lines, especially as we were under the guns
of the Dolphin and Carysfort ; still, I never
could see why they should not make a circui
tous march, round by the sea-shore, as there
Avas a wide stretch of open ground a mile and a
half in extent between the right of our lines and
the coast.
" My tent was pitched between two others on
the north-west side of the depot, the men's tents
being on the east side.
" I slept alone in my tent, and felt in perfect
safety until the night of the nth of March, when,
to our astonishment, we were suddenly attacked
by the Arabs under Abdul Adab.
" I usually let my candle burn out on the
table, and kept all four doors of my tent open,
but on this particular night, luckily for me, my
candle blew out I had slept soundly all the
first part of the night, and until I was suddenly
aroused by rapid firing and most frightful yells.
I realized at once that we were attacked, and
looking out of the door of my tent, saw distinctly
some black forms moving about the yard on
all-fours. " A few seconds afterwards, hearing somebody

74 SUAKIN, 1885.

rushing towards my tent, and not being able to
find my sword in the darkness, I ran out of
another doorway and scrambled under the
curtains into the next tent, where I narrowly
escaped being shot by one of my own brother
officers, who luckily though recognized my voice
as he was going to fire.
"As we came out of the tent a sentry ran
towards us, calling out that we were surrounded,
I then managed to get back to my tent, and
found my revolver and sword, when I immedi
ately joined the guard, who I opened out into
skirmishing order. We then marched, or rather
felt our way in the darkness, through the
cases and bales of stores from end to end of
the yard, every now and then coming across a
wounded man as we went.
" The electric light was then suddenly turned
on us by the Dolphin- — it had not been going
before this — and the scene which presented itself
to our eyes was one of awful horror. Two'
sentries had rushed in mortall)- wounded ; one
had dropped down dead, while the other was
standing up, simply hacked to pieces, and bathed
in his own blood, but without any sign of
consciousness. " It was with a sense of relief that we heard

NIGHT ATTACKS. 75
the ships lowering their boats, and soon after
they came alongside; and landed a party of
blue-jackets and a doctor, who conveyed the
wounded back on board.
" By this time the enemy had made off,
leaving their leader Abdul Adab dead on the
ground. He had made across the yard to my
tent, and was shot in the back by one of
my men ; but this only partially stopped him,
for he hurried on and was eventually bayoneted
by a man of the guard, who was himself cut
down at the same moment
" His death evidently stopped the whole force
outside coming down upon us.
"There was a considerable force seen when
the electric light was turned on, hurrying away
to the north-west, but the guns of the ships
were unable to open on them for fear of the
camp. " Their idea was evidently to surround us, as,
while one party attacked the guard in front,
another party came round between us and the
water, and entered the yard from that side.
Their reserves were held in readiness to com
plete our destruction as soon as the first attack
proved successful.
"I am afraid the guard in the first instance

76 SUAKIN, 1885,

was taken by surprise; the outlying sentries
were pounced down upon before they could give
the alarm, and most of the men of the guard
were wounded as they came out of the guard-
tent " Had it not been for the determined bravery
of the men, who one and all behaved splendidly,
our losses must have been very great ; as it was,
we had three men killed and eight wounded,
"Abdul Adab was a very fine-looking man,
at least six feet two inches in height, and
magnificently proportioned ; he wore the ordi
nary white blouse, but had many ribbons across
his chest, which we took to be decorations. He
was afterwards recognized as Osman Digna's
standard-bearer." A report was current after this that Osman
Digna had sent in word to say that if we would
return the body of Abdul Adab, and not burn it,
he on his part would undertake to forego all
night attacks in future ; but I am not able to
vouch for the truth of the story. The body
was not returned, but buried about a hundred
yards in front of the Ordnance camp.
As to the losses sustained by the Arabs on
this occasion, many traces were found of bodies
being dragged away along the ground, and

NIGHT ATTACKS. 77

when the mounted infantry went out the follow
ing morning on their line of retreat, they came
across many of their dead which had been
dropped when the electric light had been turned
on to them.
On the principle of shutting the stable-door
after the horse had been stolen, means were
at once taken to strengthen and defend the
Ordnance camp. Earthworks were thrown up
all round it, and strong parties of Egyptian'
troops were at work digging deep ditches and
throwing up high parapets. These ditches soon
filled with water, owing to the low level of the
ground, and in a few days the stench there was
frightful, and moreover was the cause of much
sickness afterwards among the Ordnance Store
Corps, We were very hard at work all the next day
getting our horses up from the Camel Dep6t.
Most of them were English horses, and therefore
unsuited to the climate, and they were, generally
speaking, a seedy-looking lot. Many of them
were unbroken, which fact did not lend to the
pleasure of riding them in a hot climate. It
would have been far better if we had had
nothing but Arab horses for riding purposes,
and mules, for draft-work. Most of the horses-

78 SUAKIN, 1885.

we brought from England succumbed to the
climate before very long. The mounted infantry
were mounted on Arab horses, and had much
the best of it over the rough ground. A part
of our cavalry afterwards took over the horses
from the Egyptian cavalry regiment at Suakin,
who were also mounted on Arabs.
Night came again, and with the darkness the
ball reopened and the bullets began to whistle
over our heads. It was evident that we were to
have no peace.
There was a large outlying picket of the 70th
posted about four hundred yards to our front,
and this kept firing away all night.
About one o'clock in the morning we suddenly
heard a tremendous row going on just in our
rear, and we thought at first that a party of the
enemy had entered our horse-lines, but running
out of the tent we found that the rear-guard of
the 53rd were being attacked. It was always
very difficult to make out from whence sounds
came at night; the air was so clear that you
could hear people shouting as if they were close
to you, when in reality they were a mile or
more off".
This attack on the rear-guard of the 53rd was
a most audacious proceeding on the part of the

NIGHT ATTACKS. 79
enemy. The guard, fortunately for them, were
lying down outside the guard-tent, while the
double sentry patrolled up and down about
fifteen yards in front, and behind a low-shelter
trench. All at once a party of some fifteen or
twenty Arabs, who had crawled towards them
in the darkness, jumped up, rushed up to the
parapet, fired a volley or two into the guard,
and then disappeared again immediately. The
guard, who were under arms in a moment, fired
in the direction of their retreat, but, so far
as could be gathered, without effect. The
casualties among the guard were three men
wounded, while a fourth had his rifle knocked
out of his hand by a bullet which passed straight
through the stock.
The night wore on, and our time was taken up
going round our sentries and looking about,
expecting every minute to be attacked ; and
again we got no sleep.
Firing was going on in every direction ; and
the bullets continued to hum and to whirr
through the air, while many came through our
tents. We would not allow our men to fire,_ though
they might have done so with perfect safety.
We had begun during the day to throw up a

8o SUAKIN, 1885.

shelter trench across the front of our camp, and'
we lined this with some of our men that night.
It was three o'clock when we saw about a
hundred yards to our front what we took to
be something moving, and many of the men
wanted to fire, but the order given in a low
whisper was —
" Steady, men ; wait till you can see the white
of their eyes,"
We were all lying on the ground, almost
breathless with excitement, when we could see
that, what some had thought to be bushes, were
indeed a party of the enemy crawling stealthily
towards us,
" Present," in a low tone, then a pause to
allow for a steady aim, and then, " Fire ! "
There was a cry and a shriek in front as the
volley was thrown in, and then there was silence
again. We gave them another, though, where
we took them to be, and the next morning there
was little doubt that some at least of our bullets
had found their billets. So far as our camp was
concerned we were not troubled again that
night, but we had no sleep, :
I had to go down to Quarantine Island at
daybreak to superintend the disembarkation of
a shipload of camels from India, and was at

NIGHT ATTACKS. 8i
work all day long at the job, I managed to
secure a good breakfast though ""on board the
vessel, the first I had had for some time.
The camels were packed pretty tight both on
the upper and lower decks, and the smell of
them was simply sickening. They were slung
up from below by steam, and then dropped on
an inclined plane and driven ashore. A native
driver accompanied each three camels, and
before the middle of the afternoon we had them
all on the wharf and picketed inside the walls
of the town for the night.
It was just growing dark as I got back to
camp after a very hard day in the sun, and I
would have given a good deal for a wash, but
water was scarce, so I had to go without.
We began to take the firing at night novv as a
matter of course ; and so when the bullets began
to fly about again we took little or no notice of
it, only passing a remark or two such as " They
are beginning a little earlier to-night," or " No
rest again,  it ! " It was uncomfortable,
though, letting alone the want of sleep. Lying
all night long, either waiting for an expected
attack, or peering into the darkness till every
bush in front took the form of a man on the
move, began to tell on our nerves. Then there
G

SUAKIN, 1885.

was that sense of insecurity and the uncertainty
of what might happen in the night, for none of
us knew when we lay down at night whether
we should be alive in the morning.
I was lying on my camp-bed with my sword
on and my revolver ready to my hand. It must
have been about half-past ten o'clock, and I may
have been dozing. There had been no firing
for an hour ; and now that the sentries had been
stopped calling " All's well ! " the quiet of the
camp was only broken by the neighing of a
horse or the grunt or moan of a camel, when
suddenly the stillness was interrupted by the most
awful scream that it has ever been my lot to
hear — a loud, long wail of agony, as of a man
mortally wounded, crying out with his last
breath. It was a sound that absolutely seemed
to curdle the very blood in one's veins. Then
came a rush through the camp as those men
who had been in their tents turned out A few
random shots were fired without effect, and the
enemy, if ever seen at all, had disappeared.
With the stealth of a wild beast, and with the
wriggle of an eel, a party of Arabs must have
entered the camp unnoticed by the sentries, and
then rushing in through one door of a tent have
stabbed and hacked with their long spears as

NIGHT ATTACKS. 83
they rushed through and out of the tent the
other side. One poor fellow had been stuck with
a spear right through the stomach, and with a
last frightful and pitiful yell had expired at
once. How the Arabs managed to enter the camps
we never discovered ; but this sort of thing was
repeated by them over and over again in the
face of double sentries and guards and pickets
all over the place.
We had a most uncomfortable night of it
after this. Some of the enemy had got round
in our rear, between the Water Forts and the
cavalry camp, and had been sighted by a party
of Indian infantry on the one side and the
cavalry pickets on the other.
I had noticed, as I was coming home that
night, that three circular redoubts had been
thrown up on three sides of the cavalry camp,
for what purpose has always been a complete
mystery to me. What use they could possibly
be nobody ever knew, as the cavalry camp was
in rear of the centre of the front line of the
encampment, and men firing from these redoubts
at all must, in spite of every precaution, have
fired into some camp or other either in front or
to the right or left.

84 SUAKIN, 1885.

However, on the night in question, they were
manned by the cavalry pickets. Whether any of
the enemy really did get round in our rear I
am unable to say ; but there is no doubt that
the men at this time fired at everything, and
when they were not sure whether they saw any
thing or not they gave it the benefit of the
doubt, and let fly.
In this way we very nearly suffered severely,
and how we escaped being all killed is a mys
tery. Suffice it to say that we stood up there
and watched the Indians fire volleys by squads
clean into us, and we could count the number of
men firing by the flashes, as they were not more
than five hundred yards off. The firing from
this side must have been infectious, for we very
soon afterwards found ourselves under a cross
fire from the cavalry redoubts on the other. A
pleasant variety of bullets were now cutting up
the ground at our feet— the Indians, firing with
Sniders, and the cavalry with Martini- Henry
carbines. Our chief work was to prevent a
stampede among our horses, but I am thankful
to say the firing at length stopped before any
serious damage was done, and we came out of
action with our friends with the loss of a mule
only. We, on our part, put the whole thing

NIGHT ATTACKS. 85
down to General Funk's account, as we saw
nothing ourselves, and never fired a shot.
The main cause of danger was of course the
utterly unsystematic arrangement of the camp,
which could not have been too severely con
demned, and it was generally considered that
we ran more risks on account of our friends than
we did on account of our enemies.
Our General arrived the next morning, so we
all began to look forward to an advance being
made very soon.
The whole force was now complete, and all
the troops had arrived. Only one thing was not
ready, and that was the water transport We
had plenty of transport animals, but nothing to
carry water in ; no tanks, or barrels, had as yet
arrived from home, and it was impossible to
move the force without the first requisite for
an army operating in such a climate.
It was a most magnificent sight certainly,
looking round the country from our camp in the
early morning, for the Right Water Fort was
the highest point between Suakin and the hills.
Miles of tents were spread over the desert in
every direction, like so many scattered hamlets.
Long lines of camels and baggage animals
traversed the plain, bringing up stores and

86 SUAKIN, 1885.

munitions of all sorts, and mules were to be seen
drawing water-carts up to the front with the
supply of the precious fluid for the day. In
the distance the white houses and squat towers
of Suakin, with the harbour crowded with any
number of gigantic transports, which seemed
almost to dwarf the houses with their enormous
proportions. Behind the town one could see
the low flat shores and surf-washed coral reefs
of the Red Sea, trending away miles and miles
to the southward till they were lost in the hot
brazen mists of the horizon. On the other side,
that is towards our front, there was nothing but
the flat, hot, inhospitable desert, with its ragged
patches of wild growth, and its clumps of mimosa
thorn bushes scattered here and there, far and
wide. Only one thing relieved the monotony
of the scene in this direction — the mirage, which
at this time of day was always most striking, as
it converted parts of the desert into a series of
beautiful lakes, with objects of fantastic form
reflected on their smooth surfaces. A line of
bush would be turned into a strong line of
entrenchments, while a clump of mimosa often
took the form of some outlying fort, or work of
great strength. Behind all came the magnificent
range of mountains brilliant in a deep crimson

NIGHT ATTACKS. 87
colour, and standing up against the hot sky with
a dark purple outline. There was a marvellous
clearness in the atmosphere in the early morning,
and every detail of the mountains could be seen
as far off" as forty miles or more. It was at this
time of day, too, that the sailors stationed in the
tops of the men-of-war in harbour very often
sighted parties of the enemy retiring towards
Hasheen after tormenting us all night When
they did it was not long before a " boom " was
heard, and a great nine-inch shell went hurtling
through the air, aimed with unerring precision
at a range of nearly six miles. A dull echo of
the shot and a column of dust thirty or forty feet
high told us of their position, but we could never
see whether the shots took effect or not, though
there could not be much doubt about it
We were hard at work all day branding
camels, each animal having to be marked with
the Broad Arrow and a distinguishing number.
It was a tedious and tiresome job, but the camels
bore it with their accustomed resignation, and
we only had one accident during the several
days we were at it — our farrier sergeant getting
a kick from a vicious one full in the face. As
fast as they were numbered they were sent off
on various fatigues, bringing up rations or fire-

SUAKIN, 1885.

wood for the various regiments of the brigade.
Every bit of firewood we used oUt there was
brought hundreds of miles by sea, as there was
none to be had in that part of the Sildan.
The days seemed very long, and owing to
the harassing night attacks both days and nights
appeared to be mixed up. Want of sleep began
to tell a bit on the men, but we had very little
or no sickness, though we were toiling all day
long, and watching and being shot at all night
A curious order came out at this time, but
I am unable to say how far it was ever carried
out Each man was to be provided with a
cartridge or two, the bullet of which had been
cut into four pieces, and these were to be used
at night "pending the arrival of buckshot
cartridges from England," The idea was a
good one, but we thought it somewhat of a
slight on the men, as it was of course done to
get over the danger of one camp firing into
another. The men ought never to have been
allowed to fire at all, or even to load their rifles.
The bayonet was quite good enough, and several
battalions out there gave up firing at night
times altogether. We were firmly convinced'
ourselves that a great deal of the firing was due
to shaky nerves, and many a bush got a hot

NIGHT ATTACKS. 89
peppering because of its imaginary likeness to
a " Fuzzie."
I went out one morning in front ofthe redoubts
to look at a point at which there had been some
heavy firing the night before. It was a raised
mound of sand where, when first we came out,
a picket was always stationed. On the top of
this mound stood a barrel filled with sand,
behind which the sentry of the picket was posted.
This barrel stood up against the sky line at
night and in the darkness might have been taken
for anything, and certainly resembled a crouch
ing figure, as one of the staves had been broken
and stuck out from the side like an arm.
This old barrel must have had a very hot time
of it, for it was simply riddled with bullets ;
I counted thirty-eight shot-holes, and when
I emptied it, among others, I found a shrapnel
bullet, so all arms must have had a go at the
barrel, and it was certainly very satisfactory to
see how many of the shots had been successful.
We had now been four nights without sleep,
and should have been very grateful to the Arabs
if they would have kindly given us a night's rest
and agreed to carry on the war according to
ordinary principles. But not a bit of it ; no
sooner had we finished our evening meal than

90 SUAKIN, 1885.

the firing began again, and another night was
spent lying in the trenches, and watching till
daylight came again.
We only allowed half of our men to sleep in
the tents, the other half sleeping behind the
shelter trenches ready to repulse any attack in
a moment. We had also at this time one or two
"friendlies" of the Amarar tribe, who kept watch
with our men during the night The extra
ordinary keenness of eyesight possessed by these
people we thought might have been of use to
us, as they appeared to be able to see in the
dark very nearly as well as they could in the
daylight Several times over they made signs
to us that they could see figures moving across
our front, and even became quite excited about
it, and entreated us to shoot, but we could see
nothing. It was very curious to watch them,
but somehow I never felt any trust in them.
These " friendlies " wore a scarlet serge
blouse and carried spears and shields, and they
were regularly in our pay. I am not at all sure,
though, that these fellows did not strip oflT their
red shirts and carry to Osman Digna's people a
complete account of our strength and proposed
movements, and many of us thought that the
so-called " friendlies " in Suakin, who were

NIGHT ATTACKS. 91
suffered to walk about the place fully armed
and to come and go as they liked, were the very
fellows who made the night attacks on our
camp. No native should ever have been allowed
to carry arms unless he had been regularly
enrolled among the natives in our pay.
It was no uncommon sight just before sunset
to see groups of armed natives coming out of
Suakin. Where they were going I for one
never knew, but I should have been very sorry
to have met them after dark. In the face of the.
acknowledged treachery of these people it was
curious that no attempt was ever made to put a
stop to this sort of thing ; but we English are a
confiding people.

92 SUAKIN, 1885.

CHAPTER V.
PREPARATION,
We were getting tolerably accustomed to being
out in the sun all day by this time. The
weather was very hot and the sun shone down
upon us with never a cloud in the sky to
mitigate its rays. It set at night in a sky of
the deepest crimson, and rose in the morning
again to scorch us, to burn us, and almost sear
us with its horrible power,
I often used to think of the old country at
home, where the sunlight was a blessing, and
then look round on this bare, bleak, desolate
desert, where life was not, and where the sun
was a curse, where pestilence and fever were
hatched by it, and where men fled from it to
escape, if it were possible, its pitiless power.
And yet we toiled on beneath its rays ; we rose
in the morning and had done many an hour's
hard work before the sun showed above the

PREPARATION. 93

horizon of theiRed Sea yonder. But we did not
rise in order n:© get the work done before the
heat of the day, but in order to crowd more
working hours into the twenty-four.
It was wonderful to see how " Tommy " made
himself at home. You would see him carrying
on an energetic conversation with a native, and
making up for his deficient knowledge of the
language by talking at the top of his voice, and
of course always addressing the native familiarly
as " Johnnie." Then you would see him trying
to make a pet of a camel, or riding one as if he
had never ridden anything else. A hundred
different duties fell to his lot, cooking, branding,
fatigues innumerable, digging entrenchments in
the very heat of the day, pitching tents, going
on guard, watching all night under a heavy fire,
and many other things besides. He got through
them all, though, and was always to be heard
chaffing and laughing, for he is a good fellow.
Tommy Atkins, though he is bound to have a
grumble and a growl sometimes, for "'tis his
rights," Among our most uncomfortable experiences
were the sand storms, which came regularly
almost every third day. The wind would rise
and blow harder and harder with its hot breath

94 SUAKIN, 1885.

till the air became filled with fine sand. There
was no keeping it out of anything ; the whole of
the inside of a tent was covered with it almost
immediately and everything buried. Every
thing one tried to eat was full of it, one's eyes
and hair were full of it, it got into the water in
the covered tins, and worked its way through
one's clothes. If a tin of meat was opened it
was filled with the fine dust at once, and all our
food was full of grit and our bread spoiled.
Outside the tents the air was as thick as a
London fog, and marching in it nearly Winded
one ; but we had to work on just the same,
though it was very difficult to find our way from
one point to another. The goggles we had been
supplied with failed to keep it out, and the
veils were of little use, only sifting the dust one
swallowed a little finer, till eyes, nose, and throat
were clogged with it. The temperature during
these sand storms would generally be about 85° ;
so the dust used to stick to us and plaster
us, and there was little or no water to wash it
off". As a rule the wind dropped at about three
o'clock in the afternoon, and the air became
clear again.
It seemed to have struck somebody aljout
this period that a better disposition of the camp

PREPARA TION. 95
could be made, and that probably the men
might obtain a little rest at night if the
camps were placed in such a position that they
would be a support instead of a danger to one
another. Orders were accordingly given to close up,
and we had a very busy time shifting all the
camps into their new positions. The Guards
were withdrawn and their camp pitched in the
general alignment, their right-resting on Sand-
Bag Battery. The 49th were shifted over to the
right of the 53rd, and the Royal Marines next
to them. This completed the front line, which
thus ran from the Water Forts on the left to
Sand-Bag Battery on the right The head
quarters of the 2nd Brigade were shifted iti rear
of the 5 3rd, while the Head Quarter Staff were
encamped between us and the. Right Water
Fort. The cavalry were moved up and en
camped about one hundred and fifty yards in
rear of the 70th, and next to them on their right
were the Mounted Infantry. ; Then came the
Artillery and Engineers and a Field Hospital,
" H Redoubt " being now turned into one of the
shore hospitals. The whole of the Indian
Brigade was withdrawn from the south-west
side of the town and brought round and en-

96 SUAKIN, 1885,

camped in rear of our left, thus making a line
of camps facing towards the south. This brigade
was composed of the following regiments —
ISth Sikhs, 17th Bengal Native Infantry, the
28th Bombay Native Infantry, the 9th Bengal
Cavalry, and two companies of the Madras
Sappers and Miners, Strength about 3000.
The strength of the whole force under General
Graham must have been between ten and eleven
thousand men, not including the native camel
drivers. The Indian regiments seemed to be much
better off than we were, and the officers ap
peared to live in luxury ; they went in for table
cloths and glasses, and gave a very excellent
dinner. The natives helped them out consider
ably, as they are by nature servants and cooks.
They know how to make you comfortable under
adverse circumstances, and certainly appear to
be able to make a very good curry out of very
little, though where the ingredients come from
in the desert, I don't know ; like French cook
ing, however, it doesn't do to ask too many
questions. We gave a dinner party one night,
and borrowed an Indian cook for the occasion.
Our bill of fare we thought was grand : — Soup,
pot au feu ; entrde, curry and rice ; pifece de

PREPARA TION. 97
resistance, more curry and more rice ; entremets,
sardines ; sweets, preserved peaches. The whole
washed down with a couple of bottles of dry
Monopole. A cup of coffee all round followed,
and a glass of whiskey before turning in, when
we felt prepared for any number of Osman
Dignas. Whether it was the above magnificent
banquet, or that the Arabs let us alone, I only
know that we went to bed, certainly, in our
clothes, soon after ten o'clock, and never woke
till a little before four o'clock the next morning.
There was a faint idea, though, that the changing
of the camp may have had a little to do with
it. The enemy may have thought something
was up, as they watched our movements of the
previous day ; they certainly never fired a shot,
and I suppose took a rest too, after their
extraordinary feats of unexampled temerity.
The result was good all round, as we had our
first sleep for five nights. There are limits to
everybody's power of endurance, and the want
of sleep after the exhaustion of the day was
beginning to tell on some of us very much.
With good food and plenty of water, men can
stand hard work night and day ; but with in
different food, and no variety from the daily
ration of bouilli beef, there is bound to be a
H

SUAKIN, 1885.

certain loss of power in a climate like that of
the Sudan, even with the strongest.
Before leaving home there had been great
talking about moving the army into the hills at
once, and thus getting the troops into a good
climate. Five minutes at Suakin would have
shown any one the utter impossibility of this.
People talk at home as if it was as easy to
move an army from one point to another as it
is to move chessmen ; and as simple to feed the
army when you get it there, as it is to feed a
party of school children, or to carry out the
arrangements for a picnic on the banks of the
Thames. The general tone of the conversation
was something as follows : —
" Well, of course the climate of Suakin is hot,
but then you see as soon as you get there you
will be moved at once to Sinkat, and stop there
for the summer. The climate is a beautiful one,
very bracing and very refreshing ; in fact, you
will be quite well off."
Now, setting aside the enormous and gigantic
amount of labour entailed in moving even a small
body of say three thousand men over a short
distance of six miles, and maintaining them at
any particular point, when every ounce of food
and every drop of water has to be carried on

