75 CHAPTER XXXII.

AT KHARTOUM.

THE army had spent the night after the battle partly in Omdurman, partly at Khor Shambat, near the northern suburbs. It was a comfortless bivouac, for it wasimpossible in the darkness to bring upsupplies to many of the battalions,and the men had the bestof conditionsentails a good dealof sickness, and the wet weather during part of the advance on Omdurman, together with the state of the city itself and its environs,led to more than the average of loss in this way. On the day after the battle there were more than 200 to lie down supperless and spend the night as best they could on the ground.Next dayaregular camp was formed on the Nile bank at Shambat. The morrow of the battle was a busytime. Arrangements had to be madefor sending down the wounded by theriver,fordisposing of the prisoners, and getting affairs in Omdurman itselfinto some order. The arrangements for the wounded of the Anglo-Egyptian armywereverycomplete. The Royal ArmyMedical Corps (which was engaged in the first campaign under its newtitle and with its neworganisation) had provided a numerous staff of surgeons and trained hospital assistants. The equipment was most invalided for sickness from the British division alone. The deaths from fever were much more numerous than those resulting from wounds received in battle. The bestremedy for this state of things was to get the white troops away as quickly as possible to the cooler north. On the Saturday andSundayallthe a',ailable transport was engaged in moving the wounded and sick. The river line was clear for themovement of troops on the Afondayafter the fight, and on that day the Sirdar sent off the first detachments of the British division.

Besides caring for our ownwounded and those of the Egyptian army, the medical staff did what they could for NEIGHBOURHOOD Ol'- OMDURMAN-.

complete, several sets of the Rontgen apparatus being provided for tracing the position of bullets in the wounds, and i floating hospitals had been organised on the barges of the flotilla, and a chain of hospitals along the line of communications, with a base hospital at the Atbara. Thence the less seriously wounded and the graver cases as they recovered could be sent north by a well-fitted hospital train.

Unfortunately the doctors had not to deal only with wounded men. A Nile campaign in the wounded Dervishes. A number of buildings, including the Sheikh ed Din's house, were cleared out and turned into temporary hospitals for them. With the help of some native doctors, two of whom had served under Gordon in the siege, their wounds dressed ; a nursing staff of native women was provided; the commissariat found food for them ; and thus cared for and sheltered,moss of them rapidly recovered. There were at one time between six and seven thousand of them in hospital.