76 THE WAR IN THE SOUDAN.

CHAPTER XX.

THE VOYAGEURS.

The intelligence and ability of Canadian boatmen, as displayed in the Red River expedition, had so inspired Lord Wolseley with the fact of their value, that he determined to make use of a Canadian contingent to aid in transporting his troops up the river Nile.

He therefore telegraphed to Lord Melgund who forthwith communica ed with authorities throughout Canada, and in a short space of time between 400 and 500 voyageurs—some from the Ottawa valley, some from Winnipeg, many from Lower Canada, including Caughnawaga Indians—were got together under the command of Major Denison.

After being inspected by Lord Lansdowne they left Canada for Alexandria on September 15 in the Ocean King, arriving at their destination on the 8th of October.

Perhaps the best possible way of presenting a picture of the kind of work done by the voyageurs will be to quote from a letter, written in diary form, from one of themselves.* Speaking of the passage of the Hannek cataract, Mr. J. A. Sherlock writes:— “ It looked almost an impossible thing to take a heavy loaded boat up, yet it was done with strained muscles helped by strong will, many a heavy dip we met where the craft hung for five minutes or more, every effort to propel her useless until a favourable gust of wind would come and give its welcome aid, and then slowly but surely the obstacle would be overcome and the oars¬ men get a short breathing and resting spell. By good steering and manage¬ ment combined with the efforts of brawny arms we came to a place where neither oars nor sails availed, and where we could not land to use the tow rope, but with the exercise of a little judgment and ingenuity, we made a bold effort to surmount the difficulty. A rope was attached to some osier bushes above the fall and bound to some poles and then dropped down towards us, * By kind permission of Mr. Lucius Sherlock, of Peterborough, I am permitted to publish extracts from the letters of his late son, John Andrew Sherlock, one of the most intrepid of the Canadian voyageurs. Mr. J. A. Sherlock was one of the 86 who from their ability were chosen to remain with the expedition when the services of the remain der of the contingent were dispensed with. His death was telegraphed to this country in the interval between the printing of the letter on pages 25, 26, 27 and the one here quoted.