PREPARATION. 99
camels — it may be imagined at what cost it
would be possible to move an army twelve
thousand strong " at once," to a point thirty-six
miles off, through a trying country, covered
with a thorny bush and huge black boulders,
rendering progress more and more difficult at
every step, and with the chance of being hourly
attacked by a determined foe constantly on the
watch to take advantage of any laxity in your
movements. The convoy of camels to carry stores for even
a day's supply is prodigious, and the rate of
progression so tedious, owing to the difficulty
of preventing any straggling, that not more than
a mile and a half an hour can be traversed with
any certainty.
As far as the climate of Sinkat goes, it is of
course far preferable to that of Suakin, and
comparatively healthy ; but the difference of
temperature is one of degree only, as it is ex
ceedingly hot in the summer months, though
upwards of three thousand feet above the sea.
There was plenty of talk, too, about the ease
with which a railway could be laid, and the
wildest rumours were afloat about the rate at
which the work would progress. Of course the
army would be moved to Sinkat, and of course

SUAKIN, 1885.

nothing would be easier than for supplies to be
run out every day from Suakin.
The contractors or agents employed by the
Government were not much behind the troops
in their arrival at Suakin, and two or three
days after we landed several transports entered
the harbour with their cargo of five miles of
railway plant complete in every detail ; and
before we had been there a week, the British
navvy was to be seen laying the sleepers and
fixing the metals. The first part of the line
was easy enough. The ground was firm and
perfectly level, and so the work progressed with
vigour ; but it was a different matter when the
sandy, bush-grown country beyond the camp
was reached, and " drifts " had to be cut through
the thorny mimosa. All this — the severest part
of the work — fell to the lot of the army. The
line was ballasted by the soldiers, the sleepers
were carried forward in carts by our transport
animals, and the rails had to be dragged from
the point up to which they were brought by the
train, by teams of mules or horses. The con
tractor's work, and that performed by the
navvies, was merely placing the sleepers at
the proper intervals, and fixing the rails. For
this the navvies received the princely remunera-

PREPARA TION.

tion of twelve shillings a day, and time work, a
free ration, and a free kit ; while our soldiers
received only as many pennies extra working
pay as the navvies did shillings. By the con
tract, too, the firm undertaking the work were
to receive bonuses in all of ;^40,ooo, in pro
portion as the various sections of the line
were completed.
The additional labour thrown on the troops
of guarding the head of the line, and the work
men during their labours, was also extremely
heavy. Nothing could possibly have been
worse for the men than this. They were ex
posed to the sun, and had nothing to do but
stand about and think. A few tent roofs were
sent out to protect them from the sun, but it
was not always possible to use these.
I do not think more than from a thousand to
twelve hundred yards were laid in a day over
this, the easiest part of the country, from Suakin
to Handub. The rate of progression in the hills
would necessarily be reduced, and at this rate
the line would probably reach Berber by the
end of August next year, or in other words, the
army would have been dragging its weary way
along a track, exposed to a thousand hardships
and privations, for a period of something like

SUAKIN, 1885,

seventeen months, the distance from Suakin
to Berber being not unfrequently traversed by
camels in ten days.
Another thing. It would be absolutely impos
sible to build this railway on the telescopic
principle — that is, making the railway carry all
its own plant forward as it goes — if, indeed, this
principle ever worked at all, and also to depend
ing upon it for all the supplies of the army as
well. Under these circumstances the impracticability
of running a railway over the thirty-six miles
from Suakin to Sinkat, if, indeed, we were ever
intended to move in that direction, may be
imagined. There is no doubt that the combination of the
civil and military element in the attempt to lay
this railway was a mistake. Either the railway
should have been laid by the Engineers, as was
first intended, or else it should have been carried
out by a firm of contractors, representing a finan
cial company in England, backed, if you wish it,
by the Government, and protected in their work
as far as possible by English troops,
A party of about eight hundred coolies had
been collected by the Royal Engineers in India,
for the purpose of laying this line. Most of

PREPARATION. 103
these men were experienced hands, and used to
railway work. They were brought from India
to Suakin, and proved of the greatest use, as
they worked exceedingly well ; but it was ridicu
lous to put this body of men, with their officers,
under the orders of the contractors. Friction
was bound to take place, and the experiment
failed, and was therefore entirely given up.
The railway, to our thinking, was much too
clumsy and heavy to be rapidly laid ; and instead
of a 4 feet %\ inches gauge being adopted, the
lightest possible form of railway compatible with
stability and strength should be selected as the
one for general use with an army, so that it
would not only be very portable, but more
applicable to rough countries, where sharp curves
are often a necessity, and where gradients are of
frequent occurrence.
During the Afghan war we were able to lay
a light railway at the rate of a mile a day, but
greater rapidity than this would have to be at
tained, and a mean of at least three miles a day
would be none too much to expect.
The officer in charge of the line of communi
cation found his hands tied in dealing with the
contractors, as he was forbidden to interfere
in any way with them ; and though they on their

I04 SUAKIN, 1885.

side were only too ready to accept the help of
the soldiers, without which they would have
been at a standstill, it was impossible that a
large civilian element could pull with the mili
tary, unless they were to a certain extent under
military discipline, and for that reason under
the same rules and regulations as the soldiers.
Thu.s, again, it was found impossible to get along,
and the work was accordingly retarded.
I am the last to discount the British navvy.
I admire his many good qualities, and above
all, his gigantic proportions and muscular deve
lopment. I have always looked upon the navvy
as one of the grandest types of our race, and I
think if I were asked to bring forward a number
of representative English working men, I should
recruit among the navvies. But with all this, I
am bound to confess that the navvy as seen at
Suakin was not a success. Highly paid, well
looked after, easily worked in comparison to the
soldiers, and well fed, there was still a deal of
grumbling, and none, or very little, of that cheery
self-sacrifice and readiness to work of which we
saw so many instances among our own men.
I sincerely hope that the many failures in
connection with laying the Suakin-Berber Rail
way may be the cause of the authorities at home

PREPARA TION. 105
taking seriously into consideration the advisa
bility of organizing a regular Railway Corps.
A certain number of men attached to the
Royal Engineers should be perpetually under
going training in the various branches of railway
making and railway-engineering. Opportunities
at home are always close to hand, and could
be easily taken up, and there should, therefore,
never be any want of a field for operations of
the sort. One thing is absolutely necessary,
and that is, that the civilian element should in
military railway laying be entirely eliminated.
Our wars are almost always carried on in
countries not only without railways, but without
roads. We have frequently been accustomed
to make our own roads in war time, why should
we not make our own railways .-'
With a force of trained officers and men as a
nucleus, to be supplemented by paid native
labour brought from India, or elsewhere, there
should be no difficulty in carrying out work of
this sort for an army in the field.
In these days of rapid movements, of quick
concentrations, and short wars, every means
offered by science, whether it be electricity,
ballooning, or railway-making, should be at
once adopted. We suffer ourselves to live in a

io6 SUAKIN, 1885.
fool's Paradise indeed, if we put off" all matters of
this sort to the day when we are actually called
upon to act For the sake of " party," for the
sake of courting popularity, for fear of inter
fering with monopolies and so-called "rights,"
and on account of a certain dread of what the
next election will bring forth, and how we shall
appear before our constituents with taxation on
the rise, we often forego spending money where
money is most needed ; and so, after having gone
in for a penny wise and pound foolish policy, we
find ourselves squandering our soldiers, shedding
our blood, and spending millions more than if we
had taken the stitch in time at first " A stand
ing army is a necessary evil " we are told ; if it
is so, do not be satisfied with spending a mere
sixteen millions and possessing a phantom, but
spend more and see that the money is well
spent. With our great colonies and dependen
cies scattered all over the habitable globe, and
with all the many heavy responsibihties and
duties incumbent upon us by reason of our
vast possessions, the absolute perfection of our
army and our navy should always have our first
consideration, and a Ministry which, for fear
of risking popularity with the masses, allows
these two services to fall into a state of in-

PREPARA TION. \<yj
efficiency, should be driven at once from office
as unworthy of the confidence of the nation. A
great writer has said regarding our country, that
"while we have everything to fear from the
success of the enemy, we have every means of
preventing that success, so that it is next to
impossible for victory not to crown our exer
tions. The extent of our resources, under God,
is equal to the justice of our cause," A great war
is looming in the far East, and the vibrations
of a first shock have already sounded on our
ears. Let us be prepared, therefore, while there
is yet time, "I'll live to-morrow, 'tis not wise to say ;
'Twill be too late to-morrow : live to-day. ''
But I am digressing. We were all now
looking forward to the general advance, which
could not be much longer postponed. There
was a sort of fever among the whole army to
get on. Anything was better than lying in
tents or trenches at night to be speared or shot
at, and we one and all longed to be " up and at
'em." Our preparations were nearly completed,
the water tanks and barrels had arrived, our
stores were well up to the front, and yet there
was delay, and we were condemned still to
further days of waiting. Not that we sat with

io8 SUAKIN, 1885.
our hands in front of us, not a bit of it. There
was always plenty of hard work to be done, and
there always seemed to be too few hours in the
day to get it all in.
I went up to the top of the Right Water Fort
one afternoon to have a good look round the
country with a fine telescope there was there,
and very interesting it was. Half a mile to the
front, and stretching right across to the West
Redoubt, were our cavalry videttes and pickets.
They must have had hot work of it, as they
were out all day long standing nearly motion
less in the sun. They had a few cases of
sunstroke, which the doctors were pleased to
diagnose as "exhaustion," and of course they
suffered a good deal from sunburn.
There were one or two instances where men
who had been out in this way all day, came in
with a line across their faces as though cut with
a knife, where the sun had caught them below
the shade cast by the front of the helmet and
opened the flesh.
Beyond the videttes were scattered groups of
the enemy sitting or standing about, and per
haps waiting till darkness came on and they
were able to make their customary descent on
the camp. I could see them very plainly with

PREPARATION. 109
the glass as one of the party would advance
a little, evidently to take stock of what the
cavalry outposts were doing. Then after a
while he would return again, and there would
be a deal of talking and pointing, when the
whole lot would retire. They appeared to have
a regular system of outposts, and these parties,
consisting of from ten to twelve men, were to be
seen dotted about all along the front.
We had one of our first doses, about this
time, of the " Hgramseen," or " the wind of fifty
days." It is very unpleasant, very enervating
and very hot. This wind blows during this
season of the year, and lasts off and on for fifty
days, at any time of which it may be expected.
One very curious thing about the Hgramseen is,
that if it begins to blow one day it is absolutely
certain to blow for three days, but if it blows
over the third day it will continue till the fifth
day, when it as certainly drops again. I don't
know that it is an unhealthy wind, but it
seemed to take all the energy out of one, and
it was an effort to go about one's work. As a
general rule I was agreeably surprised with the
climate, and though the heat was intense I
could do a long day's work without feeling any
fatigue. We were feeding better now, and used

SUAKIN, 1885,

to send a camel down almost daily to bring up
tinned provisions from one or other of the stores
in Suakin, We got a variety of these pro
visions, and I think tried pretty well everything
ever prepared either by Messrs, Moir or Messrs,
Crosse and Blackwell. Our favourite things
were the Oxford sausages and the herrings a
la sardine, both of which were excellent Stewed
beef steak, haricot mutton, mutton ragout, and
grouse aux truffes, were also among the most
appreciated. The tinned vegetables were not
at all bad, but we fought rather shy of these for
fear of colouring matter.
Never shall I forget one of our party return
ing one evening with two tins of foie gras.
Our delight was quite beyond description. We
sat down there and then, and with a good
allowance of ration bread very quickly put the
contents of the two tins out of sight. But there
is a sequel to this tale.
" Do you know," said our comrade, " I only
gave half a crown a tin for it ! "
" Dear me," rejoined we, " what a fool you
were not to buy more ! "
So it was settled that the very first thing the
next morning he was to ride back again to
Suakin and buy every tin he could lay his
hands on.

PREPARATION.

By eight o'clock he had returned from his
errand, but with no foie gras for breakfast, much
to our dismay, for I think we had all been
repeating to ourselves, " Foie gras for breakfast,
more foie gras for dinner, and still more for
supper ; " in fact, to our hungry insides it was to
be " toujours foie gras."
" Well," said one of us, who had been
anxiously awaiting his return, " where's the foie
gras ? "
" Well," answered our comrade, with a very
long face, " I have been a bigger idiot than
I ever thought I could be. Do you know that
when I entered the store where I bought the
stuff last night, the man rushed up to me saying,
' You are the officer who took the foie gras ; you
are the officer who took the foie gras.' ' Yes,'
said I, ' I certainly bought two tins of foie gras
here last night and paid you half a crown for
them.' ' Yes,' said the man in reply, by this
time almost crying, ' I know you did — I know
you did ; but they are half a sovereign each and
not half a crown ! ' "
We retired to our tent then with heavy sighs,
and contented ourselves with the dry bread
which was to have had the foie gras on it.
Perhaps it was just as well it hadn't.

SUAKIN, I?

One of our greatest failures with tinned pro
visions was with brawn,
" Who's for brawn this morning ? " said our
mess president,
" Why, of course, we are all for brawn," we
replied. The top of the tin was ripped off", and again
we were doomed to disappointment.
" By Jove, it's soup ! "
And so it was, and yet it had been packed in
straw inside a large box. It was soup right
enough, though — nasty, thick, greasy-looking
soup, with pieces of white fat floating about in it
Only one of the party tackled it, and he ate
his brawn with a spoon.
We heard one morning that a shipload of
oranges had arrived in harbour for the use ofthe
troops, and " when practicable," said the orders
on the subject, " an orange a day will be issued
to each officer and man," " This indulgence,
however," added the order, " is not to be looked
upon as a right" So for some days an orange
apiece was given to us, and very good ones they
were. I never knew what an orange really was
before, and no peach on a hot summer's day at
home ever tasted mbre delicious to us dried-up
mortals than did those oranges. We simply

PREPARATION. iij
devoured them, and felt inclined to eat peel and
all. I have never mentioned anything about our
postal arrangements. We used to get our
letters very regularly, considering all things, and
though some necessarily never reached us, there
was nothing to complain about. They only
took ten days coming all the way from London,
overland, via Brindisi, Alexandria, Cairo, and
Suez, where a steamer of one sort or another met
the mails and ran them down to Suakin. Every
corps had its own letter-carrier, and a deal of
sorting used to go on at the so-called post-
office in Suakin, when the mail-bags arrived and
were emptied out in piles on the floor. It was
rather like looking for a needle in a truss of hay,
and the letter-carriers did not, therefore, always
wait till the whole lot was sorted out In this
way one sometimes got a letter two days after
wards, when least expected, and much to the
delight of the recipient. When the detachment
of the Post-Office Volunteers arrived, everything
was very well managed, and much of the pre
vious inconvenience as well as risk of losing
letters, both going and coming, was avoided.
We always thought it very hard that we should
be called upon to stamp our letters to avoid a
I

114 SUAKIN, 1885.

double rate of postage being levied on the
friends receiving the letters at home. I believe
this was claimed at first, though we used to
write in the corner, " On active service. No
stamps." Afterwards I heard that the ordinary
rate of postage was claimed on delivery of the
letters in England. It struck us as a little
severe that any charge should be made at all.
Surely letters from soldiers fighting hard for
their country might always be allowed to go free.
It is not much we get, and it would be a grace
ful concession if this boon were granted in future.
Few people can understand the enormous
pleasure letters afford to soldiers on active
service. When there is so much work and so
many hardships to be undergone, a letter, giving
a glimpse of the old home, is an untold joy. To
hear about what they are all doing, what people
think about the war, or even the smallest details
of home life, all alike possess an interest quite
beyond comparison. The most trivial incidents
of everyday life are magnified in one's mind
into pieces of momentous intelligence, and
none of us, I am sure, ever found letters either
too numerous or too long. The lucky ones
who received letters sat down and simply
devoured them, and, with a happy smile upon

PREPARA TION. 1 1 5
their faces, they would read and read till their
¦eyes seemed as if they would burn through the
paper, while they drank in the news of home,
of wife, of children. Reading the letters was
easy enough, but getting time to write them was
quite another thing. The only way was to have
a letter always going, and add to it as time
allowed. Newspapers were a great blessing, and we
were quite as eager to see the news of the war
" on the paper " as the people at home were.
And here I feel bound to put in a word about
the " war correspondents," A more hard-work
ing set of fellows I never saw. Up early and
late, they were always in the front where fighting
-was going on, and always to be found where
bullets fell thickest and where danger was to be
met with. Then, after the fighting was over, or,
¦perhaps, after a long march, they would ride
¦miles in the hot sun and sit up half the night
to write home the doings of the day. There
always seemed to be a great spirit of rivalry
among the different representatives of the
press, and there was always a race among them
to get their messages off first. The people at
liome ought to be very grateful to the war corre
spondent, for he risks all, and sacrifices himself

ii6 SUAKIN, 1885,

entirely to supply news to be consumed daily at
the breakfast-table, or in the quiet and comfort
of some club armchair. There is much that he
would telegraph home, if he could, but since the
appointment of a press censor, he is only able
to send exactly what that officer allows him,,
and no more. In this way many details which
should be known at home never reach there
until the reason for publishing them has passed
away. What is forbidden in the telegrams is
naturally enough written in the weekly letters, but
by the time these get into print they are for the
most part stale news. It is, of course, absolutely.
necessary that certain restrictions should be put
upon correspondents for many reasons. In these
days of universal cables, news of the movements
of an army is quickly enough sent home, and
there is nothing to prevent its being as quickly
sent out again for the information of the
enemy ; but many unnecessary restrictions are
put upon correspondents which might be
removed, and many an item of news which
should be sent home is now stopped, because it
would, it is supposed, create needless alarm. Oh
for the days of the immortal Russell !
Of all the thankless positions in an army
in the field, the press censor has the worst.

PREPARATION. 117
Abused by correspondents at the seat of war,
maligned by editors at home, and continually
found fault with by his superiors with the army
for allowing too much to pass, he must have the
temper of an angel, the tact of a consummate
diplomatist, and the nerves and constitution of
a Hercules, ever to carry on the work and live
through it For every single word that passes
along the cables to the newspapers he is respon
sible, and every telegraphic message has to bear
his signature before it can be sent off". Added
to which he frequently has other duties of an
-arduous nature to perform, as those of press
-censor are combined more often with those of
an officer acting on the staff" in some capacity or
another. There were three figures which became very
familiar to us in the camp. They were often
to be met with together, and they would turn up
at all times of the day ; in fact, they always
seemed to be riding about somewhere, looking
after some detail here or inspecting some fresh
arrivals there.
The first of these was a very tall, broad-
shouldered man, with a certain shrewd look in
his face, with a kindly manner and a soldierly
bearing. The double line of ribbons across his

ii8 SUAKIN, 1885.

jacket showed him to be a man who had seen
a deal of active service, and amongst his ribbons
was the most prized of all orders, though now
becoming a little too common. He always
seemed very grave, as if he bore on his shoulders
the weight of some overpowering responsibility,.
and he certainly acted on the principle that
silence was golden, for he told his staff nothing,
and, they say, consulted nobody. One of his-
personal staff once told me that they never
knew an hour beforehand when a move was-
going to take place, and that this reserve was
carried so far that they never even knew what
time they were going to have their dinners.
Report put him down as a man who had studied
deeply, and who was well versed in the science
of war. His pluck in action and his excessive
coolness under fire were undeniable, but his
repute as a General was somewhat slender. We
all liked him because of his many attractive
qualities, and above all he was a true friend
and a perfect gentleman. He might have
been popular, but his somewhat cold manner
and habitual reserve rather repelled any
advances, and there was none of that spon
taneous honhoinie and happy manner with his
troops, which, while it sacrifices nothing to dis-

PREPARA TION. 1 1 9
cipline, wins for a commander the love of his
soldiers. The second figure was different altogether
from the first. He was of middle stature, some
what stout, and with a round, red, good-humoured
face. He, too, wore many ribbons, and possessed
also the red one of the Victoria Cross. He had
a quick, sharp way of asking questions, and
a somewhat " stand-off " manner with strangers,
though when you knew him there was no
pleasanter companion or kinder-hearted friend.
He possessed also an attractive manner, and a
cool, quiet way of taking things, which made him
to a certain extent popular. He looked as
though he had the constitution of a giant, and
as if he could stand or go through with any
thing. He was always perfectly self-satisfied,
and even when things went against him he acted
as though it was all coulenr de rose and rather a
good thing for him. As to any qualifications
to command — these were shown in after days,
I ought to mention his right-hand man — a true
soldier, an energetic staff" officer, unhampered
by rule and the trammels of red tape, and with
the inestimable quality of perfect readiness to
accept responsibility and total fearlessness of the
consequences. Everybody liked him, and, though

SUAKIN, 1885.

he had a quick temper, he never lost it, and if
you wanted anything done, he did his best to
help you, sinking personal considerations before
all others.
As to the third, he was a short, sharp-
featured individual, with a pompous and rather
disagreeable manner, a loud voice, a quick temper,
and a sense of his own importance which defied
¦everything. He was not popular, and he seemed
generally to be absorbed in that wonderful
thought, " I am." A short answer was all you
ever received from him, and one whicli often fell
far short of ordinary courtesy.
There was one thing which these three
characters had in common, though utterly dis
similar in every other respect — one tie which
bound them together as representatives of a
fraternity — they were members of the same
Society. I mentioned just now the extraordinary way
in which all projected movements of the force
were kept a most religious secret, and how even
the Heads of Departments never knew until
sometimes half an hour beforehand of the
intentions of our commanders. I cannot think
that this was justifiable in the extent to which
it was carried. Secrecy is an absolute necessity

PREPARATION.

very often in times of war, and especially so in a
country where the inhabitants are more than ever
¦quick to take advantage of any news they may
get hold of, and where a General is surrounded
by so-called " friendlies," always on the watch to
carry over to our enemies news of our intended
movements. I am perfectly ready to allow all
this, but I think that officers placed in a confi
dential position are entitled to consideration by
reason of that position, and, at the same time,
I think it is a slight upon the character of those
holding commands when they are not taken
into the confidence of their leaders, I do not
wish it to be inferred from this that I think
commanding officers and Heads of Depart
ments should be at all times consulted, — far from
it ; I think that there would be a considerable
-element of weakness in adopting for one moment
such a course. But I do think their convenience
should be at all times considered, for two reasons
— first, because hurrying may thus be avoided ;
and second, because their men may be saved
the strain of work attendant upon sudden move
ments. Let a General's movements be as
sudden and unexpected as possible — indeed, in a
warfare such as we were engaged in it is abso
lutely necessary that they should be so to ensure

SUAKIN, 1885.

success — but do not let this suddenness and
rapidity of movement be attained at the price
of a certain loss of efficiency, as well as much
grumbling, when both can be so easily avoided.
No department of the army felt the extreme
inconvenience of this excessive reserve more
than did the Commissariat and Transport I
often heard many of the senior officers of this
branch of the service say that they knew nothing
of what was going to happen, and that orders
would come in to them one hour which had to
be carried out the next. There is no doubt that
in all branches of the service in the Sudan much
of the confusion, hurry, and annoyance caused
by this mode of procedure would have been
avoided if a certain amount of trust had been
placed in commanding officers and Heads of
Departments. If officers in responsible and
important positions are not considered worthy of
trust, it is high time that those holding such
positions should be replaced by officers that are.
We , all knew now that any hour we might
hear the welcome news to advance, but we none
of us had the least idea in which direction the
advance would be, though v/e inferred it was
not to be towards Sinkat, on account of the
direction in which the railway was being laid.

PREPARATION. 123
That there would be fighting, and hard fighting
too, we were well aware, and, from the cool way
in which the enemy made his night attacks on
us, it was evident that Osman Digna had not
profited by the lesson we had given him last
year — a lesson, too, from which we gained
nothing, when we might as easily have marched
on Khartoum and rescued Gordon as withdrawn
to our ships. The opportunity then offered has
never occurred again, and so through a mixture
of vacillation, weakness, and total incompetence,
we soldiers were for a second time sent forward
to dye the desert sand red with our own and the
Arabs' blood, and sow the burning plains thick
alike with the graves of the Christian and the
Mohammedan. Years hence the wail of misery
which had its birth in all the bloodshed, the
slaughter, the sickness, and the suffering endured
by our soldiers in that blood-stained frying-pan,
the Sudan, will still find an echo in the land at
home, where gaps in happy circles remain for
ever unfilled, and where homes are blighted with
the crushing weight of a sorrow that will never
heal.

