GORDON S POSITION, STATE OF AFFAIRS IN KHARTUM. 79 my hands and on yours. I hope it will be an understood thing that every Egyptian soldier you find belongs to you, and that you will not send him back to me. I nobly present you with them all; and then, besides that, you have the glory of living representatives of your rescuing expedition. ... I am sending down the Bordeen and Talatween the day after to-morrow to Shendy, with orders to leave one steamer at Shendy, and go on. with the other four to Berber, and to remain in its neighbourhood. The Mansoivrah will stay at Shendy, and the Talatween, Bordeen, Saphia, and Towfikia will go towards Berber I shall keep Ismailia and Husseinyeh here."

This will show the amazing energy of Gordon. The steamers were cruising on the Nile ready to meet and to aid the troops when they should arrive; but those troops were months behind the time at which he had expected them. On the 19th of October, 1884, he had in Khartum 2316 black troops, regulars, 142 1 white troops, 1906 Cairo Bashi-Bazouks, 2330 Shaggiyeh, 692 townspeople enrolled; a total of 8665 more or less fighting men; but the white troops and Bashi-Bazouks were, as we have seen, to be got rid of as soon as possible; to "be sent to Berber as soon as it is possible to find transport, and as soon as you get to Berber." He had 12 guns upon lines, 11 steamers, 21,141 rounds of gun ammunition, 2,165,000 rounds of Remington small-arms ammunition, and a weekly turn-out of 40,000 rounds from the arsenal.

In the magazine were 4018 ardebs of grain, 349,000 okes of biscuit. The consumption by the troops was 500 ardebs a week. There were 7 steamers, 58 private boats, 53 government boats, and the money in hand amounted to 2900 in specie and .139,195 in paper. An entry in the journal, October 20, ends by deploring the loss of the Abbas and the Fascher, and saying, "What one has felt so much here is the want of men like Gessi, or Messodaglia, or Slatin, but I have no one to whom I could intrust expeditions like that.

I have prepared to clear out of the palace and have five houses ready for occupation. I hope Cuzzi's baggage will be searched, for I feel sure he is a traitor. A slave came in this evening from Waled-a-goun with the usual story of the near