2 WITH THE CAMEL CORPS UP THE NILE.

necessary to rescue General Gordon from his perilous

position at Khartoum, which he had held since the

previous February.

" Better late than never ;

" ac-

cordingly an expedition was equipped to proceed up

the river, in pursuance of a determination which

ought to have been carried out at least three months

earlier.

The idea had only recently been started that, in

order to allow of troops acting with any success up

the Nile, it was absolutely necessary that a certain

proportion of them should be mounted on camels,

both for facility of transport across the desert (if

necessary) to Khartoum, and for rapidity of action.

Accordingly a Camel Corps was organised, drawn half

from the Cavalry and half from the Infantry.

The Cavalry part was to be composed of detach-

ments from all the Cavalry regiments in Great Britain

at the time, subdivided into " Heavies" and "Lights;"

the Infantry part of detachments from the Brigade of

Guards and from the regiments already out in Egypt,

these last to go by the name of (Camel) Mounted

infantry.