124 SUAKIN, i5

CHAPTER VI,
THE ADV.ANCE.
We were going to advance ; the day for which
we had all been waiting, working, longing,
for the past few weeks, was coming at last
A renewed activity ¦ seemed to start up in the
camp, and men went about congratulating each
other, with a happy smile on their faces, that
they were not " going to stick here no more," as
they put it.
We knew nothing about what day it was
going to be, and of course all sorts of rumours
were going the round of the camp. At one
time it v/as going to be " to-night," the next that
it had been put off till "to-morrow at day
break," and so on.
I was awoke on the morning of the 19th of
March, after a long night's work, by a friend
saying, " Come out and see the cavalry ; they are
all out just in front of our camp." So up I

THE ADVANCE.

jumped, and, by way of getting a good view of
what was going on, ran up to the top of the
Water Fort, and there below me was as fine
a parade of troops as any one could wish to
see. On the left was the whole cavalry force,
including the two squadrons of the 5th Lancers
and the 20th Hussars, the 9th Bengal Cavalry,
and the Mounted Infantry. Next to these were
the Indian Infantry Brigade, and on the right
were the three battalions of Guards, a battery
of Royal Horse Artillery being stationed with
the cavalry. After a short inspection by the
General, the English cavalry were thrown
forward, and gradually spread themselves out
over the plain like a great fan, the advance
parties keeping up a continuous flow of messages
to the main body by means of the ordinary
signalling flags. The 9th Bengal Cavalry acted
as a support and accompanied the guns. The
Indian infantry were kept out some time, in the
event of their being required, but the brigade
of Guards was sent back to camp. I do not
think I ever witnessed a more imposing spectacle
than was presented by the beautiful working of
this cavalry force, as they gradually felt their
way across the plain towards the mountains and

126 SUAKIN, 1885.

in the direction of Hasheen. The Mounted
Infantry were pushed to the front as the force
neared the hills, and a few shots were fired at
small parties of Arabs who showed themselves
from time to time.
It was considered probable that the enemy
would be found in force behind the isolated
hills which stand out on the plain in front of
the mountains, and behind one of which the
village of Hasheen is situated.
Our Mounted Infantry ascended cautiously
to the crest of this hill, on reaching which con
siderable bodies of the enemy were seen both
in the valley below and along the ridges in front
Only a few shots were fired by the enemy, to
which our men replied. An Arab was seen to
fall here and there, as they retired up the
gorge leading towards the mountains, but they
never attempted to stand, and were evidently
only a part of Osman's forces, numbering in all
not more than a thousand men.
Hasheen was found entirely deserted. It con
sisted only of about forty wretched-looking huts,
a few of which had been evidently quitted in
rather a hurry, as there were remains in some
of a half-eaten meal.
A thorough examination of the ground was

THE ADVANCE. 127
made, and a well discovered. It was also ascer
tained that water could be obtained a few
feet beneath the surface. The enemy never
attempted to interfere with our movements, and
by our sudden advance we had evidently taken
him by surprise.
Before retiring, a letter from General Graham
to Osman Digna was placed on a white stick
in the centre of the village. In this letter
General Graham referred to the respect that
England entertained for all religions, and stated
that it was her chief desire to maintain friendly
relations with the Arab tribes, and to establish
peace in the country. After referring to the
defeats sustained by the Arabs at Teb and
Tamanieb last year, the letter went on to advise
the sheikhs to submit without delay, and thus
escape the punishment and death almost certain
to overtake them. This letter was in reply to
one received by General Graham from Osman
Digna a week or two ago, in which, after re
capitulating his many victories and the defeats
sustained by the Egyptians under Hicks and
Baker, he advises us to withdraw before a like
fate overtakes us and we are driven bodily into
the sea.
Having thus completed our reconnoissance.

128 SUAKIN, i£

orders were given to retire. The village was
left as we found it, and, immediately our retire
ment commenced, was reoccupied by the enemy,
who were seen all along the tops of the hills as
we marched back towards home. Our losses
were only one man killed, and one officer and
one man wounded. Two or three prisoners
were taken, and one of them, an old man with
white hair, was barbarously cut down by one
of the " friendlies " who accompanied the force,,
before any one had time to interfere.
The whole force was back again in camp by
one o'clock in the day.
One word about the 9th Bengal Cavalry. A
more magnificent regiment no one could wish to
see. Their loose-fitting dress, made of kharkee,
with blue puttees instead of long boots, and with
blue-and-grey turbans as a head-dress, the ap
pearance of these fine, swarthy-looking warriors
was enough to strike terror into any foe. They
were very grand-looking men and splendid
horsemen ; but wh)- were they ever sent to
Suakin to act as a Lancer regiment, when there
were so many splendid Lancer regiments to
choose from in India t Their arms are a sword
and a carbine, which they wear on a cross-belt
over either shoulder, but beyond a certain

THE ADVANCE. 129
amount of practice a few of them may have had
in tent-pegging at regimental sports, not one of
them had ever had a lance in his hand before.
And yet they were sent off" to Suakin to act as
Lancers in the field, and use a weapon in action
which is allowed to be one of the most difficult
to handle, and which a man cannot be taught to
use properly under two years of constant training
and practice. What was the result? Having
been provided with their staves through the phi
lanthropy of a native prince when actually on
their march down country for embarkation, they
arrived at Suakin knowing, naturally enough,
nothing whatever about handling a lance ; and,
to mend matters, two or three of the 5th Lancers
were sent every day to give them instruction in
the way to use their new weapon. Of all arms the
lance is the best in warfare against a savage
nation armed for the most part with spears, as
it is a matter of necessity to keep the enemy at
a distance. A sword is next to being absolutely
useless against a spear and a shield, especially
when these are in the hands of warriors who
have been accustomed to handle them since
their earliest boyhood. The result of suddenly
arming a regiment in this way was that, knowing
nothing about the use of the weapon, the men,
K

130 SUAKIN, 1885.

when in action, threw away their lances and drew
their swords.
As regards the dress of the 9th Bengal
Cavalry, they all wear steel-chain shoulder-
bands, which serve as an excellent protection
against a sword-cut Some of our English cavalry
officers had steel chains sewn into their shoulder-
cords ; but why should not these be part of the
regular dress of our cavalry, as it is that of the
Indian cavalry ?
Just as the reconnoitring party were coming
into camp, I was telegraphed for to go down,
with another officer, to No, 5 Pier, where all the
condensed water was pumped from the ships
into large iron tanks on the wharf I had no
time to put any food into my haversack, as we
had to be off" at once. Moreover, the rations
had not come up, so I could only take with me
a box of meat lozenges. We were down at the
pier, which was about two miles from our camp,
in under a quarter of an hour, and there we
found we had to collect on the wharf adjoining
the pier several hundred tins, barrels, and mus-
socks or water-skins, which were being landed
at the Ordnance camp about a quarter of a mile
off". We had to help us, a fatigue party of a
hundred men from an Egyptian regiment, with

THE ADVANCE. 131
four Egyptian officers and about fifty coolies. A
well-known figure out there also accompanied
us, and many were the nights of hard work we
did together afterwards. A cheery voice, a
happy, pleasant manner, a splendid constitu
tion, and a man who never spared himself, he
was more than popular with all of us, A civilian
— he had never been a soldier — wearing a grey
jacket decorated with the Cape medal ribbon,
a round white cap with a peak in front and a
curtain behind, and generally to be seen riding
a small camel, his figure was familiar to all of
us ; and some thought he looked a regular guy
as he went about here and there, helping things
along. Our orders were to have thirteen thousand
gallons of water loaded and ready to march by
daybreak the next morning. With such material
to work with it looked almost a hopeless under
taking, but it had to be done, and therefore must
be done. A more miserable, indolent, useless
lot of fellows than those Egyptian soldiers I
never came across. Big men, most of them,
but so lazy and so slack that it was utterly
impossible to get them to move out of the
slowest of walks, and their officers seemed unable
to do anything with them. However, by dint

132 SUAKIN, iS

of a deal of driving and pushing, we managed
to get the tins and barrels on to the wharf just
as it was getting dark, and we also rigged up
six hand-pumps to pump the water out of the
storage tanks into the portable tanks. These
portable tanks were made of galvanized iron,
and were about three feet long, eighteen inches
deep, and eight inches wide. Each one held
twelve gallons and a half, and we put their
weight down, when filled, at 125 pounds. They
were fastened with a screw stopper, which could
be secured with a key. The barrels were of
two sizes — the largest held twelve gallons and
a half, and the smallest eight gallons. The
mussocks were water-skins bought in Egypt
They were supposed to hold eight gallons each ;
but they leaked very much, and after the first
time of using them we always avoided filling
them if we possibly could. Who was responsible
for their purchase, I don't know, but they never
should have been bought. They were sup
posed to have been passed by a board of officers,
who sanctioned their purchase at one pound
apiece. Their value could not have been more
than a few shillings, and to us they were almost,
if not entirely, useless. The water, after it had
been in them a few hours, was absolutely un-

THE ADVANCE. 133
drinkable, and stank. The skins themselves
were covered with a brown grease, which stained
one's hands, and withal they crawled with vermin.
Just before sundown the camels to carry the
water arrived ; these were about seven hundred
in number, and we parked them in lines of fifty,
one behind the other, alongside the field railway,
a branch of which ran down to the pier.
A rather amusing thing occurred as the sun
sank behind the mountains. The coolies one
and all dropped on their knees, said their prayers,
and then made off at their best pace, as it was
contrary to their religion or inclination — I don't
know which — to work after sunset. We had no
time to run after them, however, so we let them
go. A fresh fatigue party arrived about seven
o'clock, and replaced the one we had beeh work
ing with all the afternoon. As bad luck would
have it, this party was also of Egyptian soldiery,
scarcely less feeble than the first No wonder
we administered such a wholesome thrashing to
them in 1882, and that they cut and ran directly
they saw the tops of our hats.
We began filling the tins at about eight
o'clock, and we managed it in this way. A pump
with indiarubber hose fitted to it was rigged up
in each of the large storage tanks into which a

134 SUAKIN, 1885.

constant flow of condensed water was pumped
from the condensing ships. Each of these
pumps was manned by two men, and two more
looked after the portable tins as they filled them
through an ordinary leather funnel, a third
screwing up the stopper and making it fast
with a key. Then a fresh supply of tins was
brought by another lot of men, who took away
the full ones and arranged them in rows ready
for packing into the trucks on the field railway.
It was not until late at night that we were
able to get an engine to draw the trucks up to
the place where the camels were parked. How
ever, we did get one at last, and then we began
to run the tins and barrels up the line, and with
a part of our fatigue party to unload the train
again and place the tins in rows between the
camels, two in front of each animal, ready to be
put in the celitas, or nettings, later on.
It was very heavy work for us, as, though the
Egyptian officers did their best to make their
men work, we had to do the hardest part of it
ourselves, or it would never have been done at
all. If we turned our backs for a moment these
fellows would sit down on the ground, light
their cigarettes, and talk. It really was almost
maddening sometimes trying to get anything

THE ADVANCE. 135
out of them, added to which, only one of our
party could speak Arabic. We had begun the
night's work with one of the interpreters attached
to the army, but he became tired of the job as
soon as it got dark, and we saw nothing of him
again till morning.
It was now getting on for ten o'clock, and we
had been many hours at work without food, so
I suggested going across to the Ordnance camp
and begging a crust of bread.
I found my way over in the darkness, but my
friends there had nothing of any sort or kind to
give me, as they had eaten ' all their ration of
bread for their evening meal ; so there was no
help for it but to return to the pier with empty
hands as well as empty inside.
I forgot to say that we were lighted in our
work by a lamp composed of five incandescent
lights hung from the top of a pole. These were
worked by " leads " laid on from the Dolphin.
They gave an excellent light, and I don't know
what we should have done without them. It
was a curious sight to see this one spot illumi
nated as bright as day, while all around was
inky darkness ; the Egyptian soldiers, in their
white uniform and red fezes, puddling about
ankle-deep in water as they toiled along with

136 SUAKIN, 1885.
the heavy tins or pumped away standing up on
the tops of the great storage tanks. There was
little to break the silence but the sucking of the
pumps, or perhaps a loud remark from one or
other of us, more often the reverse of parliamen
tary, addressed to some of the fatigue party.
Every now and then the engine would give a
whistle as it started with its heavy load slowly
along the line in the darkness. The engine-
driver fell asleep at last from sheer exhaustion,
so I, by way of a little relaxation, manned the
engine and drove the train up and down the
line. In this way the night wore on till at length
we had filled the last mussock.
Then we joined the camels and woke up the
drivers, who were sleeping on the ground rolled
in their blankets. There were one or two
officers with the various detachments of camels
making up the whole number, and these soon
had their men together and ready to load up ;
so we dismissed the Egyptians and went to work
at once to get the tins on the camels, for it
was now nearly three o'clock in the morning, and
we should have to march in an hour and a half
As each section of fifty camels was loaded we
marched them off" with orders to halt opposite
the Head-quarter camp.

THE ADVANCE. 137
During this time we were working by the
electric light thrown on us from the Dolphin,
which gave a curious weird appearance to the
mass of men in their many-coloured garments
as they toiled away with a will to get the seven
hundred camels loaded before the day should
begin to break. Affghans, Soumalis, Punjabis,
and Bengalis, all mixed up together, toiled on
through the remainder of the night, and the
camels grunted and groaned and made the
hours hideous with their horrible sounds.
Each camel had two tins or two barrels put
on him, so they had an easy load. The Indian
camels moved along in strings of three, but the
Berbera animals were not tied, a driver looking
after three or four of them. Some of the barrels
leaked very much, as the wood had become very
dry, and the mussocks, as I have already said,
very soon parted with half their contents. The
last section was loaded as the sky began to
blush in the east with the presage of the early
dawn, and we had still half an hour left us
before the day would break. What a night of
toil it had been ! and what an age it seemed
since one o'clock the previous afternoon ! Hot,
tired, sleepless, and foodless, we had still only
half completed our task as yet, and we had still

138 SUAKIN, 1885.

before us many hours of work, of marching, and
probably of fighting, in all the heat of the noon
day sun.
It will be long indeed before I forget the
kindness of a friend who brought me a cup of
cocoa as I was mounting my horse to catch up
the front line of camels. It is always thus with
soldiers — those who have give to those that
have not, though the one may be an entire
stranger to the other, and though they meet
them for the first time, and never perhaps after
wards. It is this cameraderie among members
of the same cloth which marks the English
soldier above all others, and makes the English
army what it is. I have seen men almost
starving, yet share with a comrade what would
hardly fill their own mouths three times over;
and I have noticed others parched with thirst
themselves offer, it may be to a stranger, the
cup of precious water before they put it to
their own lips. It is in trying circumstances, in
times of tribulation, and, above all, in times of
war, that the noblest qualities of a man are
brought out, and that a spirit unknown before
shines at length brilliant in its true colours.
But we had to push forward ; the different
units of the force were gathering together and

THE ADVANCE. 139
forming up into three sides of one vast square,
in the middle of which were hundreds of camels,
our water detachment being but a quarter of
the gathering, — mules drawing carts with en
trenching tools, teams of horses,- ambulances,
dhoolies with their bearers ready to receive their
ghastly burdens, and the various detachments
of the field hospitals with their doctors and
appliances. The cavalry were already out in
front ; the sun was just rising above the horizon,
and in a few minutes his heat would reach
us, when at length the vast concourse of men
and baggage-animals began to move, and the
advance had begun. The huge square, measur
ing some eight hundred yards across, went for
ward in a cloud of dust without hurry and
without noise, save the clank of arms, and
with all that marvellous precision of movement
attained by perfect organization and thorough
training, for around us was some of the flower
of the British army — a chosen force, perfect in
every detail, animated by one spirit, ready for
any emergency.
So forward we went in all the
" Pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war "
and the advance had begun at last

I40 SUAKIN, 1885.

CHAPTER VII.
HASHEEN,
The troops composing the great square, in which
formation we advanced towards Hasheen, were
as follows : — The front face was composed of
three battalions of the 2nd Brigade, viz. the 49th,
70th, and Royal Marines ; the other regiment of
this brigade, the 5 3rd, having been left behind
to look after the camp. On the right face were
the Brigade of Guards, and the left face was
formed by the Indian Brigade, viz, the 15th
Sikhs and the 17th and 28th Bombay Native
Infantry. The troops inside the square, besides
the Commissariat and Transport Corps, were
the 17th and 24th companies of the Royal
Engineers, some Madras Sappers and Miners,
two rocket-troughs of the Royal Artillery and
a battery of Gardner guns. The cavalry force
in front was composed of two squadrons of the
5 th Lancers, two squadrons ofthe 20th Hussars,

HASHEEN. 141
and four squadrons of the 9th Bengal Cavalry,
There was also in front a battery of Royal
Horse Artillery and the greater part of the
Mounted Infantry,
With the cavalry and mounted infantry cover
ing the front we marched along through the
bush, which in this part is somewhat scanty, and
did not impede us much. The square moved
a little too fast for the baggage- animals, and
there being no rear face to it, there was a good
deal of straggling in spite of all endeavours to
push the camels along. It was a perpetual
drive, drive, drive ; but very few loads were
displaced, and none of the water was lost except
through the leaking of the barrels and the skins.
So, with the sun scorching on our backs, we
marched along till we lost sight of Suakin, and
at length, without opposition, reached the iso
lated hills to which I referred in the last
chapter. It was now about half-past eight, and we had
come a distance of six miles or more. The
square was halted for a few minutes, while our
generals scanned the hills and mountains in front
and settled their plan of attack, as it was seen
that the enemy did not mean us to have it all
our own way as we had had the day before, and

142 SUAKIN, \i

that since yesterday he had concentrated his
forces and was fully intending to oppose our
further advance. The country in front of us was
covered with a dense, thorny bush ; there were
a few rough tracks here and there, but for the
most part it was entirely overgrown. Nearer
the hills the bush was much higher, quite high
enough indeed to hide a man on a horse, but
the hills themselves were bare and rugged, and
very precipitous.
One large isolated hill, a thousand feet high
and a mile and a half long, stood like a great
island out of the surrounding bush, and on the
other side of this hill was the village of Hasheen.
On the right, and three-quarters of a mile from
Hasheen Hill, were the mountains, some two or
three thousand feet high, which here abut on to
the plain, and then turn again in a north-easterly
direction towards Handoub, distant from here
seven miles. Behind Hasheen the range of
mountains trends away in a north-westerly
direction till they circle round to where the
village of Tamai is situated, twelve miles to
the south-west.
In front of where we halted stood two conical-
shaped hills, one behind the other, and two
hundred feet in height, while to the left of this

HASHEEN. 143

there was a much lower hill, which was after
wards used as the point where the General
Commanding took his stand. These hills were
to the south of Hasheen Hill, and a mile from
it, and were not occupied by the enemy. The
70th Regiment and the convoys were ordered
off to take up their position between the two
conical hills above mentioned, and to construct
a zariba connecting them together. Sand-bag
redoubts were to be at once thrown up on the
summit of each, to hold two guns of the Horse
Artillery battery, and the Royal Engineers and
Madras Sappers were soon at work dragging
the heavy pieces of timber they had brought
with them up the steep sides.
In the meanwhile the 49th, supported by half
a battalion of Marines, was ordered to take
the great hill in front which I have called
Hasheen Hill. They went forward, and very
soon were advancing steadily up the precipitous
slopes under a heavy fire from the enemy, who
were posted at the very summit. Never hesi
tating an instant, they continued to ascend the
hill, neither pausing to get breath nor waiting
to return the enemy's fire till they reached a
kind of ledge half-way up. Then they opened
on the Arabs, and the rattle of the musketry

144 SUAKIN, 1885,

echoed round the adjoining mountains as volley
after volley was poured in. A few moments
only, and then again the gallant 49th pressed
forward, carrying out their advance as if at some
parade at home. Steadily they ascended the
steep rocky ground in front of them, while the
enemy, almost invisible behind the boulders and
rocks, redoubled their fire, and sought, if pos
sible, to stem the tide sweeping towards them.
But it was no good ; the firing at the summit
began to grow weaker and weaker, as the 49th
and the Marines got nearer to it ; and then a
few minutes more and the hill was crowned, and
a heavy fire at once opened upon the retreating
Arabs. Wreaths of smoke wrapped the top of
Hasheen Hill, and told that in this part of the
field our troops had gallantly carried out the
work given them to do.
A more splendidly executed movement could
never have been witnessed ; it was simply mag
nificent, and called forth the praise of all who
saw it After a long march, in a burning sun
and under a heavy fire, the men moved as
if on parade, taking advantage of every bit of
cover the ground afforded, and going steadily to
their work in a manner that defied all opposition.
While this was going on on the left, the

HASHEEN. 145
other half-battalion of the Royal Marines was
advancing up the ravine formed by the moun
tains on the right and Hasheen Hill on the left.
The bush in this part was densely thick, and it
was not without considerable difficulty that they
were able to march through it. The half-
battalion moved in column of companies ready
at any moment to form into square. In front
of them the Mounted Infantry were at work
driving back bodies of the enemy who kept
rushing towards them, till stopped by a volley
or two, and then retiring again to renew the
same tactics.
The 20th Hussars were operating on the left,
while the 9th Bengal Cavalry, with the 5th
Lancers, were on the right. The bush was so
thick that it was absolutely impossible for
cavalry to act with any effect, and I much
doubt whether they ought ever to have been
used, as they were, in such a country, A
squadron of the 9th were advancing by troops
on the right flank, when they suddenly found
themselves in the midst of a strong body of the
enemy. Unable to charge, they simply were
ordered to the right-about, and retired at a
gallop to get out of the ambush into which they
Ijiad fallen. In a certain amount of disorder
L

146 SUAKIN, 1885.

they fell back, and as they galloped to the rear
to reform as rapidly as possible, they were
simply run down by the Arabs. With surpris
ing agility these fellows sped over the ground
after the retreating horsemen, seeming almost
to fly through the bush as they sprang from
place to place. Rushing up behind the horses,
they would hamstring the poor animals, and thus
bring the riders to the ground. There was no
time to stop and help those who were in this
way dismounted, as the men, owing to the
thickness of the bush, were much scattered.
They had to fight as best they could, and fall
and die when they were outnumbered by the
rush of Arabs, Three Arabs attacked one of
the dismounted men, who fought hard indeed
for his life. Spearing one, and cutting down
another with his sword, he was preparing to
despatch his third antagonist, when he was
himself run through from behind, and thus fell
without a friendly arm to help him. The 5th
Lancers had been halted in a somewhat open
piece of ground to the left of where this
was going on, and waiting his opportunity,
their commander, with considerable forethought,
delivered his charge on the flank of the pursuing
Arabs, going right through them, and then

HASHEEN. 147

wheeling round and taking them again as he
returned to his starting-point to reform. The
Arabs practised their usual tactics, and lay
themselves flat on the ground when they saw
the cavalry approaching, doing their best to
hamstring the horses as they passed, but the
lance put an end to many of these thus sacrificed
to their temerity. The leader of this little charge,
who was a true soldier and thorough type of a
dashing cavalry officer, was himself wounded by
one of the spears of the 9th, with which an Arab
had armed himself Kneeling on the ground,
the fellow kept himself in front of the officer,
who was thus rather perplexed to know what he
was going to do, so he went straight for him
with his drawn sword. The Arab suddenly
jumped on one side, and as the horseman
passed him, endeavoured to run him through
with the lance. So quick was the Arab that the
sword was too late to parry the thrust, and the
spear was lodged deeply in the rider's thigh, so
deeply indeed as to wrench it from the Arab's
grasp. With the bridle in one hand and a
sword in the other, there was no possibility of
withdrawing the lance, which caught in a bush
and nearly unhorsed this gallant soldier. The
enemy lost a good few men in this part of the

