ently expressed in his Journals. The following passages are
examples:--

"_October 31st._--I have ever felt the greatest insecurity
respecting the lines, for I believe 100 determined men would carry
them with ease, if they made their attack on the Shaggyeh or
Bashi-Bazouk part.... The Cairo Turkish Bashi-Bazouks, the
Shaggyeh, and the Fellaheen soldiers, I will back against any
troops in the world for cowardice."

"_November 17th._--I certainly lay claim to having commanded, more
often than any other man, cowardly troops, but this experience of
1884 beats all past experiences; the worst of the matter is that
you cannot believe one word the officers say."

On November 2nd he writes: "Six weeks' consumption! and then the sponge
must be thrown up." Fortunately, he discovered on November 11th that a
robbery by some corrupt Egyptian officials had been going on, and that
2-1/2 million lbs. of biscuit--worth L9000 at any time, but at least
L26,000 during the siege--had been stolen. The recovery of this helped
him to hold out a little longer. On December 13th he writes:--

"We have in hand 1,796,000 rounds Remington ammunition; 540 rounds
Krupp; 6000 rounds mountain gun ammunition; L140 in specie; L18,000
in paper in treasury! L60,000 in town in paper; 110,000 okes of
biscuits; 700 ard ebs of dhoora....

"We are going to send down the _Bordeen_ the day after to-morrow,
and with her I shall send this Journal. _If some effort is not made
before ten days' time the town will fall._"

The following day, December 14th, was the last as far as his ability to
communicate with the outer world was concerned. Though he held on for
nearly six weeks longer, nothing is known accurately after the
_Bordeen_ left Khartoum. Writing to the commander of the approaching
Expeditionary Force, he says:--

"I send down the steamer _Bordeen_ to-morrow, with vol. vi. of my
private journal, containing account of the events in Khartoum from
November 5 to December 14. The state of affairs is such that one
cannot foresee further than five to seven days, after which the
town may at any time fall. I have done all in my power to hold out,
but I own I consider the position is extremely critical, almost
desperate; and I say this without any feeling of bitterness with
respect to Her Majesty's Government, but merely as a matter of
fact. Should the town fal