WARS OF THE NINETIES. 116 weowe our safety in the steamer, as well as the safety of Sir C. Wilson and his party— whoundoubtedly wouldhave been killed if the steamer had been destroyed— to the untiring energy of Sub-Lieutenant Keppel." Amongst the officers who commanded other boats in the flotilla was Lieutenant Beatty, R.N., who took charge of the gunboats in the Dongola campaign after Colvillewasdisabledbyhiswound,andLieutenant Cowan, R.N., who had seen active service in both East and West Africa.

team"of eight mules, led, not mounted, by then drivers. The shells were carried into action on a special pack-saddle, one mule carrying four ot them. In order thoroughly to prepare the gunners for the work they were to do, Colonel Wingate collected from the refugees and spies fromOmdurman details as to the fortifications, and a model to full scaleof part ofthe stone wall of the Khalifa's citadel wasbuilt up on the edge of the desert at Abbasiyeh, outside Cairo. The guns were brought into action against it,and ONE OF THE NEW SCREW GUNBOATS FOR KHARTOUM.

made a wide breach with a coupleof shots. The 32nd field battery of the Royal Artillery, which wasalso to form part of the Sirdar's force, spent some time at the Abbasiyeh ranges. It was practised at field-firing under service conditions, against fixedandmoving targets. Some of the latter were screens representing Dervishcavalry, and they were drawn rapidly across the rangein various directions by teams of mules harnessed to them by a long rope. The gunners thus acquired a complete confidence in their power of destroying any obstacle, and hitting also the most difficult moving targets. Allthis waspart of the generalplan of leaving nothingto chance., andpreparing carefully for everypossible event.

It was decided that the British brigade which Other important preparations were made at Woolwich and at Cairo. The 37th field batteryof the Royal Artillery were sent out toEgypt, equipped with heavy howitzers, and a detachment of the 16thcompany of GarrisonArtillery with two siege guns throwing a 50-pound shell, loaded not with gunpowder,but with the powerful high explosive known as Lyddite. These shells were to be used for the destruction of theKhalifa's fortificationsat Omdurman. The effect of a Lyddite shell is not to batter the target by the force of its impact, but to blow it to pieces with a shattering explosion so heavy thatit is said nothing is safe withina radius of some hundred yards round the point where it bursts. The guns were drawn by a