148 SUAKIN, 1885,

field, and another officer belonging to the 5th
Lancers laid four of the enemy low before he
emptied his revolver. It was proved again that
a sword against a spear and a shield is abso
lutely useless, and that a lance is the only
weapon of offence in this sort of warfare. In a
fairly open piece of ground a regiment of Lancers
would simply annihilate any force of Arabs
opposed to them ; and if it ever comes again to
our having to do battle with this magnificent
and warlike race, a complete regiment of Lancers
should be sent out, and not two squadrons of a
regiment in one case, and a regiment unused to
the lance in another.
But there was busy work going on in other
parts of the field.
A large party of the enemy, some fifteen
hundred strong, had made a circuitous march
round our right flank, and quite unperceived,
suddenly appeared in our rear between us and
Suakin, evidently with the intention of cutting
off" our retreat in the event of their force in front
being successful. But the gunners, who by this
time had dragged one of their guns into position
on the top of each of the two conical hills,
viewed them before they were able to get
within a thousand yards of us, and within a very

HASHEEN. 149

fe-\v seconds were plunging shell into the middle
of them, when they immediately scattered
through the bush and made their way back
again to where they started from. Artillery
has a great moral effect upon the Arabs, and
they have a wholesome horror of the " big guns."
About this time news was brought in that
large bodies of the enemy were pouring over
from the direction of Tamai and threatening
our left flank, so the Indian infantry, who before
this were stationed in the valley, formed in
three sides of a square, were now moved off"
in this direction and deployed into line. Pro
bably the movement was seen by the enemy,
who swung, round to the rear of Hasheen Hill •
and were lost to sight.
The Guards had been ordered to advance up
the valley as a support to the 2nd Brigade, and
in a huge square they were forcing their way
through the dense bush. The Coldstreams
formed the front face of this square, four com
panies of the Scots were on each of the two side
faces, and the Grenadiers made the rear face,
while a battery of Gardner guns, manned by the
Marine Artillery, also accompanied the square.
In this formation they were thrown forward,
and when they had advanced about a mile were

I50 SUAKIN, li

halted with the dense bush all round them. Of
course it was impossible for them to retain their
formation intact, and the different faces were
broken here and there by patches of the thorny
jungle. From their position they could see
nothing of the enemy for some time, though
bullets were whistling over their heads in con
siderable numbers, evidently fired from the
mountains, where the enemy were in great force,
A party of six hundred Arabs all of a sudden
appeared on the right face of the square, and
with the utmost ferocity charged down upon it ;
but the Guards, standing as steady as a wall,
received them with a withering volley, which
stretched half their number lifeless on the sand.
Supported by a large force some three thousand
strong, this party renewed their fruitless efforts,
and, led in their charges by a youth mounted
on a white camel, did their utmost to gain the
mastery ; but it was utterly useless, for they had
opposed to them some of the finest troops in the
world. The roar of the musketry was now general
over the A\'hole field, the enemy were firing away
in the valley and along the lower ridges of the
mountains where the mounted infantry were
driving them back, the 49th and the Marines

HASHEEN. 151
were showering bullets down from their point of
vantage, while the rattle of the musketry in the
bush in front told of the Guards being hotly
engaged. Volley succeeded volley, and amidst
the crack, crack, of the rifles, the booming of the
guns re-echoed through the mountains, as the
Horse Artillery pitched their shells with unerring
precision into the enemy wherever he showed
thickest and in the greatest numbers.
Another determined attack was made on our
right flank, where the 70th were hard at work
under a covering party building the zariba ; but
these fellows being charged by the 5th Lancers
and 9th Bengal Cavalry, were driven off and
great numbers of them killed.
A little before one o'clock, the enemy's fire
having slackened, the 49th and Marines were
withdrawn from Hasheen Hill and ordered to
fall back towards the conical hills in rear. The
Guards were also ordered to retire.
No sooner had the 49th and Marines begun
to descend their hill, than the top was almost
instantaneously re-occupied by the enemy, who
opened a brisk fire on our retiring troops. A
large force also having ascended the lower part
of this hill where it rose out of the valley,
opened an exceedingly heavy fire on the Brigade

152 SUAKIN, 1885.
of Guards now also falling back. Their square
was much hampered by being absolutely filled
with baggage-animals, dhoolie-bearers, cavalry,
and even artillery, who had all taken refuge
inside it, to escape from the effects of the
Guards' heavy fire. There was no hurry, and
the men moved with the utmost steadiness
under the galling fire poured in upon them.
Every now and then the square would halt
and reply with a volley or two ; but they were
unable to see the crafty enemy, who took good
care to hide himself behind the thickest of the
bush, and the rocky ground of the hills. Many
a man fell, shot dead, and many were hit ;
while more than one officer fell, mortally
wounded, inside the square. The dead and
wounded alike were all placed inside the dhoo
lies, and this caused a certain amount of delay,
as parts of the force «'ere halted to look after
the casualties. Falling back in this way was a
slow, tedious business, and it has never been
revealed why the Guards were ever put forward
into an impenetrable jungle to stand and be
shot at. Under the most disadvantageous cir
cumstances they behaved with the utmost cool
ness, and the majestic way in which they carried
out their retreat, over about a mile and a half

HASHEEN. 153
of the roughest country, beset by an invisible
enemy, is deserving of the highest praise. It is
not too much to say that had the enemy been
better marksmen, and understood thoroughly
the use of their rifles, the Brigade of Guards
would have been simply decimated. It was
folly first of all to put them in such a position,
but this folly was surpassed by the way the
retreat was ordered. By the falling back of the
49th and Marines from Hasheen Hill, we gave
back to the enemy a position for which our
men had fought most gallantly, and from which
they were able to annoy us considerably without
our being in any way able to reply. With no
means of covering their retreat, and with a con
siderable part of the cavalry actually inside
their square, the Guards were exposed for an
hour or more to a fire, which, if it had been
better directed, would have nearly annihilated
them. To run such risks is hardly forethought,
and to handle troops thus is not generalship.
With the falling back of the Brigade of
Guards and the two battalions of the 2nd
Brigade, the firing ceased along the whole line,
and the action was virtually over.
There was a report that the enemy was
threatening our left flank, and that large bodies

154 SUAKIN, 1885.

were advancing from that direction ; but this
was found to be groundless, and moreover, there
was force enough in that part of the field to
repel any , attack, as we could just see the
Indian Brigade still standing there in line,
while their forms seemed to dance in the mirage
of the intense heat.
The formation of the force, after the various
battalions had fallen back, was as follows. The
right was protected by the two hills, and the
zariba, now almost completed, and held by the
70th. Next to this the remaining four guns of
the Horse Artillery battery took up a position
on the low hill to the left, which I have already
referred to as being the point where the Staff
were stationed. In rear of this was a part of
the cavalry. Further to the left were the three
battalions of the Guards, and the 49th and
Royal Marines ; while on the left flank were the
Indian battalions drawn up in line at right
angles to the remainder of the troops, and in
rear of them. The general formation was thus
three sides of a square.
Bodies of the enemy were to be seen hovering
about the base of the mountains, and on these
the artillery opened fire for upwards of twenty
minutes. Many of the shells took effect, but the

HASHEEN. 155
range was a very long one, and it was extremely
difficult to see in what measure our fire was suc
cessful. No further attempt was made by the
Arabs to attack us, and so the men were allowed
to sit down and eat their dinners, while the
wounded were brought in to t he field hospitals
and the dead collected and laid carefully in the
dhoolies. The doctors had their hands pretty
full, and they had to attend to ghastly wounds,
for the spears cut long and deep. I am sure
nobody will deny the doctors a word of
praise for their devotion and self-sacrifice,
and for their kindness and gentleness to
the suffering. Present in the very forefront
of the action all through the day, they were
always at the point where they were most
wanted, and many were the cases where lives
were saved through their prompt attention
which otherwise must have been most assuredly
lost. One at least met his death when engaged
in this work of mercy, and grand as the death
is of a man who falls fighting for Queen and
Country, that of one who yields up his life
while tending the poor suffering mortals around
him on the battle-field seems to me not one whit
less glorious.
The water transport had now plenty to do

156 SUAKIN, 1885.
serving out water to the different regiments.
Half a gallon was allowed per man, and camels
were sent off" in all directions carrying the re
freshment the men so much needed. We had
brought out with the force nearly twelve
thousand gallons of water, so that there was not
only plenty for every one, but sufficient to give
the horses and mules a drink, though I am afraid
from this not being generally known a good
many animals went without. The camels had
been watered the night before, so they required
none. The zariba was being rapidly strengthened,
and a portion of the battery of Gardner guns
was also being posted inside it, so with the 70th
to hold the zariba, and the two hills armed with
a gun each, the place seemed suliiciently strong
to hold out against any odds. Provisions for
four days for this force had been brought out,
and nearly six thousand gallons of water was
stored partly in three large iron tanks and a
canvas tank which the Engineers had carried
out with them. There was also a considerable
store of ammunition, so altogether the zariba
was well found. The zariba was a small one,
the two conical-shaped hills being connected
by two high hedges made out of the thorny

HASHEEN. 157
bush running parallel to each other, and about
thirty yards apart A shallow trench was dug
in rear of this hedge, and the sand thrown up
against the hedge to give it additional strength.
Sentries were placed all along the trench at
night time, and the men always slept in such
a position that they were ready at any moment
to defend different portions of the work. The
distance across from the top of one hill to the
top of the other was not more than one hundred
and fifty yards. A signalling-party was also
posted on one of the hills, so that communication
might in this way be kept up with Suakin by
means of the heliograph.
At half past three o'clock the artillery ceased
firing, and there were no further signs of the
enemy to be seen. The men were by this time
rested, and orders were accordingly given to
prepare to march back again to Suakin. It was
some time before all was ready, as the various
battalions had to be marched into position, and
the camels and mules collected before a start
could be made for home.
The formation in which our return march was
made was the same as that in which we had
advanced in the morning. The Guards were
on the proper right, marching in column of

158 SUAKIN, li

companies, the Indian Brigade was on the left,
while the two battalions of the 2nd Brigade
formed the rear or proper front face. In the
inside of the square were the transport animals,
and the dhoolies, and dhoolie-bearers carrying
our killed and our wounded,
I believe all our killed were brought in and
buried the following day at the Christian
Cemetery down by the harbour. The wounded
were taken to the base hospital, and afterwards
transferred to the Ganges hospital-ship.
Our losses were officially returned as follows :
three officers and twenty non-commissioned
officers and men killed, and two officers and
forty-one non-commissioned officers and men
wounded. There were several cases of sunstroke and
extreme exhaustion, but this is not to be
wondered at as the men had been under arms
since before four o'clock in the morning, and
every one had had a hard day's work. The
march out to Hasheen was a hot and tedious
one of over seven miles, then followed the fight
and heavy work of the day in a sun which
absolutely seemed to singe, and when all this
was over there was the march home again
through the prickly bush and heavy sand. The

HASHEEN. 159

whole force worked magnificently and the General
ought to have been proud of his troops. They
deserved all the praise they got. The honour
of the day no doubt belonged to the 49th and
the Marines, whose feat of the morning will long
remain in our memories ; but all alike deserved
praise, though some had a better chance of
distinguishing themselves than others.
A good many of us were much struck with
the tactics of the enemy, who worked on a
regular system and evidently a prearranged plan.
First of all they relinquished the two conical
hills to us, and fell back to the superior range in
rear, from which they had complete command
of the whole ground in front.
Their tactics in the valley were, no doubt,
intended to draw us on, as they purposely con
cealed their main body in the hollow behind
Hasheen Hill, In this way a smaller force con
tinued to retire slowly before the half battalion
of Marines and the Native Infantry, always just
retaining touch and keeping up all the while a
tolerably brisk fire. But the officer commanding
the Royal Marines, who was an experienced
soldier of many a hard-fought field, told me
himself that he saw through their little game
and halted his half-battalion to await orders.

i6o SUAKIN, li

While they engaged us in the front in this
way, they managed to lay in wait for our
cavalry, a part of whom they entrapped, while
with a considerable force they threatened our
right and left flanks simultaneously, and des
patched as well a body, fifteen hundred strong,
to attack us in rear. Had it not been for the
guns ofthe Horse Artillery on the hills, there is
no doubt that this attempt on our rear would
have been successful, and the whole of our
transport destroyed.
The transport was huddled together on the
left of the zariba, and without any guard except
two companies of the 70th, all the other men
being hard at work building the zariba. I was
told by an officer, who was stationed here all the
day, that when he was ordered to get his men
together to protect the transport from an attack,
which at that moment seemed imminent, he only
had sufficient men to put along one side of the
mass of animals, and those were a yard apart —
an efficient defence this against the impetuous
onslaught of a large force of Arabs !
Altogether the generalship on the part of the
enemy was good, and it was lucky for us we
went out as strong as we did. Most of the men
we engaged were of the Hadendowa tribes, but

HASHEEN. i6i

we heard afterwards, that a large force of some
three thousand Amarars were drawn up in
rear, waiting to see which way the fight went —
so much for the " friendlies,"
The strength of the enemy was variously
estimated at from eight to twelve thousand men,
but reports differed materially in different parts
of the field. The intense thickness of the bush
prevented our seeing what their strength really
was, and, added to this, there were large bodies
of men in the mountains watching their oppor-
tunit}^ I do not think myself there were as
many as ten thousand men present, but I had
no opportunity of seeing what the strength of
the party was that came over from the Tamai
direction. Their losses must have been very
heavy, for added to the execution done by the
Mounted Infantry and the Cavalry, the 49th and
Marines must have slain a considerable number;
and further than this the steady and very heavy
fire of the Guards' square must have told con
siderably on the dense formation, in which the
enemy made their repeated charges. The
artillery fire was also not without effect. The
opinion among many was that there must have
been twelve hundred of the Arabs killed ; but I
should fancy a thousand would be nearer the
M

i62 SUAKIN, 1885.

mark. To this must be added the number of
wounded, which must of necessity have been
considerable also.
With our own wounded brought back to
camp, was the youth who led the charges on the
Guards' square, riding on a white camel. He
was slightly wounded and made a prisoner of,
being afterwards taken to the " H " Redoubt
Hospital, where he received every care and
attention, just as one of our own men. I don't
know whether he appreciated a cot provided
with sheets, which must have been a somewhat
foreign luxury to him, but he was kept in a
tent by himself, and had a man continually
watching him, both for his own sake as well as
for other reasons. His great grief was that his
white camel had been killed, and he seemed to
find it a hard matter to get over this. I do not
think he ever showed any particular signs of
gratitude for the kindnesses he received ; but this
was hardly to be expected from a representative
of the race, who hated and detested us most
bitterly. I alluded just now to the way in which the
transport animals were left without any efficient
guard to look over them. The English portion
of the transport was of course not numerous

HASHEEN. 163

enough to be of any use, added to which they
had their work cut out for them to look after the
native drivers. A part of the Transport Corps
was, moreover, told off to occupy the small hill
on the left, which duty should surely have been
carried out by some one else, and thus the chance
of guarding or defending the camels was reduced
to a minimum.
There was another thing at which we were
somewhat astonished, and that was that the
transport, comprising in all, that day, somewhere
about twelve hundred camels, was suffered to
march the whole way out from Suakin to where
the force made their first halt, a mile from the
conical hills, without any guard whatsoever.
We have often wondered since how it was the
enemy did not take advantage of this, as he
might so easily have done by one of his rapidly
executed movements.
Many hours were not, however, destiried to
pass before a fearful fate was to overtake this
same transport through the laxity and careless
ness on the part of those responsible for its
protection, and through an overw^eening confi
dence in their own strength-
Our march back was a long business and a
very tedious one, for we were all thoroughly

i64 SUAKIN, 1885.

tired, A hot sun scorched our backs and the
dust half suffocated us, but the camp came in
to sight at last, with Suakin behind it in the
distance, and in another hour we were passing
the line of redoubts and the different battalions
were breaking off" to their own parts of the
camp, while those we had left behind came
out to meet us to hear the news or to assure
themselves of the safety of some friend.
We rode on down to the Head-quarter camp
to make our report, and then, just as the sun set,
we reached our own tents, having had a spell of
work of over thirty hours with little or no food
and without a rest of any kind. We were
almost too tired to eat, and sleep was all we
asked for ; but our night was not without alarms,
and many shots were fired. I think, though, it
would have taken heavy firing indeed to have
disturbed some of us.
Our first real fight with the Hadendowas was
thus over, though what was gained by it nobody
ever knew. The enemy on their side celebrated
it as a victory, while her Gracious Majesty on
ours sent a telegram congratulating the troops
on their success and thanking them for their
gallantry. All that was gained by the action of Hasheen

HASHEEN. 165

was the possession of two small hills which we
secured without firing a shot, and before the
fighting began. It was generally supposed that
we marched out with the intention of occupying
Hasheen, and of thus depriving the enemy of
their water supply in this part of the country ;
but we never went within a mile of the wells,
which had been noticed by the reconnoitring
party the day before, and we contented ourselves
with leaving a force behind in a barren situation,
too small in itself to take any active measures
against the enemy, and depending the whole
while they stopped there on their friends at
Suakin being able to run them out convoys of
supplies and water.
To the Arab mind a defeat is not a defeat
unless the one force can follow up his advantage
and drive home his blow. No wonder, then,
that when they saw us retire from the positions
we had carried in the morning, and then quietly
march off" back again to camp in the afternoon,
they concluded we had had the worst of it, and
agreed to celebrate the affair as a victory. The
mere killing of a certain number of their force
means nothing at all to them, and unless they
are dispersed, shattered, and absolutely driven
off the field, it is as much their victory as that

i66 SUAKIN, 1885.

of their enemies, and most certainly they do not
reckon it a defeat.
As to the moral effect the battle of Hasheen
had upon them, this was illustrated two days
after, and showed in an unmistakable way that
it amounted to nil.
How far our generals were justified in their
course it is neither my wish nor my intention to
inquire. We in the force only knew that many
good men and true fell that day, and we knew
also that as soldiers we had done what we were
ordered, and done it to the best of our ability ;
but how far the blood then shed helped us on
our way at all, or furthered the object of the
campaign, we were at a loss to imagine, and
were never afterwards enlightened.

( i67 )

CHAPTER VIII,
THE ZARIBA.
As I said in the last chapter, many of us enjoyed
a fair night's sleep, and by four o'clock the next
morning we were ready for more work, and
more fighting if necessary. When I talk of a
night's rest, though, I do not mean that we went
to bed comfortably, for we none of us took our
clothes off", but merely lay down as we were, with
our loaded revolvers and our swords beside us,
too dead tired for anything else.
I must mention an amusing little episode to
do with the way we carried out our ablutions.
A few days befoi«e we had " come by " a barrel
of water, which we annexed for the purpose of
having a good bath. We then secured the half
of an old water-butt, and filling it nearly full of
water, proceeded solemnly to take a tub in it
one after the other, and five of us thus enjoyed
the first real wash we had had for a very long

i68 SUAKIN, 1885,

time. We did not upset the water, though, after
our first wash, but kept it religiously, and for
the next five days continued to tub in it when
ever we had a chance. By the morning after
we returned from the battle of Hasheen we had
been separated from our tub for two days, and
when it came to the first one's turn to wash, I
saw him at work with an iron cup, skimming a
thick glutinous scum from the top of the water,
after completing which operation, with the ut
most gravity, he as solemnly proceeded to take
his tub hke a true Englishman. I must confess
that the black and putrescent water of our bath
that morning defeated me, and I never tubbed
again. It was evident that another advance was con
templated almost immediately, and though no
orders were issued about where we were going
to march to next, we, in the afternoon of the
2 1st of March, were told that we were to have
as much water as possible loaded up and ready
to start an hour before daybreak on the next
morning. Owing to the number of tins we had- left at
the Hasheen Zariba, we were rather short of
means of carrying a large supply of water, but
all through that night we worked on again

THE ZARIBA.

pretty much in the same way as we had done
two nights before, and filled every vessel we
could get hold of By four o'clock we were
marching off to join the remainder of the Trans
port up at the Right Water Fort, where also the
whole ofthe troops were paraded before starting.
The force which marched out this Sunday
morning, the 22nd of March, was composed as
follows : The 49th, the Royal Marines, the
Indian Brigade, a battery of four Gardner guns,
a detachment of the Royal Engineers, and a
squadron of the 5 th Lancers, and gth Bengal
Cavalry. There was, of course, as well a proper
complement of dhoolie-bearers, doctors, and
ambulances, an ammunition column, a telegraph-
cart, with wires, etc., and a huge number of
transport animals carrying supplies for four
thousand men for three days.
We were all on the move by half-past four
o'clock. In front, the 49th and Marines, with
the battery of Gardner guns, moved in one
square, while in rear was a second square com
posed of the Indian Infantry, with the whole of
the transport
The orders were that this force was to advance
about five or six miles in the direction of Tamai,
that is south-south-west of Suakin, and there

I70 SUAKIN, 1885.

halt and build a zariba, in which the stores and
water were to be left, guarded by a portion of
the force, while the remainder were to return to
the camp with the transport animals as soon as
the work had been accomplished. In this way
a kind of depot was to be formed well on the
way to Tamai, and stores of all sorts were to
be massed there by convoys marching out daily
from Suakin.
The whole of the force was under command
of General MacNeill, and the advance was un
disturbed by the enemy, who indeed showed no
signs of being anywhere in the neighbourhood.
The first part of the march was through country
covered with small isolated patches of bush, but
nothing to impede the advance of the troops.
Further on, the bush became much thicker and
closer, and the cavalry had some difficulty in
forcing their way through it, being thus pre
vented from obtaining a thorough view of the
surrounding ground.
Having arrived at length at a point about six
miles out, the whole force was halted and three
zaribas marked out, joining one another, and
placed like the squares on a chess-board taken
diagonally. The two outside squares were occu
pied by the 49th and Marines, having two

THE ZARIBA. 171

Gardner guns in each, while the third or centre
square, which was double the size of the other
two, was occupied by the Indian Brigade, and
was the one in which all the stores were placed.
After a short interval for rest, a part ofthe
force was ordered to pile their arms and set to
work at once to cut down the bush and drag it
in to build the zariba, while others were digging
trenches or helping to unload the transport
animals and carry the cases of tinned meat and
biscuits into the centre square. Later on the
men were allowed to sit down and have their
dinners, for they wanted a little rest, as the
march had been a heavy one, and the work of
cutting down and dragging the bush about
was exceedingly hard in the intense heat of
the sun.
The men were thus for the most part much
scattered about Two companies of the 49th
were out some forty yards away from their
zariba, their arms lying down on the ground,
while they hacked and hewed at the tough growth
of the bush. The Marines were similarly en
gaged, and the Indian Infantry were hard at
work on their zariba as well. The greater part
of the transport animals had been unladen,
and the stores placed in the centre of the large

172 SUAKIN, li

square. The camels were drawn up in a body
on one side of, and about seventy yards from,
the zaribas of the Marines and the Indian
Brigade, A few cavalry videttes were out in
the bush, but few of these were more than thirty
yards away from the working parties.
All around seemed quiet ; the men continued
at their work, and the two small sandbag re
doubts at the corners of the zaribas of the 49th
and Marines were gradually being completed,
when a cavalry vidette came galloping in to tell
the General that parties of the enemy had been
seen not far off" in the bush. The General was
asking the man in what force he thought the
enemy were, when a second vidette came in
telling the same story, that the Arabs were col
lecting in force round the zaribas. Then sud
denly the air was rent with the most frightful
yell ; the cavalry outposts came clattering in,
dashing through the working parties, and a heavy
fire was poured upon us from the enemy, who
seemed all at once to have sprung out of the
earth where but a second before all had seemed
so quiet and so still. There was a cry all round,
" Stand to your arms, men ! " " Stand to your
arms!" but, alas! many of the men were without
arms, for they had put them down on the ground

THE ZARIBA. 173

while they were toiling away at their work.
There was a rush to the partially formed zaribas,
and, mixed up together, Englishmen and Indians
stood back to back fighting for life against an
overwhelming force,
A large body of the Arabs had at the same
time attacked the mass of camels and transport
animals, who turned round and, like a vast
surging sea, came onward towards the zaribas,
crashing through the bush, swaying with their
mighty weight, and trampling down everything
in their course as they swept forward enveloped
in a dense cloud of dust, maddened and terrified.
The Arabs were among them, hacking, hewing
right and left, ham-stringing and ripping up the
wretched camels, and cutting down mercilessly
the poor miserable native drivers who, unarmed
and helpless, were hemmed in and carried on
ward by the flood. Many of our own men and
officers, too, were in this way driven forward,
unable to extricate themselves or even to
draw their swords. Mules, horses, and camels
were huddled into one hopeless mass of inex
tricable confusion, while the air was filled with
the screams of men and animals and the roar of
the musketry.
The 17th Native Infantry had possession of

