l8o EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

during the day that the following should be the strength of the contingent:— Artillery: i field-officer, i captain, 3 subalterns, .1 staff-surgeon, i extra officer, 26 non-commissioned officers, 8 artificers, 3 trumpeters, 168 gunners and drivers—total, 212 men, with 172 horses; 21 carriages, 6 i6-lb. guns, 4 ammunitionwagons, I spare gun-carriage, i forage-wagon, i store-wagon, I general-service wagon, i store-cart, 6 small-arm wagons, for carrying infantry ammunition, and 300 rounds of shot per gun.

Infantry: Colonel Richardson, in command of the whole contingent. Lieutenant-colonel Christie, Captain Mackenzie, and a paymaster; 2 lieutenant-colonels, 2 majors, 3 captains, including an adjutant, 2 surgeons, 9 lieutenants, 4 staff-surgeons, i bugle-major, 4 colour-sergeants, 20 sergeants, 30 corporals, 8 buglers, 433 rank and file, making a total of 522 men in all, with 24 horses for the officers. This made a total force, both arms combined, of 734 men.

Telegrams were coming in from various places where there were volunteer corps, and the enrolment went rapidly on, the Central Station having been changed to the Victoria Barracks.

There the men were examined, and took an oath of loyalty, each man signing an agreement containing particulars of his name, age, locality, social and physical condition, personal identity, &c., and promising willingness to serve in the contingent for one year or two years if required. On Monday the 17th of February the steamship Atistralasian of the White Star Line, then in Sydney harbour, was offered to the government as a transport-ship. A London cablegram had stated that the duties of the troops would be principally to protect the navvies who were to be engaged in the construction of a railway from Suakim to Berber. But the news that perhaps gave the most general satisfaction was to the effect that Lord Wolseley had telegraphed from the Soudan to Lord Augustus Loftus, Governor of New South Wales, expressing his pride and pleasure at commanding the colonial troops about to leave for the Soudan. It was also learned with pleasure that the British soldiers at Korti, the head-quarters of the commander-in-chief, were delighted at the news of the approaching arrival of troops from New South Wales.