LORD WOLSELEY OP CAIRO, COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF THE BRITISH EXPEDITION TO THE SOUDAN.

CHAPTER XIII The instructions given to Lord Wolseley on his departure for Egypt, statedthat the primary object of the expeditionwas to bring awayGeneralGordonand Colonel Stewart from Khartoum; and when that purpose was effected, no further offensive operationsof any kind were to be undertaken, for the British government was of opinionthatEgyptian rule in the Soudan should cease, or certainly not extend beyond Wady Haifa,near the second cataract, and some 200 miles above the old frontier town of Assouan. ,Lord Wolseley was not to take any steps for the relief of Kassala or Senaar, and he wasexpressly forbidden to extendhis operations to Darfour, the Bahr Ghazal, or the Equatorial Provinces. The Governmentevenquestioned the necessityof advancing as far as Khartoum,and expressed the desire that the sphere of the military operationsshouldbe limitedas Lord Wolseley's instructions.— Dispatch of troops and stores.— The row boats arrive from England.— Mr. Cook's transportcontract. — No gentlemen tourists or travellingofficers allowedabove Assouan. — Activity at Assiout.— Sending the row boats up the Nile.— The scenery of the river.— LordWolseley startsforthe front.— Picnics inthe temple of Cleopatra, and visits Philæ. — Rumours of the bombardment of Berber.— The murder of Colonel Stewart, Mr. Powerand M. Herbin.— Narrative of an eye-witness.— Stewart's mission toDongola and Gordon's indignant appeal.— The Mudir's victory at Khorti. Dispatch of troops to Dongola.— The banks of the Nile ablaze.— Lord Wolseley at Wady Haifa.— The military hospital.— The "Railway Company" and its work.— The first boatshauled through therapids.— The Nile between Wady Haifa andDal.— The belly of rocks.— Up the cataracts in anuggar.— Manitobaboys at work.— Accidents at therapids.— Soldier killed by a crocodile.— Hauling the steamers through the gates.— The canoe raft and the Yarrow steamer.— Transport of stores to Dongola.