174 SUAKIN, 1885.
this side of the centre zariba, the Marines being
on their left It was on this point that the con
fused mass of men and animals fell. The 17th
were for the moment completely scattered, but
groups of men stood fast here and there, and
poured in their fire, in the general confusion,
right into the men and animals in front of them.
It was a minute before they were able to form
up in any way, and then they fired upon friend
and foe at once, and men and animals went down
before the leaden hail, killed by our own bullets.
But the Marines on the left stood firm as a
rock, and it was well they did. The enemy
dashed onwards, with almost irresistible impulse,
falling in terrible numbers before their well-
directed volleys, and not being stopped until
they were actually touching our bayonets. Led
by sheikhs carrying white banners inscribed
with the Mahdi's name, they charged again and
again, rushing up to the face of the square and
engaging our men hand-to-hand. Many of
these Arabs would fall before the rain of bullets,
but, picking themselves up instantly, they would
dash forward with the rest, till, pierced through
and through, they reached the square at last, posi
tively riddled by the fire. It was a supremely
awful moment, but the English foot-soldier again

THE ZARIBA. 175

proved himself invincible, and stood facing the
foe — which outnumbered him ten to one — without
a waver and without a move, save to load and
reload or .drive home the thrust of the weapon
in the use of which he ranks before all others.
So Arab and Englishman hacked and hewed,
and shot and thrust, till blood flowed out on
the ground like water, and black and white
man alike bit the dust or writhed in death-
agony on the hot sands of that parched-up
desert. The 49th zariba was entered by about a hun
dred and fifty Arabs, as most of the men were, as
I have already said, outside, cutting down the
bush. Getting their arms as quickly as possible,
two companies of this gallant regiment formed
rallying squares, and in this formation none of
the Arabs could touch them. They did their
best with shot and spear alike, led on, as in other
parts of the field, by sheikhs carrying banners,
on one of which was inscribed the words in
Arabic, " Whosoever fights under this banner
shall have victory," So crafty were the enemy
in the way they attacked these detached portions
of our force, that they got round between them
and the zaribas, as they saw that our men would
not be able to fire in this direction for fear of

176 SUAKIN, li

injuring their friends. But cold steel did what
the bullet was unable to do.
Nothing could have exceeded the coolness
and signal bravery of the 49th, as they fought
their zariba against overwhelming numbers, who
never faltered for a moment in delivering charge
upon charge. It was the triumph of perfect
discipline, combined with the utmost bravery,
over a glorious pluck untutored in the A\'ays of
war. Nothing but this saved our force that day.
Had there been the least unsteadiness, had there
been the slightest hesitation on our side, our
force must have been doomed. Nothing could
have saved us but this perfect self-possession and
steadiness when taken at a disadvantage. Had
it not been for the sterling quality of the Eng
lish troops, another catastrophe more awful than
that of Isandlanha, another massacre more fear
ful than that of Maiwand, must have occurred
that Sunday afternoon. Never did the sterling
quality of the British soldier shine out more
brightly than it did on this occasion. Never did
men face death more resolutely and with greater
sangfroid. The glory of the British army has
not yet departed, when deeds of this sort can be
performed, Happy is the country who possesses
such soldiers ; the people of England ought to be

THE ZARIBA. 177

proud of them, and a General ought to be thank
ful indeed who has such men at his back to pull
him through.
But I must go back. The remainder of the
49th were in an incredible short space of time
in position, and a hand-to-hand fight with
the Arabs who had entered their square ensued.
Some were shot down, while others were run
through with the bayonet, till, fighting splendidly,
the last of these fanatical and undaunted war
riors fell, a victim to his indomitable pluck.
One hundred and twenty-two bodies of Arabs
were counted actually inside the square after the
fight was over, and among them, strewed pretty
thickly, were many of our own men, soldier and
sailor alike. The Gardner guns had opened on
the enemy and swept the ground in front, carry
ing death and destruction wherever they were
pointed, but they became jammed almost im
mediately, and then the enemy were among the
sailors in a second ; a few only escaped being
wounded, while many, alas ! were killed. They
fought their guns gloriously, and fell, as British
sailors have done before, side by side with their
soldier-brothers. The redoubt in the zariba furthest from Sua
kin was the scene of some of the most severe
N

178 SUAKIN, 1885.

hand-to-hand fighting ; and it was here the sailors
suffered most, no less than one officer and ten
blue-jackets, who had been working the guns,
lying here dead in a heap.
I ought to mention an incident of the fight,
showing how the enemy are animated by a
bitter hatred for us, and how this hatred is not
confined to the Arab men alone, but fills the
hearts of their women and their children also.
For one single instant the smoke cleared off
and showed us the swarming hordes of Arabs
leaping and dancing in the bush, while they
rushed onward in endless numbers to demolish
us if possible ; and as we thus gained a momen
tary view, there stood out between the two
opposing forces a boy, aged not more than
twelve years, without signs of fear, actually
throwing stones at us. But the Arab fire was
growing hot, ours opened again, and the fate
of that boy was sealed, not because there was
the slightest wish on the part of our men to
slay the, little fellow, but because one and all
were hopelessly doomed before that terrific and
deadly hail. There were women, too, fighting
like the men, and dressed in the Mahdi's uni
form. It was horrible to think of their being
there, and worse still to think that they had to

THE ZARIBA. 179

fall. But there was no help for it ; in the short
half-hour that the fight lasted there was no time
to pick and choose, and though we never knew
till afterwards that there were women in the
•enemy's ranks, the dead bodies of several lying
on the field told more surely than anything else
-of the bitter enmity there was between us.
The enemy did not, however, confine their
attacks to one side of the zaribas alone ; they
were on all sides, and the Sikhs and 28th had
a hot time of it. The Sikhs especially behaved
most gallantly, magnificent fellows that they
are. They were perfectly in hand the whole
while, and stood as firm as rocks, carrying out
the orders of their officers and plying their
bayonets with the utmost effect. Many Arabs
had entered this zariba ; and indeed some were
seen quietly to trot across it before we were
hardly aware that we were attacked. These
fellows actually succeeded in running up behind
some of our men and in stabbing them while
they were still at their work. So daring was
the approach of these forerunners of the force,
that the very audacity of their movements
caused them to be mistaken for some of our
own Soumali drivers, and it was a minute at
least before they were detected and shot down.

i8o SUAKIN, 1885.

This more than anything shows how completely
we were taken by surprise, and how utterly
ignorant we had been of any danger.
But I must refer back again to what became
of the Transport. By far the greater part were
killed and wounded at the first onslaught, but
when the stampede took place they very soon
scattered in all directions, and as far as the eye
could reach, all over the plain were camels,
riderless horses, mules kicking themselves free
of broken harness, drivers running for their
lives, and our own men cut off" from the zaribas,
sharing a common fate with the rest, and falling
either speared by the enemy or shot down by
the reckless fire of some of the Native Infantry,
All those who were at first shut out from the
zaribas and swept away by the stampede of
animals were never able to reach the squares
again, as it was utterly impossible for them to
approach their friends when they had once
opened fire. Many attempted to do so, but
they had to turn before the storm and fly with
the rest in the direction of Suakin. Many of
the cavalry and a great part of the transport
men fled for their lives in this way ; some man
aged to leap on to the backs of affrighted
animals, and even these had to gallop hard

THE ZARIBA. 18 1

¦to escape from the numbers of Arabs who
attempted to run them down, while others ran
on foot, and few indeed of these ever reached
the camp alive. Some escaped a fearful end
by hiding in the bush and feigning death, and
a lad of ours saved his life in this way by lying
down between two comrades who had fallen
down killed by the Arab bullets. They con
tinued their pursuit to within a mile of the
camp, and thus the whole line of retreat was
covered with dead and general debris. The first
and somewhat exaggerated account of the affair
was conveyed to the camp by these refugees,
many of whom reached home in time to tell the
news in broken, breathless sentences, and then
to fall and die.
The enemy's tactics were as well planned as
they had been two days before, and they carried
out an attack upon all sides simultaneously with
out any shouting or word of command, and
without showing themselves for a moment. Not
only this, but seeing our most vulnerable point
was the transport, they got round in rear of the
camels and other animals, and drove them before
them on to the zaribas, thus not only being able
to slaughter the transport at will, but also to
drive them on to us and thus throvv' our own

SUAKIN, li

men into confusion. A further force took up.
a position on the path along which we had
advanced in the morning, ready to cut off our re
treat to Suakin, and also to intercept all animals
which did not fall before the knives and spears
of the attacking party.
A very strong reserve, some thousands strong,
was also in readiness to carry out the massacre
at the zaribas, which they fully expected to
effect ; and when they had completely exter
minated our force here, it was their intention
to fall upon the camp before Suakin with their
whole force, after which the starving out of the
zariba at Hasheen would have been merely a
question of days. All this we found out after
wards from prisoners, but the disposition of
their forces showed us quite plainly enough
what their intentions were. They might, had
it not been for the gallantry of our troops, have
carried out the first part of their programme,
and it was a wonder they did not ; but beyond
doing a certain amount of mischief among the
deserted part of the camp, they would have been
simply swept off" the face of the earth by the
force left behind there, as there was in the camp
at the time the Brigade of Guards, the S3rd, a
greater part of the ca\-alr)-, and a battery of

THE ZARIBA. 183

Horse Artillery, to say nothing of a mountain
battery of seven-pounder screw-guns, which were
quite prepared to receive them, as well as sundry
other details and detachments. There was, in
deed, an alarm in the camp that the enemy were
coming down, and every preparation was made
to receive them ; but they never showed up,
though large bodies of them were seen from the
Hasheen zariba moving across in that direction.
The natives and people in the town of Suakin
were in a tremendous state of excitement, and
the most conflicting accounts were current there
about the fate of the troops. Some of the re
fugees had galloped right into Suakin, where
they told the most awful tales of the total ex
termination of the force, and of the death of the
General and all his soldiers.
For an hour or more after the fighting was
over, detached bodies of the enemy were to be
seen pursuing single animals over the plain
towards the sea. They killed most of these,
though they took possession of some. Several
of the camels and mules, many of which were
wounded, made as if by instinct for Suakin, and
a few actually succeeded in reaching the camp
in an utterly exhausted condition, and covered
with blood.

1 84 SUAKIN,

The actual fighting was over in less than half
an hour, but the enemy did not turn tail and
run — not a bit of it. Many of them merely
turned round and walked quietly away, while
others withdrew sullenly, keeping up a fire upon
us as they went.
The scene around, both inside and outside the
zaribas, was one utterly indescribable. Little
would be gained by trying to describe it, if
indeed it were possible, by mere word-painting,
to convey the dimmest notion of the appearance
of the ground around us. The task would be a
sickening one to the writer, for it would be to
go over old sorrows and old hours of the most
bitter anguish of heart It were better to try
and blot out what must always remain, I fear,
too vividly in the minds of those who witnessed
it ; and I, for one, care not to pander to the
morbid love for horrors possessed by a few.
God knows, there is sorrow, trouble, and afflic
tion enough in this wide, erring, sinful worid
without attempting to add to it unnecessarily,
or rend the hearts of those of the opposite sex
at home, who in their gentleness and refinement
know little or nothing of^arwith all its attendant
misery. Let us draw a veil over this part of the picture.

THE ZARIBA. 185

and deal solely with that which tells of bravery,
of loving acts of kindness — of cases where the
man laid down the arm and nursed the sick and
the wounded with the care and the tenderness
of a woman. A battle-field may bring out all
those qualities of brutality, of almost fiendish
brutality, in a man, but it most assuredly brings
out as well his noblest instincts. The acts, I say,
of mercy, of self-sacrifice, of love, and complete
devotion seen on a battle-field shine out as
beacons in a night of roaring storm, and serve
to guide men in after years who have before
thought little, cared little, and considered others
little, and whose lives were hardly what they
might have been. I have seen men stand on
such occasions with hot tears coursing each
other down their cheeks while they gazed on the
sufferings of some comrade. I have seen others
give their all to the wounded when they were
almost starving themselves ; and I have known
men ready to lay down their lives for a friend at
once, cheerfully and without hesitation. Are
these noble qualities } Then let all soldiers who
have these opportunities when fighting for their
country, and take advantage of them, be honoured
in Old England as soldiers should be honoured,
instead of being often treated with indifference.

i86 . SUAKIN, 1885,

and more often still kicked out into the streets
as " unfit for further service," when they have
risked their lives for the country which spurns
them when cripples, and finds no home for them
when they have lost health and strength in some
deadly climate. Our streets tell this tale too
often, and our country-side as well. An old
soldier is cared for where he has friends, but how
about when he has none ?
For some hours the troops stood in position
lining the sides of the zaribas, momentarily ex
pecting a renewal of the attack, as the Hasheen
force heliographed to the effect that a large-
body of the enemy were marching in our direc
tion, many of whom were mounted on camels.
Nobody was allowed to leave the ranks, except
those employed bringing in the wounded to the
doctors, who, as usual after a battle, had their
hands full. Our dead were all placed together
in rows inside the zariba, and those of the enemy
were carried outside ready for burial the next
morning. Boxes of biscuits and tinned meat, water-tins,
trusses of compressed ha}-, and a multitude of
other things, were strewed about outside in alb
directions, and as much of this as possible was-
collccted together, M'liile the few remaining

THE ZARIBA. 187

camels and mules were also brought inside the
zaribas. Many of these luckless animals were
to be seen hobbling about wounded, or standing
up slowly bleeding to death. The inside of the
zariba seemed to be stained everywhere with
blood, and almost every one was spattered with
it Many men, for the first few moments after
the fight was over, simply fell down from ex
haustion and dropped off" to sleep, so with their
blood-stained jackets it was difficult to tell who
was wounded and who was not. It was im
possible to drag the dead bodies of the animals
outside the zaribas that night, as every one was
too tired to do anything but look after the
wounded. Of course the inside of the zariba
was littered with every imaginable thing — broken
rifles, spears, shields, swords, parts of kits, helmets,
empty cartridge-cases in thousands, blood-stained
caps and jackets, bayonets twisted in all sorts of
shapes, and thrown away as useless, and sundry
other things too numerous to mention.
Thus occurred in one short half-hour, and
suddenly in all the quiet of a Sunday afternoon,
one of the bloodiest fights ever chronicled.
Just when our people at home were sitting
in the stillness, perhaps, of some village church,
listening to the voice of a pastor offering up

SUAKIN, 1885.

the prayer to God, "from battle and murder,
and from sudden death, good Lord, deliver
us ; " or, perchance, singing the words of some
favourite hymn, or even, it may be, repeating
the prayer for us soldiers ; we were fighting
and falling fast, while many a spirit was in one
second wafted upward to appear before his
Maker. It was as well they knew it not On
what to them must have been a peaceful sabbath
morn — ' ' That Irysting-place of God and man ; that link
Betwixt a near eternity and time " —
was to US a scene of bloodshed and of death,
of man fighting with man for very life, ay, and
dashing out all semblance of the creature that
God has set up here in His own image. To look
on a scene such as we saw that day at those
blood-stained zaribas is to be seized with a
horror of war, and to say with the poet in all
sincerity —
' ' Avaunt thee, horrid ^Yar, whose miasms, bred
Of nether darkness and Tartarean swamps,
Float o'er this fallen world and blight the flowers.
Sole relics of a ruin'd Eden ! Hence
'With all thy cruel ravages ! — fair homes
Rifled for thee of husband, brother, son ;
Wild passions slipp'd like hell-hounds in the heart.
And baying in full cry for blood ; the shock
Of battle ; the quick throes of dying men ;
The ghastly stillness ofthe mangled dead,"

THE ZARIBA.

I remember the words of a great man who
said, " While you are engaged in the field, man}^
will repair to the closet, many to the sanctuary ;
the faithful of every name will employ that
prayer which has power with God ; the feeble
hands which are unequal to any other weapon,
will grasp the sword of the Spirit ; and from
myriads of humble, contrite hearts the voice
of intercession, supplication, and weeping will
mingle in its ascent to heaven with the shouts-
of battle and the shock of arms," And thus the
force was delivered that day from a slaughter
almost unparalleled in the annals of war, from
a catastrophe which would have carried weeping
and mourning into a thousand households, and
made our country shake to her foundations,
while people mute with horror looked each
other in the face and realized, as one realizes.
the meaning of some faint far-off" sound, what
war really is.
The darkness at length closed around the
zaribas and shut out from the eye for a time
the ghastly sights around. There was perfect
silence inside the three squares as a quarter of
the force stood lining the hedges and peering
into the night No lights were to be seeni
except where the doctors worked incessantly at

I90 SUAKIN, 1885.

the mass of suffering around them. The dawn
was breaking long before they had completed
their sickening task. Many of the enemy had
itheir wounds tied up with the same tenderness
as if they had been our friends, and I think some
of the most fearful wounds were those inflicted
by the Snider bullets of the Indian troops.
One had not, unfortunately, to look among the
enemy only for these wounds, for many of our
men will carry to their graves the results of the
momentary panic.
While one quarter of the force guarded the
front of the zaribas, the remainder slept on the
Wood-stained ground, ready at any moment to
jump to their posts. There was one alarm that
night due to a mule breaking away from the
picketing lines, and being chased by one of the
native drivers ac^BSs the centre zariba. In a
moment the whole of the men were in their
places, firing away into the bush as fast as they
¦could, so much had their nerves been shaken by
the terrible events of the day. The "Gease
fire ! " was sounded, and immediately the former
death-like stillness reigned around, broken now
and then only by the neighing of a horse, or the
grumble of a camel, or, what was worse, by the
.shrill and piteous cry of some wretched wounded

THE ZARIBA. 191

Arab, calling "Moya! Moya!" "Water! Water!"
as he lay in tortures in the bush. Then the
sound of a voice would come from afar off",
answering the wounded, as parties of the enemy
scoured the bush and carried off" their friends.
Ever since dark the signalling party were
flashing an endless succession of messages to
the camp, and all night long this continued
without intermission. Lists of the killed and
wounded were in this way flashed in to head
quarters, as well as many a message to friends
there, assuring of safety, and asking that the wel
come news might be forwarded home to England.
It was not until after ten o'clock that the
moon rose and threw her white light over the
field. The scene looked, if possible, doubly
ghastly now, and one could, see the dead lying
all round in hundreds, while%umbers of the
enemy lay actually in heaps close up to the
zaribas. The weary hours of the night dragged on
slowly, as we lay on the ground listenings for
any sound and starting at the faintest noise.
At last the sky in the east began to show signs
of growing red, and never was dawn more wel
come to men than it was to us that morning.
The night with all its anxiety was past, the

192 SUAKIN, li

constant dread of an attack in the darkness
was over, and it mattered little what the day
brought, for we were ready now.
When the noise of the first heavy firing was
heard in the camp, and volumes of dust were
seen flying high in the air, there was a rush to
any point of vantage where a view could be
obtained of what was happening to the force
that had marched in the morning. It looked as
if a fearful catastrophe had happened ; the fire
was very rapid and "independent," and there was
at first none of that regularity in it betokening
steadiness and obedience to commands. The
volumes of dust that filled the air showed that
either the cavalry were charging, or that large
bodies of the enemy were traversing the ground
with great rapidity. Then from out of the
volumes of dust and smoke appeared a mass of
fugitives, men and animals, and everywhere all
over the plain were to be seen riderless horses,
mules, and camels, flying for very life. At first
it appeared as though the whole force had been
scattered, but the rapid firing still continued, and
then after a while gradually settled down into
steady volleys. It was all right then ; the men
were steady and in hand, and those volleys told
of security and of fearful slaughter.

THE ZARIBA. ,193

There was immediate activity in the camp,
and before the first fugitives arrived the whole
of the force there were under arms. One bat
talion of Guards had started in the morning as
escort to a convoy carrying out stores to the
Hasheen zariba, but the other two battalions
were at once paraded, and, together with a
battery of Horse Artillery and a strong force of
cavalry, marched in the direction of the zaribas.
This force did not, however, go out more than
about two miles, as the firing had entirely
ceased. About six in the evening it was ac
cordingly marched back again to camp, bringing
with them in their dhoolies many wounded, who
had sunk down in their flight from loss of
blood and exhaustion.
Every preparation was made in the camp to
repel an attack, and a greater part of the force
was under arms and on the watch all night,
while guns were got into position and tents
were struck to clear the ground. It was a night
of great anxiety for those in camp, owing to the
uncertainty about what had actually happened.
Many of those who had escaped gave conflicting
accounts of the fight, while many friends were
reported killed by them who turned up the
following day all right It was not, however, O

194 SUAKIN, 1885.

till towards evening of the next day that a true
account of the affair reached the camp, and
anxiety was set at rest.
There are one or two things which need a
reference to do with this fight at the zaribas.
The first in importance is the clogging of the
Martini-Henry rifles. Years ago, when first
these rifles were issued to the army, every in
structor of musketry was asked to send in a
report . upon the way they worked in his regi
ment. The common fault found with them then
was that the extractor failed in the performance
of its proper functions, and that a rifle was often
rendered momentarily useless on account of the
inability to extract the cartridge-case after firing
without either repeatedly working the lever or
drawing the cleaning-rod and forcing the case
out by pressure from the muzzle. With regard
to the cartridge itself, fault was found with its
construction ; but we were informed that the
cartridge was only experimental, and would be
replaced by a better one later on. However
that may be, the clumsy built up and bottle-
shaped cartridge has been in use in the army
ever since, and no other cartridge has ever been
supplied ; and more than this, a price is given
per thousand for the empty cases returned into

THE ZARIBA. 195

store. Thus the cartridges are refilled and the
error continued ad infinitum. As a musketry
instructor, I used to dress all my markers with
the money I obtained for the old cartridge-cases,
and thus I was a party to the sin ; but I see no
reason why all these built-up cartridges should
not be got rid of at target practice, and reloaded
as often as you like, provided they are not issued
to men going on active service. It not un
frequently happened that the base of the car
tridge was torn right off by the jaws of the
extractor, when the rifle was at once rendered
utterly useless. The sand and the temperature
may have had a certain amount to do with the
jamming, but the fault lay principally in the
extractor of the rifle and the form of the car
tridge. The extractor ought certainly to be
improved upon if this rifle is to continue the
arm of the services ; and a drawn copper car
tridge-case, unlubricated, should take the place
of the present one. Many men have lost their
lives through these two things in our late wars ;
and though years ago reports, as I say, were
made by those best able to judge on the defects
of the weapon and the cartridge, no notice was
ever taken, and thus through a love of cheese
paring economy, and a penny wise and pound

196 SUAKIN, li

foolish policy, valuable lives have been sa
crificed. Another thing to which I think attention
should be drawn is the bayonet We hear a
lot about the wonderful quality of British steel ;
but why are our soldiers armed with a weapon
which, when put to the test, simply doubles up
like so much soft metal? Surely, above all
others the weapons we give our soldiers to fight
with should be of the best possible quality, A
man going covert shooting is not contented to
go out armed with a thirty-shilling gun from
Birmingham, neither is a man going pig-sticking
content to have a soft piece of metal at the end
of his staff; but it seems perfectly natural to
those at home to send our soldiers out into the
field to fight their country's enemies with a rifle
which is liable to be rendered utterly useless at
any moment, and a bayonet as much use to
them as if it were made of hoop-iron. Every
soldier's life is valuable, and our soldiers are not
so numerous that we can afford to sacrifice them
to the love of economy of some, and the short
sighted policy and indifference of some few
more, A jammed rifle may be of use to the
man who can go in with the bayonet, but how
about a rifle with a bent bayonet in front of the

THE ZARIBA. 197

muzzle } The first is bad enough, but in the
latter case the weapon is rendered utterly use
less. In every fight in the Sfidan campaign
there were many instances of both of these
faults, ,and surely it is time, therefore, some
notice was taken of a crying evil which may
land us in a terrible plight when we become
engaged in a European war. Our swords want
looking to as well ; the present pattern cavalry
sword is made of bad metal, the job of some
contractor. All bayonets and swords should be
called in and a fresh issue made of weapons,
each of which have been put through a severe
test similar to that through which Mr. Wilkinson
puts his celebrated blades, to the satisfaction
of the purchaser.
The Gardner guns always appeared to jam,
but of course, in a complicated weapon of this
kind, the conditions under which it was tried
in the Sudan were a severe test. The expansion
of the metal from the heat, and the dust which
was always flying about, were sufficient in a
great measure to account for its failure ; but I
think the cartridge was also at fault here. Later
on in the campaign another form of Gardner
gun came out, consisting of two barrels, enclosed
in a cylinder filled with a fluid, instead of the five

198 SUAKIN, 1885.
exposed barrels as in the ordinary pattern gun,
I am not aware that this gun ever cameinto action,
but it was tried at Suakin v/ith good results.
The ammunition was of two kinds in the
Suakin force^a fatal error. Why cannot the
Indian troops be armed with the Martini instead
of the Snider ? One word about the revolver.
The calibre of the regulation pattern revolver a
short time ago was '450, but it has lately been
changed to "455) so that there were again two
different sizes of ammunition here. Moreover,
the ammunition was of an inferior quality, and I
heard on one occasion of three miss fires out of
six — a nice thing to happen when everything may
depend upon a shot ! The calibre of the re
volvers should be increased ; the present bullet is
not sufficient to stop a man unless he is struck
in the head or the heart, and an Arab shield
made of crocodile skin or rhinoceros hide would,
we found, turn a revolver bullet at forty yards.
A revolver is ten times more use than a sword,
provided it is fitted with the Webley patent,
enabling the user to reload without difficulty.
All cavalrymen, gunners, and sergeants of in
fantry should be armed with them, and prizes
offered for good shooting, as practice with the
weapon should be encouraged. A revolver is a

THE ZARIBA. 199

most difficult weapon to use with effect, and it is
useless in the hands of a novice.
Before closing this chapter, the losses in the
zariba fight have to be chronicled. As to the
loss sustained by the enemy, they must have had,
at the lowest possible computation, twelve hun
dred killed. We collected and buried a thousand
and more of these poor fellows, nearly all of
whom were the Mahdi's men and not the
common Hadendowa tribesmen, as they wore
the white blouse and straw cap which makes
up the uniform of the Prophet's soldiers. For
every man killed there must have been at least
one wounded, so two thousand four hundred
killed and wounded would be within the mark.
As to our own losses, they were very heavy,
and especially so in transport animals. The
official account which I obtained from a friend,
better than all others able to judge, was as
follows : —
Seven officers killed and five wounded.
Sixty-six rank and file killed and one hundred
and twenty wounded, and one officer and one
hundred and twenty-four men missing. Besides
this, we had in the water column alone one
hundred and seventy-nine native drivers killed
and missing out of a total of considerably under

200 SUAKIN, li

three hundred who started in the morning ; and
it would not be too much to say that there were
fifty more drivers killed in the Commissariat
convoy. As to the loss sustained in animals, I
am unable to give any figures regarding either
mules or horses, but our loss in camels was six
hundred and eighty-two ; our gross loss on this
and the succeeding day being eight hundred and
twenty camels. The value of these animals may
be estimated as follows : The Egyptian camels
for the most part were bought at prices averaging
;^20 apiece, and they then had to be brought to
Suez and shipped to Suakin, so that when de
livered at the Camel Dep6t, Suakin, their cost
to the country must have been £2'^, per head.
The Indian and Berbera camels were bought at
a lower figure, but taking into consideration the
distance they had to be brought, they must have
averaged at least ;£^20 per head. It will never
be known how many of each class there were
out that day, but our water transport was mainly
composed of Indian camels, and we lost over
four hundred of them ; so, taking two-thirds of
the animals killed at ;^20 apiece and the re
maining one-third at ;^25 apiece, the nett loss
to the country in camels would stand at ;^ 17,765.
This, it must be remembered, is exclusive of

THE ZARIBA.

horses and mules, and there were a great number
of these killed besides.
It remains a fact that cannot be contradicted
or gainsaid, that this terrible loss of Hfe was
occasioned by neglect in taking proper pre
cautions, and a foolhardy carelessness combined
with a total disregard of the most ordinary
military principles. The force was halted in
the wrong place to begin with, and had the line
of country more towards the sea been adopted,
the enemy, if they had attacked us at all,
would have done so at great disadvantage, as
there is there much less bush, and we should
have been apprised of their approach. We
should have been also in an equally good position
as a halting-place on the road to Tamai, and
more protected from any attacks while the dep6t
was forming. Instead of this, we were marched
into a thick impenetrable jungle, thereby giving
all the advantage to the enemy and putting a
surprise at a premium. Sufficient precautions
were not taken to protect the force while work
ing at the zaribas — why, nobody knows. The
result was what ? A surprise.
It is easy to appear wise after the event, but I
am merely writing here what occurred to the
minds of all of us actually at the time.

SUAKIN, 1885.

I was told afterwards that our Intelligence
Department out there had received news through
their spies that it was the intention of the enemy
to attack us that day, and that they would watch
their opportunity. From the source I heard
this, I believe it to be the truth,
I have no wish to be critical, I confine myself
to facts in telling this story, and I leave others
to comment and to make further inquiries.
There were grave mistakes committed that day,
but why those mistakes were committed there
are others better able to judge than I am. It is
their duty to inquire.

( 203 )

CHAPTER IX.
CONVOYS.
Almost before day had broken every one was
astir in the zaribas, and parties were sent out at
once to search the bush for any of our dead and
wounded. Two or three of the enemy's banners
were picked up, and any rifles collected and
brought in. Most of the banners taken had in
scriptions on them ; some were white with red
edges, others blue, and one was black. The
enemy were seen hovering about the zaribas,
and two or three times in the morning they
opened fire, when the men were immediately
ordered to stand to their arms. Under these
circumstances it was difficult to get on with any
work. Large holes were being dug in the sand
to bury the dead in, as this, for sanitary reasons,
had to be attended to at once, and the air was
already filled with a sickly smell.
Our killed were buried with the greatest

204 SUAKIN, 1 8

decency circumstances would permit, and the
officers were interred in two separate graves.
We had, of course, to bury the Arabs as best we
could ; huge holes were made and as many
placed in them as possible, the sand being after
wards heaped high over the grave. It was
impossible to do anything with the enormous
number of dead animals ; those nearest to the
zaribas were dragged away, and some were
covered in ; but our only hope was the birds,
who very soon congregated in great numbers.
Many wounded Arabs still lay about near the
zariba ; it was dangerous work, though, walking
near them, as they invariably endeavoured to
reach passers-by with any weapon they still pos
sessed. A young officer was killed by one of
these wounded Arabs shortly after the fight ; he
went outside the zariba, and as he passed by
the hedge forming the side of the defence, a
wounded Arab raised himself from the ground
and ran him through the back with his spear.
The officer turned round and re-entered the
zariba, but he was unable to speak, and fell
down dead almost directly afterwards. One of
our men, too, taking pity on a wounded Arab,
gave him his water-bottle. The Arab took the
bottle and drained it, and when he handed it

CONVOYS. 205

back he accompanied it with a thrust from a
knife, which dangerously wounded the man, in
return for his kindness. There were other
instances of this kind, but I mention the two
cases above in order to show how deep-seated
was the hatred of the Arabs for us, and how
perfectly ready they were to die, happy if they
could first only get an opportunity of dyeing
their spears in the blood of an infidel. It is not
to be wondered at that our men, after ex
periences of this sort, killed the wounded as they
lay on the ground, and it is unfortunately only
too true that this occurred on several occasions.
I have no wish to plead in their defence, however
much provocation they may have had ; on the
contrary, I think this course was unnecessary ;
and though war must always have, to a certain
extent, a brutalizing effect upon men, I do not
see why members of a civilized race should pay
off" barbarians in their own coin. To do so is
to descend to their level, and to be as much
barbarians as they are. The Arabs endeavoured
to take advantage of us when they were
wounded because they were impelled by a wild
fanaticism, and there is no doubt also that they
mutilated our dead ; but this is no reason why
we should do the same, unless it were in indi-

2o6 SUAKIN, 1885,

vidual cases of self-defence. We should shrink
with horror from mutilating a dead body, but
to kill a wounded man is worse. The Arabs
knew no better, but we did. Kindness they did
not understand, and gratitude was foreign to
them ; the first they looked upon as weakness,
the second as an impossibility from a Moham
medan to a Christian. The only extenuating
circumstance I can find to do with this killing
the wounded is, that our men were for the time
demoralized by the fierceness of the fighting,
and lost control of themselves ; and I believe
many were embittered by seeing friends fall
after the fighting was over. However this may
be, the practice was not continued, and was of
course immediately discouraged and forbidden
by the officers. I do not wish the reader to
imagine that our men went out into the bush
and killed the wounded off" indiscriminately ;
this was not the case. Many wounded Arabs,
on the contrary, had their wounds dressed by
our doctors, and were given food and water,
being afterwards carried out into the bush again
to be fetched away by their o\vn people. Many
of the Arab wounded entreated our people to
kill them, in order that they might be despatched
to a happy land by the hand of the infidel.

CONVOYS. 207

At about twelve o'clock in the day (23rd of
March) a strong force arrived at the zariba from
the camp,consisting of the brigade of Guards, some
cavalry, and mounted infantry, enclosing a large
convoy of water and stores. This force was not
attacked during their march out along the line
of flight the night before. All along the road
there were lying dead men, horses, and camels ;
but no halt was made to bury any of these, as
the General wished to reach the zaribas as soon
as possible.
After an hour or two for rest it was arranged
that the Grenadiers, together with the whole of
the Indian Infantry, should accompany the
convoy back to camp ; the Scots and Cold-
streams being left behind in the centre zariba.
Preparations were shortly after made for the
return, and a huge square formed, the Grenadiers
bringing up the rear. All the wounded that it
was possible to send in were sent with this
square, a large number of dhoolies and dhoolie-
bearers having been brought out
Shortly after three o'clock we turned our
backs on the blood-stained zaribas and com
menced our march home.
And now began a hurried and most ill-
managed affair. There were a vast number of

2o8 SUAKIN, \i

camels to be taken back to camp ; as, besides
all those we had brought with us in the morning,
there were also the whole of the animals col
lected in the zaribas after the fighting was over ;
and together with these there were many mule-
carts, ambulances, and our long train of wounded.
About two miles after leaving the zaribas our
leaders began to think that, hampered as we
were with this vast collection of animals, we
should not reach the camp before darkness set in
unless means were taken to increase the pace.
Orders were accordingly given to press forward as
quickly as possible, and a general thrashing of the
wretched transport animals began ; not, however,
carried out by the Transport themselves, but by
those inexperienced in the management of
camels, and ignorant of the pace a camel can
travel. In this way loads were dropped and not
picked up, saddles were torn off and lost, as no
halt was made to reorganize the convoy, and
speed was attained at the sacrifice of everything
else. What was the result ? Our march, instead
of resembling the return of a victorious army,
resembled only a disorganized rabble retiring as
rapidly as they could before a pursuing foe.
Confusion was everywhere, order there was
none ; and the camp was reached at last just

CONVOYS. 209

before sunset in a state of disorganization. In
our wake were empty boxes, parts of saddlery,
exhausted camels, and in fact the ground might
have conveyed to the Arabs the appearance of
a general rout. " Get on, get on," said our
superiors ; and we did "get on," but at what
sacrifice ? Had it not been for the Grenadiers
who, as I said just now, brought up the rear in
line, the confusion would have been ten times
worse. The Sikhs did good service as well ;
but the whole thing was a disgrace to any
civilized army, and reflected only renewed mis
management on the part of those responsible.
I have endeavoured to give a mild impression of
this return of ours to camp, but there are many
who might paint it in far more glaring colours,
I confine my remarks to the simple impressions
of an eye-witness.
That night we were hard at work loading up
water again for the convoy, starting the follow
ing morning at daybreak, as we very often at
this time worked all night long, and then
marched and fought all day. It was hard work,
very hard work in that climate, where it was
always intensely hot, where there was never a
cloud in the sky, and where food and water
were scarce. The heat had become very much

SUAKIN, li

greater since our arrival, and every day the sun
seemed to be growing in strength. Sickness
was much on the increase, and men were drop
ping fast from sunstroke, exhaustion, and fever ;
for the never-ending fatigues, escorts, and
" sentry go " was telling on the men very much.
It was the intention of the General to collect
a great quantity of stores of all kinds at the
zaribas preparatory for the further advance to
Tamai, consequently every day all through this
week convoys of provisions and enormous
quantities of water were sent out there. This
convoy work was very heavy on all concerned,
as the march was a long one, being over five
miles out and five miles home, over burning
sand and through thick and thorny bush. jNIore-
over, the convoys were almost always attacked
going out or coming home, and not unfre
quently both ways, so little -were the enemy over
come by their two very recent defeats.
The escort this particular morning was com
posed of the ISth Sikhs and 28th Bombay
Native Infantry, with a party of Madras Sappers,
and a body of cavalry consisting of a squadron
of the 9th Bengal, and another of the 20th
Hussars, The orders were that they were to
march out three miles, and commence to cut a

CONVOYS.

" drift " and form a zariba. A force was to be
sent out from the zariba to meet them and take
¦over the convoy.
The home force was not interfered with on
their march out, reaching the point where they
were to construct their zariba without seeing
anything of the enemy.
About eleven o'clock a battalion of the Guards
{Coldstreams) and the Marines, left the zaribas
to meet the convoy half-way, and were almost
immediately fired upon by large parties of the
enemy who were seen to be swarming in the
surrounding bush. Most of the bullets flew
high over the square, but one officer and one
man of the Marines were wounded.
The two parties met at about two o'clock, and
the two wounded were given over to the Indian
Infantry, who then recommenced their march
home. The Guards and Marines, accompanied by
the cavalry, were twice attacked on their way
back to the zaribas. Not long after leaving the
Indian regiments, large bodies of the enemy
suddenly dashed from the bush and charged
down on our force with the utmost impetuosity.
The cavalry clearing the front, enabled the
Guards and Marines to open fire, which they

SUAKIN, li

did with the utmost effect, the enemy after a
while retiring into the bush again and out of
sight. For some while it was supposed that
another heavy attack similar to that of Sunday-
was intended, as great numbers of the enemy
were seen both from the squares as well as from
the zaribas ; but after the first rush, when many
ofthe Arabs got close up to our bayonets and
engaged our men hand-to-hand, they did not
for a time attempt to renew the attack, con
tenting themselves with firing long shots at us
from the bush. The enem}- having retired, the
force again moved forward, but was a second time
attacked shortly before reaching the zaribas,
though not by large numbers. The losses
sustained by the enemy must have been, from
all accounts and from the bodies we saw lying
about on the following da}-, upwards of two
hundred killed ; while we on our side had three
killed and thirteen wounded.
From the zaribas considerable bodies of the
enemy were seen drawn up on the right while
this attack on the convoy was being carried on,
and their strength was various!}- estimated as
from four to six thousand men. Endeavours
were made to reach them A\'ith the Gardner
guns, but the}- M-cre just out of range. Had

CONVOYS.

there only been a part of the mountain battery
in the zaribas, they could have plied them with
their shells with the most deadly effect, and
destroyed numbers before they could have with
drawn into a position of safety.
The bravery displayed by the enemy on this
occasion was as marked as on all others. They
simply appeared perfectly callous of the punish
ment they received, and their heavy losses of only
two days before did not seem to have affected
them in the least. As to our having established
a funk among them, that was pure nonsense.
Their valour was as marked as it was before,
and they were only embittered by the chastise
ment they had undergone. Women and boys
were again seen in their ranks supplying the
fighting men with arms and ammunition, and
altogether the number of men who appeared
ready to fight for the cause of the Mahdi seemed
to be absolutely unlimited. It certainly looked
as though there were plenty always prepared to
charge our squares, or to throw themselves on
to our bayonets, in spite of the example made
of those who had come before.
The following morning another convoy was
despatched to the zaribas, carrying a large supply
¦of water.

:i4 SUAKIN, li

It was on this occasion that our balloon was-
first used, and it was also memorable as being
the first occasion on which we had. ever made-
use of a balloon on active service. The balloon,
which was of goldbeater's skin, covered with a.
netting, was taken up to the Right Water Fort
the night before and unpacked in the ditch,
when filling it was at once commenced, so that
it should be ready to ascend by daybreak next

When I reached the Water Fort just before
daylight, after a hard night's work loading up-
water, I found the balloon inflated and quite
ready for the ascent. I was rather disappointed
at its size, and fully expected to see a larger one.
The basket or carriage beneath the balloon did
not seem capable of holding more than one
person. The actual measurement of the balloon
was twenty-three feet in diameter, and its weight
altogether ninety pounds. When filled it con
tained seven thousand cubic feet of gas, brought
all the way from Chatham, a distance of nearly
four thousand miles.
Very soon after our convoy was formed up
ready to start, the balloon began to rise slowly
to a height of about two hundred feet, being
fastened to the ground by two lines attached to

CONVOYS. 215

the car. An admiring crowd of natives wit
nessed the ascent in silence, and did not seem
in the least surprised, much to my disappoint
ment, as I had expected to see them struck
with amazement at the sight of a man floating
about in the air. However, these natives seem
astonished at nothing, and I do not believe they
would have been surprised if they had seen a
regiment provided with wings and suddenly begin
to fly. Whether the extreme unexcitability of
temperament of these people is the result of
dulness of intellect, or that they are altogether
emotionless, I do not know, but they were not
taken by surprise at the sight of the balloon,
looking on the whole while with far less interest
than is shown by an average London crowd wit
nessing the departure of a party of gentlemen in
a balloon from the lawns of the Crystal Palace. I
fear that the excellent stories concocted for the
delectation ofthe people at home about the Arabs
being struck dumb with horror at the sight of
the balloon, or flying in masses and hiding them
selves from the sight of this terrible apparition,
are nothing more or less than humbug. The
behaviour of the "friendlies" may be taken as
being that of the Arabs, who were neither dis
mayed nor deterred from any action they may

2i6 SUAKIN, li

have determined on by the sight of the balloon
flying in the air above them. When the convoy
was ready to move, the balloon, still two hun
dred feet up, was made fast to a cart in the
centre of the square. It was rather difficult to
avoid jerking the cords which held it, and thus
running the chance of breaking them ; but ex
treme care was taken when crossing any rough
pieces of ground, as it would not have been
pleasant for the occupant of the car if he had
suddenly found himself floating quietly towards
the mountains miles beyond the reach of any
friends. Communication was kept up with the balloon
by means of written messages, and it was not
long before a letter came down telling us that
the enemy were still pursuing the stampeded
camels down towards the sea and killing them
as soon as they got up with them. The enemy
could also be seen in force retiring in the Tamai
direction ; and later on a large body of them
were standing gaping up at the balloon only
three or four hundred }-ards distant from the
convoy, though quite unseen by us on the
ground. The force reached the zaribas at last un
molested, when the balloon was hauled down

CONVOYS. ^17

and packed up, the gas being as far as possible
saved for future use. Thus the first ascent may
be chronicled as a success.
The convoy returned to Suakin in the evening
without firing a shot
The stench all around the zaribas was simply
terrible. It was absolutely impossible to bury
the dead camels lying in hundreds in the bush,
and there are few things that stin'k more fear
fully than a dead camel. I have known them
to scent the air strongly when their bodies have
been at least a mile off. Added to the camels,
many of the enemy's dead remained unburied
about the country ; our friends, the birds, too,
were surfeited with their loathsome meal, and
hopped about lazily or stood unable to move or
get out of one's way, being simply gorged to
repletion. Life in the zariba was almost unendurable.
As much shelter as possible was obtained by
sticking blankets or waterproof sheets on to
spears, thus making a sort of awning. Any
shade that could be got behind the cases of
stores or the forage-bags was seized upon at
once, as the heat all day was terrific.
Water was sparingly issued, and at one time
the ration was reduced as low as one pint per

2i8 SUAKIN, iS

man in the morning and another pint in the
evening. This, to wash in, cook in, and live on,
was little enough when all the food that could
be got was bouilli beef and hard biscuit, which
last it was impossible to eat without first soak
ing. Why the ration of water was reduced so
low I know not, as there were upwards of forty
thousand gallons stored in the zaribas in large
tanks buried in the sand, I remember hearing
at this time of a bottle of soda-water fetching
half a sovereign ; the purchaser did not, how
ever, proceed to drink it at once, but, slowly and
solemnly pulling out the cork, he washed his
face in it And here I want to correct a wrong
impression which we saw afterwards was much
commented on in the papers sent out to us from
home. It was reported in one that the supply
of water was accumulating \-er}- slowl}- at the
zaribas, and the troops there were on short
allowance, as through some bungling empty tins
and barrels had been sent out in one convoy.
To this it is only necessary to give a most
emphatic denial ; it was absolutely impossible
that it could have happened. Every tin was-
locked, after being filled, by a responsible person,
who was more often than not an officer ; special
parties being told off by us to look after this

CONVOYS. 219

important point. The filled tins were afterwards
placed in rows along the railway, another officer
seeing them put in the trucks previous to their
being taken on to the camel lines ; and an empty
tin could not have escaped him. Every tin and
barrel was shortly after placed in the celitas and
packed on the camels, I am therefore abso
lutely certain no tin or barrel ever started in our
convoys empty. Some of the barrels leaked
very much, and there may have been robbery ;
but the other assertion is absurd, and it pro
bably was a story started by some person who
got mixed up in his hot haste for information
between the outgoing convoy with full tins and
the returning convoy with the empty ones.
Thus, in his excessive zeal to discover a mare's
nest, he may have tumbled against an empt}^
load, and started a false report detrimental to a
department who worked harder than any other
all through the war, and never failed.
The condensed water was good enough when.
it was fresh, but after being kept a day or so in
the tins it began to smell and became filled with
a white slime. I never heard how this slime was
accounted for. Certainly condensed water will
always extract its salts from other bodies if
possible, and the material of which the tanks

SUAKIN, li

were made, galvanized iron, or the solder, may-
have had something to do with it ; but however
this was, the water was not wholesome, and I
cannot help thinking that some means might
have been adopted by which it might have
been in a measure aerated. Sickness was in
creasing very rapidly at this time in the zaribas,
there being several cases of enteric fever. The
disease most prevalent was dysentery. I put
this down almost entirely to the want of fresh
meat, which might so easily have been sent out
from Suakin. The bouilli beef which, as I men
tioned before, was rather salt, was principally
the cause of it, and why the army was ever
supplied with such uneatable and unsuitable
stuff" is wonderful indeed. I knew many cases
where men actually threw their rations away
rather than run the chance of increasing their
thirst by putting such stuff" in their mouths.
A few potatoes were issued, but why ¦\\-as there
not a plentiful supply of lime-juice served out
daily .? It would have been as simple a thing
as possible to have allowed the troops at the
zaribas a ration of fresh meat at least twice
a week. A few oxen or sheep might have been
driven out with the convoys and slaughtered on
arrival at the zaribas, if it had been considered

CONVOYS.

unadvisable to send dead meat out in carts.
This last method might, too, have been easily
managed, as a plentiful supply of ice was always
procurable from the ships. Instead of this, the
men were fed on an eternal supply of tinned
meats, till every one was simply nauseated with
the stuff and turned from it with loathing and
disgust. An eminent medical man out there
told me that dysentery might have been almost
entirely avoided had fresh meat been sent out
twice a week, and that, from certain symptoms
he observed, he discovered that the force in the
zaribas was bordering on scurvy, A nice thing
to happen when there was a plentiful supply of
fresh meat only six miles off" !
The sick were always sent in by the returning
convoys, and every care taken of them while at
the zaribas, the doctors being simply inde
fatigable. A telegraph wire had been laid along the
ground when we advanced on Sunday, but this
was always being cut by the natives, who had
a wholesome horror of wires after their expe
riences of the mines laid round Suakin. This
difficulty was overcome by building a crow's
nest at the zaribas, which served the double
purpose of a signalling station and a look-out

SUAKIN, li

post All messages were sent in to the Right
Water Fort, from which point they were for
warded on to the different parts of the camp.
The signalling party at the zaribas were very
hardly worked, and were often up till late at
night, when the lamps took the place of the
heliograph. Of course it soon became apparent
to the Arab mind that the force in the zaribas
was dependent for supplies on the camp, and no
doubt their having grasped this was the cause
of the perpetual attacks on the convoys. We
heard through our spies that Osman Digna had
given orders to the effect that the zaribas were
not to be attacked, but that everything was to
be done to harass the convo}'S, and all energy
was to be directed towards intercepting them
if possible. Hence they scarcely ever left us
alone. The convoy escort duty fell doubly heavily on
the troops at this time, as, besides the labour
entailed on throwing provisions and water daily
into the zaribas, and thus collecting sufficient
supplies for the advance on Tamai, the Hasheen
zariba had also to be kept going in food and
v/ater. So convoys were running in both direc
tions. On Wednesday, the 2Sth of March, it was
therefore determined to withdraw the force from

CONVOYS.

the Plasheen zariba altogether, and that evening
the 70th and other details returned to camp,
escorted by a party of Mounted Infantry, During
their retreat the enemy were sighted and a few
shells fired into them, but beyond this the march
was uninterrupted.
The zariba was destroyed before leaving it,
and nothing then remained of our fight at
Hasheen beyond the graves down at the har
bour of the poor fellows who had fallen in that
most objectless action. I say " objectless "
because few of us ever understood why lives
were sacrificed for so small an end. f^ ' i ,^,t
We did not take the wells at Hasheen, and
thus interfere with the enemy's water supply.
The position at Hasheen did not protect the
right flank of the force advancing on Tamai, or
the line of communications either in the Han
doub direction or the Tamai direction, for it was
many miles away from both. As to the protec
tion it afforded to the flank of the force at the
zaribas, it was pretty evident on Sunday, the
22nd of March, that the Hasheen force was im
potent to act in this direction. How far an
isolated force of one battalion was intended to
protect the line of communications may be
judged of by the fact that it was withdrawn

224 SUAKIN, li

before the advance on Tamai began, and as soon
as it had been determined that the army was to
strike for Es Sibil, The force left at the Hasheen
zariba was an isolated force, a weak force, and a
useless force in the position it was placed. It
absorbed a number of men who were much
wanted elsewhere, and increased the amount of
convoy duty when every one in the whole army
was overworked as it was.
So the Hasheen zariba was destro}^ed, and the
battle of Hasheen rendered as barren in results
as it had been objectless in aim. The many
acts of bravery performed on that day, and the
gallant conduct of our troops, will always remain
a monument to the British soldier, while the
battle will only be recalled to mind by the graves
of those who sleep beneath the sand.
The usual convoy was despatched at da}^break
the next morning, and we rather expected to
have a fight because we had been allowed to go
in peace the day before. Our convoy ^^-as a
large one and our escort strong, and as by this
time we had cut a fairly open road all the way
out to the zaribas, we were quite ready to give
the Arabs a warm reception if they came on.
Sure enough, after getting about four miles
out a heavy fire was opened on us from the bush.

CONVOYS. 225

and several of our men were struck, but the
greater part of the bullets flew over our heads.
About four thousand of the enemy then at
tacked us furiously on all sides with their usual
astounding bravery. Many of them jogged in
their peculiar manner right up to the square
before they fell, while others walked quietly
back again into the bush after endeavouring to
penetrate our ranks. Their coolness under fire
was simply astonishing, they seemed to care
nothing about it ; and it was marvellous indeed
that day after daymen could be found to charge
three or four battalions of infantry in the face
of the awful slaughter that invariably took
place. Scores and scores of them fell on this occasion
as on others, and remained there unburied to
taint the air with sickening odours.
Once or twice on our return march from the
zaribas we found the enemy had scraped together
a thin covering of sand over the bodies of those
slain in the morning, and these were very often
unavoidably uncovered again as we traversed
the path home.
Out at the zaribas the stench was something
frightful. The wind had blown away the sand,
and thus partially uncovered the heaps of slain,
o

226 SUAKIN, 1885.
leaving swollen and distorted limbs to fester in
the sun.
Added to other diseases contracted at the
zaribas, many suffered terribly with their eyes,
from the poisonous dust and the perpetual white
glare ofthe sand. I knew men who were com
pletely blinded in this way, and who did not
recover their sight until many weeks afterwards.
Ophthalmia and similar diseases were prevalent,
and there were, of course, many cases of sun
stroke. I think the greatest number on one day
occurred in one of our convoys, when we had
thirty men knocked over by the sun alone. I
saw cases where men dropped down suddenly,
as if they had been struck a heavy blow on the
head. The day of the general advance was, of course,
kept a profound secret, and we only inferred it
must be before long from different little incidents
around us. The masses of stores that had now
been collected at the zaribas, the bringing in the
Hasheen force, the striking of the greater part of
the camp, as well as the numberless reports that
were flying about, all pointed to tlie fact that a
big fight would come off very soon. One thing
only was considered likely to defer the advance
for a while, and that was that our Australian

CONVOYS. 227

brothers had not arrived as yet, though they
were expected almost daily. We all thought
that if the enemy would only meet us at Tamai
in force, we should then have an opportunity of
fighting a decisive action, and crippling Osman
to such an extent that he would be unable to
carry on the war any longer. If this was likely
to be the case, it seemed hard that we should
start before the Australians arrived, and there
was an earnest desire on the part of the whole
army that they might come in time to share any
fighting with us, and thus have an opportunity
of showing the material of which they were
made. We all looked forward to their arrival
tremendously, and were prepared to give them a
fitting welcome on landing.
We were very busy all Thursday night pre
paring for Friday's convoy, but very early in
the morning orders came down saying that there
would be nothing sent out to the zaribas, and
that the troops would be employed striking their
camps and sending spare baggage in to the
caravanserai at Suakin. Friday came, therefore,
as a welcome day of rest after a week of march
ing, of fighting, and incessant toil. The truth
was that every one was overdone ; the perpetual
marching backwards and forwards to the zaribas

228 SUAKIN, 1S85,

during the day, in a sun heat of over 160°, the large
number of men required every night for picket
duty, and the numbers also on night fatigues of
various kinds, was rapidly undermining the
strength and nerves of the men, and rendering
the whole force unfit for work. It was, there
fore, wisely determined to give us all a day off;
but I do not mean by this that we had a com
plete holiday, for there was quite enough to be
done to make up an average day's hard work
without marching a convoy.
We were very busy packing up a few things
we wanted with us, such as a second flannel
shirt and another pair of socks, and so on ; but
the largest part of our baggage was made up
of a "simple box of deal,
Directed to no matter where ;
And on it was this mute appeal,
With Care ! "
There was something else we painted on this
box of deal, though, just by way of satisfying
any over-inquisitive minds, and at the same time
putting to rest the suspicions of the hungry, and
that was " Militaiy Documents,"
It was a great feat that, and the cause of
much merriment, as we quieti}' emptied every
thing out of the box, and put in with the greatest

CONVOYS.

¦care a bottle or two of whisky, several tins of
Brand's essence of meat, cocoa and milk, potted
meats, and sardines. With this store we thought
four of us would be able to hold out as far as
Tamai and back, and have some to give to
hungry friends besides.
There were the wildest possible rumours going
the round of the camp to explain why the ad
vance was put off. The first was that the Mahdi
had been made a prisoner by King John of
Abyssinia, and that Osman had therefore de
cided to give himself up, and was expected in
camp either to-night or to-morrow morning. To
back this up, a flag of truce was said to have
been seen flying in front of the camp ; but this
afterwards proved to be an old deal biscuit box
distorted in the mirage. The Government, we
were told, had decided to give up the war, and
had telegraphed out to stop the railway at once.
Of course, there were all sorts of stories about
war with Russia and our future destination ; how
some regiments were to be sent on to India, and
how the rest of the force was to be conveyed at
once to Cyprus ready to operate in Asia Minor.
One hour war had been actually declared, another
that it had not, and so on. But these reports
caused a deal of amusement, and gave us some-

SUAKIN, 1885.

thing to talk about ; and though few of us
believed a word we heard, we used to discuss
the news with the utmost gravity.
Saturday's convoy reached the zaribas without
any particular incident, beyond being fired upon
by the enemy at a distance, and the return
was equally peaceable. Each convoy always
brought back a number of sick, who were
generally taken down to the base hospital at
" PI " Redoubt, and transferred to the Ganges,
or Bitlimba, on the following day.
If we who had been , living for the most part
in camp longed for the advance on Tamai, it ma}-
be judged how much more eager the force in the
zaribas were to get out of their pestilential sur
roundings. The Scots Guards had been re
placed by the Grenadiers, but the rest of the
force remained the same as at first. There was
nothing to be done to break the monotony of the
life there. There was, of course, occupation,
and the zaribas could always be improved and
strengthened, but excitement there was none ;
the enemy never ventured to attack them, and
on two or three occasions onty did they fire a
few shots. Beyond this the da}^ was only re
lieved by the meal of eternal "soup," and the issue
of water, or the watching for the approaching

CONVOYS. 231

convoy. There were a few newspapers of a cer
tain antiquity to be read, and the rest of the day
was made up in trying to make work to employ
time. It was, of course, impossible to go any
distance away from the zaribas, as the enemy
were always on the watch to cut off" any who
showed themselves.
In camp we had for the most part struck all
our tents and were bivouacking at night on the
ground. I was very much struck with the heavy
dews at night-time, and once or twice in the
morning the coat in which I had wrapped my
self before going to sleep was quite wet through.
The dew did not show on the sand at all,
probably because it absorbed it at once, but it
soaked through a blanket or coat. The only
way to account for it was, I suppose, that the
intense heat exhaled by the sand met the colder
air coming in from the sea in the early morning,
and thus condensation took place. We never
felt any ill effects from it as it dried very quickly.
There were a good many cases of severe rheu
matism, but this was most probably due to the
extreme variation in temperature between the
sun heat of the day and the cooler air of the
early dawn, when the thermometer sometimes
fell as low as 60°.

SUAKIN, 1885.

We never had any renewal of the night
attacks on the camp, though a party were on
one occasion detected crawling towards the
Ordnance store. Precautions were not lessened,
and strong pickets and double sentries were
mounted as usual ; so at length we lay down
on the ground at night with the most comfort
able pillow, a saddle, under our heads, and slept
till morning with an easy conscience, but very
often somewhat empty insides.

CHAPTER X.
TAMAI.
" Bravo Australia ! " I think this was what
we all felt as we saw the Colonial contingent
arrive in camp on Sunday, the 29th of March. We
gave them a regular hearty reception, and they
were cheered all along their road out, while the
bands of the various regiments in camp headed
the column playing many a tune familiar to all
Englishmen and Australians alike. The con
tingent were a fine-looking lot of fellows, and
appeared as if they were as fit as possible for
work. They all wore the familiar red serge coat,
albeit rather strange out here, but they very
soon changed into kharkee like the rest of us.
Every one from the highest to the lowest was
anxious to get a glimpse of them, and their
arrival quite brightened us all up, as we were at
that time rather depressed by our general sur
roundings. In after years, no doubt, this event

234 SUAKIN, \i

will be a landmark to look back to. Let us hope
the readiness with v/hich our Australian and
Canadian colonies came forward voluntarily,
and extended to the mother country the hand of
help, when surrounded with a sea of troubles
unparalleled in her history, may serve as a
warning to our foes of the latent strength of the
British Empire, and at the same time be the be
ginning of that great Imperial Federation which
is to bind the whole together in one indissoluble
union for the protection of our commerce, the
defence of our possessions, and the supremacy of
our Country's flag.
The contingent were inspected by the General
on arrival in camp, and I am sure he echoed the
thoughts of all of us when he said, " In the name
of the force I command I give you a hearty
welcome. You are our comrades-in-arms, who
will share the perils, toils, and, I hope, glories of
this expedition. We honour the feeling which
led you to leave your pleasant homes to war
against the desert and its savage inhabitants.
You are soldiers as well as Englishmen. The
eyes of our common country are on you, and I
am sure you will do credit to the splendid
colony which sent you out, and the race to
which you belong." Cheer after cheer rent the

TAMAI. 235

air after this, and we hoped the contingent were
as pleased with their reception as we were to
have them in our midst.
They were very proud of themselves, and
evidently delighted at forming part of such a
splendid force as we were in the Sudan, I
shall never forget a man, fully six feet six
inches high, with a back as broad and as flat as
a billiard-table, and with a long black beard on
his face, coming up to me and saying, with the
utmost pride in his manner, " I am a representa
tive of the New South Wales contingent ; can
you direct me to the camp ? " The way he
drew himself up when he said, " I am a repre
sentative," showed at once that he thought the
New South Wales contingent ranked first, and
the rest nowhere. A spirit like this is worth a
regiment of soldiers ; and, though I wish to be
no croaker, I fear there is too much cause to sa}^
that the day when every English soldier thought
there was only one regiment in the service and
only one company in that regiment — his own —
is fast passing away. And why .'' Because of
the never-ending meddlesome interference which
can and will leave nothing alone, which strikes
at esprit de corps and destroys it root and branch,,
which sacrifices everything to the recommenda-

236 SUAKIN, 1885.

tions of ignorant theorists, who bow down and
worship the image of a false economy, and fawn
to the powers that be.
The next two days were days of great weari
ness, as nothing is so trying to soldiers as inac
tion. Plenty of occupation and hard work is the
surest way to maintain the health and spirits, and
therefore the efficiency, of an army in the field.
I do not know why the advance was delayed.
We were quite ready, and there were plenty of
supplies of all sorts at the zariba, and water
enough for the whole force for two days and
more. Still we delayed, and still the wearisome
succession of convoys continued to march along
that dreary track to the zaribas. It was no use
collecting a larger supply of water out there, as
it went rotten if kept in the tins more than two
days. We had plenty of transport in spite of
our having lost so many camels, so this could
not be the cause of the delay. The Transport is
always made the scapegoat in \\-ar-time, and the
shield behind which to hide the faults and short
comings of others ; but in this expedition it
never failed, though success was gained only by
superhuman exertions and willing sacrifice on
the part of those who bore the brunt of the
work and received no mention.

TAMAI. 237

The enemy seemed now to have drawn off"
towards the mountains, as they never even at
tempted to molest the convoys. We supposed
that Osman was concentrating at Tamai, and in
fact we heard he had strongly entrenched his
position there, and fortified it with many rifle
pits, so we looked forward to a real set-to this
time. Our hopes were therefore somewhat
damped by a story that one of our spies had
come in and reported that Osman Digna had
only about two hundred followers at Tamai, all
the remainder of his forces having dispersed to
their homes. This obtained a certain amount
of credence, from white flags having been seen
flying both towards Tamai and in the Hasheen
direction. One of these flags proved to be a
party of the enemy burying their dead of Sunday
last. A further countermanding of the advance led
to further rumours, and I fear also a certain
amount of grumbling, in camp. It was reported
that the Amarars were leaving Osman in bodies,
giving as their reason that, while they failed to
see what they had to gain by fighting against
us, being beaten every time, they could, on the
other hand, earn good wages if they went into
Suakin, by working on the railway or at the

238 SUAKIN, ,1885,

wharfs. The result of this was that Osman
Digna threatened them with total extermination
if they severed their allegiance with the cause.
A sanguinary fight thereupon ensued between
the Amarars and the Hadendowas. How far
this was the case we were unable to judge, but
our spies assured us that Osman had been almost
deserted, and had retired from Tamai in the
direction of Tamanieb.
On the 31st of March (Tuesday), the Mounted
Infantry and the Bengal Cavalry were sent out
to the zaribas in the afternoon, ready to recon
noitre towards Tamai on the following day.
Another small body of cavalry was despatched
in the Hasheen direction, and returned in the
evening, having seen nothing of the enemy.
Early in the morning of Wednesday, a party
of cavalry and mounted infantry marched from
the zaribas in the direction of Tamai. Having
advanced a distance of five miles or more, they
discovered that the report of the spies, that the
enemy had quitted Tamai and fallen back, was
not the case at all, and that they were still occu
pying that place in great force. This news, on
their return, was received ^\'ith the utmost satis
faction, and it was immediately heliographed to
the camp.

TAMAI. 239
Orders were issued that night that the whole
of the troops, with the exception of one battalion
of native infantry, were to parade the following
morning at three o'clock, and that three days'
provisions and as much water as possible were
to be taken out with the force.
It is needless to say with what joy we received
this order after the past few days of inaction,
and how hard we worked that night, getting
things ready for the general advance and the
big fight we hoped would shortly follow. At
four a.m. we were all on the move, traversing
the now well-worn track to the zaribas. We
moved very slowly, owing to the numbers of
animals accompanying the force. The forma
tion adopted was, as usual, a large square ; but
we saw nothing of the enemy, and by nine a.m,
had reached the zaribas in safety.
After a rest of about an hour and a half, a
further advance of five miles was made in the
direction of Tamai. It was very hard work, as
every man carried two days' rations, besides a
full allowance of ammunition. The bush was
thick and thorny, and the sun broiling. A few
men fell out from exhaustion, but these came
to after a drink of water, as every one was too
eager about the coming fight to think of the

240 SUAKIN, li

heat, or the weight of the load, or anything
else. The balloon had been inflated at the zaribas,
and accompanied the force, but the day was all
against ballooning, as there was a strong wind
blowing, which threatened to swing the occupant
of the car out of the thing altogether. A few
groups of Arabs were reported as being visible,
but at length it was thought better to haul the
balloon down. This was accordingly done,
though not without getting it badly torn in the
thorny bushes around us.
Our halting-place was not reached till well
on in the afternoon, when we at once began
to build a zariba. From the hill near us, known
as Teselah Hill, a view of Tamai, now only two
miles off, could be obtained. The eminences
round us were at once occupied by half-battalions
of various regiments, and a gun or two was
also got into position. The ground was much
rougher than that surrounding the zaribas, and
further on we could see that it was covered with
large rocks and boulders. From where we were
a few of the enemy could be seen along the
opposite ridges, but they did not attempt to
interfere with us at all.

While we were thus hard at work making our

TAMAI. 241

position secure for the night, the Mounted In
fantry were sent forward to reconnoitre the
country between us and Tamai. Proceeding
cautiously along, they at length reached the
village without opposition, though parties of
Arabs were seen watching them at a distance.
While they were engaged looking about them
and inspecting Tamai, a brisk fire was suddenly
opened on them from some rough ground in
front, and this for the moment rather discon
certed the men ; but a general survey of the hill
was made, and some of the huts inspected, after
which our force withdrew, having achieved all
they had been sent out to do.
It was thought by some that a night attack
would be made upon us, and all precautions
were therefore taken to avoid a surprise.
Soon after dark a somewhat heavy fire was
opened by a body of the enemy, and this con
tinued for a while, till at one a.m, the Grenadiers,
who were out forming part of the advanced
pickets, answered with a volley or two, and the
gunners sent a few shells at them. This very
soon silenced their fire, and the remainder of
the night was passed in peace. Why the enemy
hit so few of us is very wonderful, for even
allowing for inaccuracy of aim, the mark we
R

242 SUAKIN, 1885,

presented to them, packed, as we were, like
sardines in a tin, ought to have insured their
doing a certain amount of execution.
Our casualties during the night were only
one man killed and two men wounded.
The next morning, at an early hour, prepara
tions were commenced for a further advance,
and the Guards, Marines, 49th, Australians, and
Sikhs were formed up ready to march on Tamai.
At eight o'clock we were on the move, formed
in three sides of a square, with the Mounted
Infantry and cavalry scouting in front A few
scattered parties of the enemy were seen, and
these fired at us at long range. They kept
themselves wonderfully under cover, and it was
almost impossible for us to hit them as they
retired dodging from one big stone to another,
Tamai village was eventually reached without
our being attacked or seeing anything further
of the enemy. The village was only quite a
small place, built on a flat piece of ground
standing rather above the surrounding country.
It consisted entirely of huts, and there were no
stone buildings of any sort There had evi
dently been large flocks of sheep and many
cattle there recently, and, like Hasheen village,
the place had been left in a great hurry, as

TAMAI. 243
many of the huts were in the greatest confusion ;
drinking- vessels, bead ornaments, copies of the
Koran, and odds and ends of all sorts being left
about everywhere.
We did not halt at the village for any length
of time, as our General was anxious to secure
the wells in the hollow, or wady, on the other
side. After leaving the village, I am glad to say
that for once the cumbersome square formation
was relinquished, and the troops advanced as
for attack. We could see the enemy were in
tolerable force on the opposite hills, and as we
approached nearer they opened fire on us,
though always keeping themselves well under
cover. It was almost impossible for our skir
mishers to touch them. One of these fellows
had established himself behind a big rock, and
quietly fired shot after shot with a certain
amount of accuracy in his aim. An officer, I
think belonging to the Coldstream Guards,
happened to have with him a Winchester re
peating rifle, and, putting his sight to a thousand
yards, he took a steady aim, and in another
second we saw the intrepid Arab who had been
annoying us knocked head over heels.
Our disappointment -may be imagined when.

244 SUAKIN, 1885.

on reaching the springs or wells, we found, inr
stead of the running stream we had been told
to expect, only a well or two which had evi
dently been recently filled in by the enemy.
The engineers were set to work to dig out the
wells, while a portion of the force was sent
forward to drive the enemy from their position
on the hills. This was easily effected by the
Marines and the 49th.
All the water found was of a dark brown
colour, utterly unfit for human consumption,
and insufficient to water even a few animals.
This was a grievous disappointment to all of us,
as I, for one, had been told by a friend who was
at Suakin all through the winter months that
he had often seen through a good glass a stream
of water running down this same wady and
sparkling in the rays of the sun. That there
is a running stream here at one time of the
year is beyond a doubt true ; but what we
found in the month of April was a different
thing altogether, being merely a few small wells
holding little water, and a small stagnant pool
of putrid liquid which could hardly be called
water at all.
While the Marines and the 49th were driving
the enemy back in one part of the field, the

TAMAL 245

remainder of the force were engaged dislodging
them in another ; but there was no real fighting,
and the enemy never showed up in force all
day. It now became evident that Osman had de
termined not to face us, and that he had retired
towards Tamanieb, seven or eight miles further
south. It was very disappointing, after all the
work we had had ; but whether or not the enemy
tried to draw us on, or that they had come to
the wise determination of harassing us by carry
ing on a guerilla style of warfare, I do not
know ; we had certainly come all that way for
no purpose, and there was nothing for it but
to return home again.
On our way back to Teselah Hill we set fire
to Tamai, which was thus very soon burnt to
the ground. A few rather interesting things
were taken from Osman Digna's hut there, and
amongst others a hand-illuminated copy of the
Koran, done on separate sheets of a thick
paper, and held together in a rough sort of
portfolio. It would have been quite impossible for us to
hold Tamai in the face of the utter inadequacy
of the water supply, and it was therefore decided
to return forthwith to the zaribas.

246 SUAKIN, 1885,

Our losses during the day, not including the
casualties ofthe preceding night, were, altogether,
one man 'killed, and one officer and nine men
wounded. It was a very tedious and hot march back
again that afternoon to the zaribas, where we
found the 28th Native Infantry had not been
molested in our absence. We left Teselah Hill
about two o'clock, and did not reach the zaribas
till after six p,m. There were a few cases of
exhaustion from the heat, and some of the men,
as soldiets always will, had drunk all their water
at starting. I saw this happen over and over
again during the campaign, and no amount of
experience ever seemed to teach them better.
We always- found it best to put off" drinking
water as long as possible, never touching it until
it was absolutely necessary, as when once we
had moistened our lips the craving for more was
almost irresistible. The cavalry continued their
march into camp, but the remainder of the force
bivouacked that night at the zaribas.
I have never devoted any remarks to the
Mounted Infantry. A hardier and more willing
lot of fellows it would be difficult to find any
where ; they were always to the front, and you
would see them galloping about in the bush or

TAMAI. 247

flattering up the hills on their little Arab horses,
who suited them down to the ground, and were
just the animals for the job. There is one thing,
though, which I think calls for a remark, and
that is the manner in which the Mounted
Infantry were utilized during the campaign.
Every Mounted Infantry man is armed only
with a rifle, and he carries his ammunition on a
cross-belt, bandoleer fashion. It is a recognized
thing with them that they are not to engage the
enemy under four hundred yards, unless driven
to do so by circumstances, their duties being to
harass the enemy at a distance by the accuracy
of their fire, and to move rapidly from point to
point. They were, however, in the Sudan con
tinually used as cavalry, which, there is no doubt
about it, was a grave mistake. They are utterly
unsuited for the work for several reasons, but
principally because, in the event of their being
attacked by cavalry when mounted, they are
practically unarmed, as they carry no swords.
It is no doubt a great difficulty to know how
to separate the two organizations of Mounted
Infantry and cavalry, and to keep each intact
in its own individuality. If you give a Mounted
Infantry man a sword you practically make a
cavalry man of him, as both then are armed

248 SUAKIN, 1885.

almost identically. To keep Mounted Infantry
as a distinct force, and to separate them entirely
from the cavalry, the only way is never to use
them for duties for which they are unsuited.
When the cavalry is hardly worked, there is a
great likelihood of the Mounted Infantry being
taken for outpost duty, and the ordinary routine
of vidette work ; but for these duties they are
unsuited, and, moreover, were never intended.
In our next big war I conceive that Mounted
Infantry will play, to a certain extent, an im
portant part. The force is only still in its
infancy, and now is the time that arrangements
should be made to give it a distinct place of its
own in the army, and not make it ujp, on the
spur of the moment, of units from various regi
ments, and then in the field require it to perform
duties for which it is utterly unfitted, and for the
performance of which we have already an organ
ized force in our cavalry. To fire and scuttle
away, and never to engage the enemy at close
quarters, should be the two rules for the guidance
alike of Mounted Infantry men themselves, and
those who utilize them.
After the two exceedingly severe days' work
entailed upon the troops by the advance on
Tamai, every one slept pretty soundly in the

TAMAL 249

zaribas that night, and nothing took place to
disturb us.
The next morning the whole force, with the
exception of the 28th Native Infantry, who were
left behind to look after the zaribas till the stores
there could be withdrawn, marched back to their
old quarters in front of Suakin.
The enormous concourse of men and animals
may be imagined when I say that, besides a
fighting force of 8175 men, there were also 752
camels, over 1000 mules, 1773 drivers and fol
lowers, eight ambulance waggons, a number of
mule-carts, a great many dhoolies, and two field-
hospitals, together with seventeen wounded and
thirty- three sick.
When one considers what it means to feed such
a force as this, and provide water every day for
nearly 12,000 throats, miles from the base, and
in a country where there is nothing but dried-up
bush and parching sands, the work, to say the
least of it, seems a heavy one.
All our toil and labour in collecting supplies
at the zaribas had now gone for nothing. I do
not know what the General thought, but many
of us likened ourselves, on our return to camp
that day, to the soldiers of a certain king of
France, who amused himself marching much

.250 SUAKIN, 1885.

such an army as we were, in point of strength,
to the top of a hill and down again.
The day after we got back to camp was
Easter Sunday, and we were allowed a day of
comparative rest.
On the following morning, at 4,30, an
enormous convoy of baggage animals, num
bering over two thousand camels and fifteen
hundred mules, escorted by four battalions of
infantry, marched out for the last time to the
zaribas, to bring in all the stores and the garri
son, and to a certain extent to destroy the place.
With the exception of a few trusses of hay
everything was brought in, the convoy returning
to camp shortly before six o'clock in the evening.
The 28th Native Infantry had been fired at for
nearly three hours the previous night, but only
one man and t-wo mules were wounded. The
mere fact of the enemy having dared to follow
us on our retreat from Tamai, and to open fire
again on the zaribas, shows how little real moral
effect our operations had had upon them.
Thus ended our connection with those three
zaribas, dyed so indelibly with the blood of so
many brave men on both sides.
The campaign thus far seemed barren of
results indeed. How far any plan was carried

T4MAI. 251
out by these marches here and marches there,
I know not ; but many able men thought it
would have been much better had we made the
line of the railway the line of our advance,
and avoided the loss of life and excessive toil
entailed by marching after Osman Digna wher
ever he chose to lead us. Had we acted in this
way, Osman would have been bound to attack
us, or lost for ever his prestige with his followers^
He would have fought then at a disadvantage to
himself, and with a corresponding advantage to
us ; and we should have been able to devote our
energies the whole while towards pushing on the
railway, which was, after all, one of the principal
objects of the expedition. Many men who had
spent years of their life in the country, travelling
about and studying the character of the natives,
were of opinion, even before we landed at
Suakin, that this latter course would have been
the one adopted by our leaders. But here we
were, after many weeks spent in marching about
the country, back again at our starting-point,
doing exactly what it was supposed we should
do, even before the troops left England.
It appeared evident that as far as fighting was
concerned, the campaign might now be con
sidered over, and that we need not expect any
serious opposition from Osman Digna,

252 SUAKIN, 1885.

Our spies also informed us that Osman had
been almost entirely deserted by most of the
tribes, and had retired with a few hundred
followers to a point between Sinkat and
Erkowit While the stores were being withdrawn from
the zaribas, the remainder of the troops were
busily engaged concentrating the whole of the
camp along the line of railway, which had now
reached as far as the West Redoubt, a distance
of nearly four miles from Suakin.
A force, consisting of the Coldstream Guards,
the Australian battalion, 17th Company Royal
Engineers, two guns of the Mule Battery, and
a troop of cavalry, marched, early the same
morning, five miles out in the direction of
Handoub, where a zariba was formed. This
zariba was known as No. i zariba, and was
constructed partially to protect the line of rail
way, and also as a halting-place and dep6t mid
way between the West Redoubt and Handoub,
which place was to be our next object
The enemy had actually begun to renew their
night attacks on the camp, and, the first night
we returned, a party attempted to rush the
Marines, but were discovered and fired upon
before they could do any damage. How little

TAMAI. 253

they had profited by the severe chastisement
they had at all times received may be judged of
from this fact.
The force at No. i zariba moved forward the
morning after their arrival there, their place
being taken by the Scots Guards, with a large
convoy of stores and provisions.
It was not expected that the enemy would
offer any serious opposition to our advance on
Handoub, but every precaution was taken, as
the bush at the foot of the hills is remarkably
thick. The Mounted Infantry scouted the
ground in front, but only a few Arabs were seen
watching our movements from a distance.
It was a terribly hot morning, and the men
suffered very much on this tedious march
through the heavy sand. Handoub was at
length reached, and occupied without any oppo
sition at all. The place, which consisted only
of a few huts, was entirely deserted. The wells,
altogether five in number, were found to contain
a fair supply of somewhat brackish water. One
of the five gave a rather better quality than the
others, but a plentiful supply of drinkable water
was obtained by digging in the bed of the khor.
It was not, of course, free from the brackish
taste, but a little citric acid mixed with it over-

254 SUAKIN, 1885.
came this. Water was sent out to Handoub by
the convoys, in the same way as we had been
doing before ; but we hoped that, as soon as the
railway reached there, this part of our labours
would be over. All along the side of the line
four-inch pipes had been laid to carry water to
the front, and patent pumps had been sent out
to force it any distance.
Handoub is the first halting-place on the
traders' route from Suakin to Berber, and is
situated at the foot of a low isolated ridge or
spur of the Waratab Mountains, which here run
down into the plain. It is twelve and a half
miles north-west of Suakin.
After an interval for rest after the hot march,
a zariba was commenced between two small
hills which commanded the village, and a gun
was also mounted on the top of each hill, so the
position was as secure as it well could be, and,
with the Australians and Coldstreams to defend
it, could have held out against any numbers.
The following day a large convoy was sent out
to Handoub, escorted by a squadron of cavalry;
the remainder of the troops being engaged in
cutting " drifts " and making a broad track in
the bush for the railway.
This drift-making was terribly hard work in

TAMAL 255

the burning sun, as the wood of the mimosa
and acacia is very tough indeed, and it is almost
impossible to get at the stems of these stunted
bushes, owing to the thorns. The way our men
managed it was to sling a rope round a bush,
and then, while two men hauled on the rope to
pull the branches on one side, a third would
attack the stem with an axe. When the bush
was cut down it had to be dragged out of the
way by more men ; so the work was altogether
very slow and very hard.
I think the most tedious work of all was guard
ing the head of the railway, A force of cavalry
and infantry was told off" for this duty each day,
and while some of the men were placed on sentry,
the rest were allowed to lie down on the ground,
ready at any moment in the event of an attack.
A few tent roofs were sent out, to protect the
men from the sun ; but as these were insufficient
in number, many of the men would lie down on
the sand, and go fast to sleep in the full blaze of
the sun. With nothing to occupy them and
little to think about all day long, the men had
nothing left to do but to go to sleep, A guard
of this sort was absolutely necessary to cover
the working parties, but the Arabs never inter
fered with us, and so there was not even the

256 SUAKIN, 1885.

excitement of a little skirmish to while away
the time. I really believe some of the men
would rather have been engaged on the railway
fatigue, or in cutting the " drifts," than as cover
ing party to the workers.
There was rather an amusing story told of
one of the navvies at this time. The line had
very nearly reached No. I zariba, and of course
there was a large quantity of sleepers, fish-plates,
rails, etc, collected in front, to be used up as
the railway proceeded. One morning a navvy
happened to go out rather earlier than usual,
and found an Arab asleep among the sleepers.
While he was debating in his mind what he
should do with the fellow, the Arab suddenly
woke up, and in the twinkling of an eye sent
his spear flying at the somewhat astonished
navvy. Stepping gracefully on one side, the
navvy is said to have caught the spear as it
passed him. Walking up then to the Arab,
without more ado he planted a blow, with his
clenched fist and in true English fashion, right
between the fellow's e}''es, v/hich knocked him
about ten yards into the bush. Having settled
him in this wa}*-, the navvy walked up to his
prostrate and insensible foe, and brought him in
a prisoner.

TAMAL 257
One of our Indian drivers who had been
missing ever since our fight at Hasheen, turned
up in camp in the middle of this week, having
been a prisoner all the while in the hands of
Osman Digna. His story was that, when he
was about to be killed by some of the Haden
dowas, he declared himself a Mohammedan, and
this saved his life. He was taken to Tamai, and
after the fight at the zaribas, the Arabs returned
there with seven more of our native drivers, who
had been cut off" in their flight to Suakin. He
had had an interview with Osman Digna, who,
he said, had given orders that Mohammedan
prisoners were to be treated with kindness. He
also said that, although on the day we visited
Tamai there were only a few men there, there
was a large force further on in the mountains,
but that they were all badly off for food.
The 2nd Brigade was moved further up the
line as the rest of the force advanced, and
pitched their camp about two miles from the
No. I zariba, in readiness for a further advance
when required.
We were daily engaged running convoys out
to Handoub, and occasionally we had for our
escort only a small body of cavalry. This did
not seem altogether a wise measure, considering S

258 SUAKIN, 1885.

the lesson we had already learnt from treating
the enemy with too much indifference. On one
occasion our friends in No, i zariba watched us,
expecting every moment to see us attacked, as
a few hundred Arabs were seen on the hills
quite close to our line of march. It was a
curious thing, that, although we never knew
exactly where the enemy might be, our return
ing convoys not unfrequently moved without
an escort at all. Another serious loss in camels
would have crippled our transport very consider
ably, but still these risks were run, and the
safety of our camels left to chance.
In our advance to Handoub, we were accom
panied by Mahomet Ali, the friendly sheikh of
the Amarar tribe, who had been endeavouring
to persuade the Amarars to come in in a body,
though not with much success. After the short
campaign last year the " friendlies " had suffered
severely at the hands of Osman Digna, as soon
as we had sailed away in our ships, and they
were naturally not altogether inclined to run
the chance of the same thing occurring again.
They therefore demanded that we should
guarantee their protection before they submitted.
This it was impossible to grant, as we had no
idea what the future policy of the Government
might be with relation to the Siidan.

TAMAI. 259

On the 13th of April the Mounted Infantry
reconnoitred the country as far as Otao without
meeting with any of the enemy. Two wells
were found containing a small amount of water,
and it appeared probable that more might be
obtained by digging. The ground all the way
from Handoub to Otao, a distance of five miles,
is more open, the bush being much less thick.
On the 1 6th Otao was occupied by the Scots
Guards, with two guns and a squadron of the
5th Lancers, Nothing was seen of the enemy.
There was a good deal of sickness now among
the troops, principally from dysentery and sun-
troke, but enteric fever was also increasing, and
one or two cases had terminated fatally. The
work was very hard, as it always must be in war
time, the weather was frightfully hot, and the
climate not of the best, so what with the want
of good food and water and the incessant labour
from dawn till dark, the percentage of sick was
slowly rising, and the hospitals were filling apace.
The campaign dragged slowly on, and there
was no fighting to relieve the drudgery of the
day, the long marches, or the never-ending con
voys. A good fight would have brightened us
all up, but it was evident now that Osman Digna
did not intend to try issues with us again. We

26o SUAKIN, 1885.
heard he was doing his utmost to collect his
followers, but the tribes were all engaged up in
the mountains sowing their crops. A few
scattered bands still hovered about the country,
but these generally made off" when any of our
cavalry or Mounted Infantry approached, and
the whole country appeared deserted.
The most extraordinary rumours reached us
from England, about the Government being
pressed to withdraw from the Sudan altogether,
and give up the destruction ofthe tribes, against
whom we had no real quarrel. We hardly
credited this, though, and we could not believe
that the enormous outlay and loss of life would
have been allowed unless the Government had
had some decided aim in view.
Berber seemed a very long way off to us, and
we still had two hundred and sixty miles left to
do. I do not think we ever imagined for a
moment that the railway would be carried all
the way, and with the hot season now beginning
we thought we had quite enough before us to get
to Ariab, before the autumn. How much of the
force would eventually reach Berber in time for
the advance on Khartoum was a matter of the
vaguest speculation, the general idea being that
we should not participate at all in this part of

TAMAI. 261

the programme, but merely occupy a point to
threaten the enemy's flank and cut ofif their retreat
in this direction when Khartoum had fallen. So,
as I say, the days and hours dragged on, the
hospitals filled, the sick were sent away home
ward, and those that were left toiled on in their
now ragged clothes from sunrise till sunset.

262 SUAKIN, li

CHAPTER XI.
HOSPITAL,
A DHOOLIE is a comfortable conveyance, I was
carried some miles in one, I was to have been
sent down to hospital in a cart drawn by a pair
of mules, till some one suggested this would be
a painful experience. So a dhoolie was sent for,
and shortly after I was lying inside it, with my
Mrater-bottle for a pillow and my small amount
of kit following behind on a camel.
Let me explain what a dhoolie is to those
who have never seen one. Suspended from a
thick bamboo pole some ten feet in length is
a light iron frame six feet six inches long and
three feet broad. Across this frame is stretched
some stout canvas, while at the ends and sides
a similar piece of material, about six inches
broad, is fixed round to prevent the occupant
from falling out. The corners of the iron frame
work are fitted with short legs, so that when the

HOSPITAL. 263

dhoolie is put down the person inside does not
touch the ground. Curtains, two feet six inches
high, go all round the dhoolie, fitted at the top
to a cane framework, the roof being made of a
swinging sort of awning of thick canvas. The
bearers are eight in number, and two work at a
time at each end of the pole ; so there are two
reliefs, and no stoppage need be made. These
dhoolie-bearers are Indians regularly trained in
the art of carrying the sick. They move at a
sort of running shuffle, taking care to break the
step so as to stop any swinging of the dhoolie.
The sort of shuffling noise these fellows make
with their feet will, no doubt, recall many sad
experiences, and maybe also hours of much
suffering, to those who have been carried in a
dhoolie in war-time,
"Good-bye, old chap," from a friend, and
" challow Quarantine Island" (go on to Quaran
tine Island) to the bearers, and I was on my
journey to one of the hospital-ships in the
harbour. I do not know how far I had gone when the
dhoolie was quietly put on the ground, and I
heard the bearers sit themselves down and begin
talking. Theirs happened to be one of the many

264 SUAKIN, 1885.

languages I was unable to talk, and, moreover,
I was too ill to raise my voice much above a
whisper ; but, pulling aside one of the curtains, I
saw I was near some tents, and as there was a
sergeant standing by, I made signs to him to come
to me. The only answer I received from this
individual was, " You bide where you are ; " so
no doubt he did not recognize me as an officer
—how should he in the rags I had on .-'
At length I managed, by pointing to my
bearers the direction in which I wished to
go, to start them again, and nothing particular
occurred for the next mile save the periodical
changing of the reliefs.
After a while I was again put on the ground,
and this time found myself at the Base Hospital
at " H " Redoubt
" What have you got here ? " says a sentry
to the bearers — the English soldier always
thinks every one must speak his language, " Oh,
a officer, is it ? Well, what's the use a-bringing
on 'im 'ere ? I tell ye he's for Quarantine
Island." But by this time a doctor had come up, who
very kindly asked me whether I should like to
go on by train, as the "Flying Hadendowa"
would be passing directly. Thinking that the

HOSPITAL. 265

dhoolie would be more comfortable than the
somewhat primitive Suakin-Berber railwa}^, I
said that on the whole I would rather stick to
my dhoolie. Thus I lost my chance of a ride
on this famous line, which some one naively
described as a line which begins nowhere and
ends nowhere else.
This time I really did get to Quarantine
Island ; and when my bearers stopped again
another doctor pulled my curtains aside, and,
shaking me by the hand, said, " You will have
to wait a bit, but we will have a boat for you
presently ; meanwhile we will draw these cur
tains aside, and you will get the air." So I lay
like this for half an hour, surrounded by all the
bustle and the dust of that busy landing-place.
Many came and stared at me, and passed
remarks the reverse of inspiriting,
" Well, he's a gone coon, anyhow," said one.
" Lor', don't he look ill ! " said another. " Sun
stroke," said a third. " I tell ye he isn't sun
stroke," said a fourth ; " 'e've been wounded,"
and so on. They settled it between thejn some
how or other, but how made little difference
to me.
The boat came at last, and then, being unable
to move, I was rolled out of the dhoolie into

266 SUAKIN, 1885.
the dust, and picked up and put in the boat.
Ten minutes' pulling brought me to the hospital-
ship, I was carried up the side, and in another
minute found myself on a comfortable bed in a
cabin all to myself, too ill to care much about
anything, and too tired to do anything but fall
asleep at once, I shall never forget the peace,
quiet, and contentment of the first few hours in
that small cabin. The air blew in cool through
the port, the silence was only broken by the
plashing of the water against the ship's great
sides, and with this music in my ears I fell
asleep. They were very kind to us in hospital, and
everything that could be done was done for the
sick and the wounded. It seemed very odd to
hear a woman's voice again, and we ought all to
be very grateful for the loving care bestowed
upon us by the lady nurses. There were many
of these, both in the shore-hospitals as well as in
the two hospital-ships, and their scarlet capes
and cheery faces did much to brighten up the
different tents and cabins. We often talk of the
way we soldiers are ordered off here and there
at short notice, but I think few soldiers ever
started for foreign service with shorter notice
than did some of these lady nurses, I knew of

HOSPITAL. 267

one, aged not more than one and twenty, who
received her orders for Suakin at nine o'clock
one night and had to be ready to sail the next
morning at seven. What can we say of such
devotion as this, of a readiness to share with the
soldiers their trials and hardships, to tend them
when sick, and to soothe them in their hours of
greatest suffering .'' To brave all the horrors of
a military hospital, and to fight at the same time
against a climate, requires a noble spirit indeed,
and women who are able and willing to under
take such duties, forgetful of self, and mindful
only of the sufferings of others, should rank
among the very highest of their sex. Women
teach us many things, but above all they teach
us unselfishness.
One of the greatest drawbacks to our hospital
was the enormous number of rats, I awoke
one night to find upwards of a dozen in my
cabin. They were the most confidential rats
I ever saw, and they seemed to know per
fectly well that, being a cripple, I was unable
to get at them. They would take a jump right
across from the bunk on one side of the cabin
on to the top of me ; but I got accustomed to
them at last, and quite content that they should
enjoy themselves so long as they did not crawl

268 SUAKIN, li

over my face. Besides the rats, there were
thousands and thousands of cockroaches of all
sizes, the largest measuring an inch and a half
long. Some people would have objected to
these more than the rats, but I preferred any
thing to the cold paws of a rat on my face.
That was really objectionable, and, what was
worse, it generally woke one up with a start
There were cases of all sorts in hospital —
wounds of the most curious and interesting
description, the doctors said ; cases of sunstroke,
many of dysentery, fevers of various kinds,
affections of the eyes, small-pox, and even
cholera. The small-pox patients were kept on
a lighter at the entrance to the harbour, and I
never heard of more than two cases of cholera.
I think the one I pitied more than most was an
officer who had served his country in the Crimea
and in China, and who had had a lengthened
experience in the Sudan besides. A finer
soldier and a kinder-hearted or more genial man
I never met. He was suffering from an acute
attack of some disease of the eyes which
rendered him for the time blind. Being, of
course, unable to read, and having nothing to
occupy himself a\ ith, he used to wander up and
down the saloon all day long, and when night

HOSPITAL. 269

came he was unable to sleep for pain. One day
a ship started for home with invalids and he
was ordered in her, but at the last moment they
had no room for him, and he was condemned
to another week or more on the hospital-ship.
He never murmured, he was always cheerful ;
but when the ship came at last and took him
away, he reached England but to die.
There were many cases as sad as this, and
many died ere reaching home — victims to a
climate and to the hardships of war. Denied
the glory of a death in the heat of action, they
succumbed to the foe that slays in greater
numbers than either the spear or the bullet — a
death less glorious, perhaps, but a life given for
Queen and Country just the same. The sorrows
following after a war are, for the most part,
localized. The nation feels not as a whole the
loss of its soldiers ; but they feel who find gaps
where formerly stood cheery, manly forms, who
miss the ring of the voice they loved so well, and
the light heart and ready grip of the hand. The
day will come when the troops will return, the
towns will be gay with many-coloured flags,
bands will play and crowds will cheer, and who
among all the concourse that watch that home
coming will miss the forms of those who come
not.'

270 SUAKIN, 1885.
Our friends came to see us in hospital when
time would allow, but many were too far up the
country now to come down easily to Suakin.
Let me give one instance of the way one soldier
helps another. I was lying on my bed one hot
afternoon, the temperature even in the cool of
the hospital being 88° all through the day, when
in comes a friend, saying," Here are your letters,
old chap. Good-bye ; I can't stop,"
That friend had, ridden many miles in all the
fierce heat of a noonday sun, and when over
done with work, to bring me what soldiers value
most on service — home news.
May I thank him here ?
And now my story is almost over. One night
they told me they were going to send me home,
I don't know that the news was good news, for I
would far rather have come home with the rest ;
and though the war was said to be over, I did
not like leaving friends behind.
The next morning, early, we were put on
board a lighter and towed off" to the ship that
was to take us home.
We were put on board with our baggage, and
stood for some time on the lower deck waiting
for our cabins to be told off to us. We were a
motley-looking crowd certainly as we stood or

HOSPITAL. 271
sat there in our ragged, worn-out clothes.
There were a good many of us. Men with ban
daged heads, with arms in slings, with battered
helmets and torn jackets. Men looking ill and
worn, and with that peculiar expression of
countenance begotten of days of fatigue, of
nights of anxious watching, of hours of suffer
ing, and times of great privation.
Why does not one of our great artists paint
a picture such as this ? The world would rave
about it, people would stand by the hour and
gaze at it, crowds would wonder at it, and
women would weep over it, while some might
faintly realize the sufferings of the men who
are content to go out with a smile upon their
countenances, to brave hourly, daily, nightly,
death in its most horrible forms, and then to
return, some of them, a shadow of their former
selves. " Soldiers," said one of England's greatest
generals, "your labours, your privations, your
sufferings, and your valour will not be forgotten
by a grateful country."
We pray this may be so.
THE END.

PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED,
LONDON AND BECCLES.

A LIST OF
KEG AN PAUL, TRENCH & CO.'S
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A LIST OF
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CONTENTS.

PAGE
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Military Wora^s. ,

PAGE
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. 21

Poetry ....

. 34

. 23

Works of Fiction

. 42

riFic

Books for the Young

¦ 43

. 30

General Literature.
Parchment Liurary ,
Pulpit Commentary .
International Scientific
Series . ,

GENERAL UTERATURE.
A. K. II. B. — From a Quiet Place, A Volume of Senuons,
Cro^wn 8vo, 5j.
ALLEN, Rev. R., ,(1i;.-i,— Abraham ; his Life, Times, and
Travels, 3S00 ye.irs ago, "SYith Majj, Second Edition,
Post 8vo, ds.
ALLIES, T. W., M.A.—'Per Crucem ad Lucem. The Result of a
Life. 2 vols. Demy Svo, 25^,
A Life's Decision. Crown Svo, 7,1, 61/,
ALLNATT, F.J. B., jS",/?,— The 'Witness of St, Matthe-w. An
Inquiry into the Sequence of Inspired Thought pervading the
First Gospel, and into its Result of Uriity, Symmeti-j', and Com
pleteness, as a Perfect Portrait of the Perfect ilan. Crown Svo, 5^'
AMOS, Professor Sheldon.— "Vcxe, History and Principles of the
Civil La-w of Rome, An aid to the Study of Scientific and
Comparative Jurisprudence. Demy Svo. ids.
Ancient and Modern Britons, A Retrospect. 2 vols. Demy Svo,
24s,

Kegan Paul, Trench & Co.'s Publications. 3
ANDERDON, Rev. W. ,^.— Fasti Apostolici ; a Chronology of the
Years between the Ascension of our Lord and the Martyrdom
of SS. Peter and Paul, Second Edition. Enlarged. Square
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Kegan Paul, Trinck & Co.'s Ptiblications. 13
HA WTHORNE, Nathaniel— continued.
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