NO VIMU AIMGOLIA vi PREFACE. agree with more recent information. In preparing the Journal for publication, I have omitted several passages which were of interest only to myself and to my friends; and I have made many verbal alterations, which were rendered necessary by the haste with which it was written. The Journal was not written with a view to publication; but on my return to England, some friends, who had seen it, strongly advised me to publish, as they thought that some fuller account of the attempt to reach Khartum in General Gordon's steamers than has yet appeared should be given to the public. My reluctance to publish has delayed its appearance. I thought at the time that, if we had reached Khartum before it fell, the presence of two armed steamers with a small detachment of British soldiers (twenty) might have turned the scale in General Gordon's favour. The fuller knowledge which I now possess of the condition of the garrison, and of the determination of the Mahdi to attack Khartum before the English arrived, leads me to believe that if the steamers had left Gubat a week earlier, the result would have been the same; and that even if it had been possible for them to have reached Khartum on the 25th January, their presence would not have averted the fall of the city. The failure of the Relief Expedition to attain its object was deeply and sincerely regretted by every one in the force-by no one more so than by myself, for General Gordon was not only a brother officer but a personal friend. It failed; but, to quote Lord Wolseley's words, "this was from no lack of courage or of discipline, of dash or of endurance; . . . all ranks worked as hard as human beings could, hoping to render the earliest possible assistance to their heroic comrade who was besieged in Khartum." DUBLIN, October 31, 1885. C. W. WILSON. CONTENTS. PAGE KORTI TO JAKDUL. Jebel Sergain-Touch of the enemy-Night in the zeribah-Abu Klea-Preparations—The battle- Preparations-The night-march-The enemy sighted -A zeribah formed-The zeribah-Sir Herbert Stewart wounded-Redoubts constructed - Cas- b Abu Kru occupied-Return to the zeribah-The zeribah-Burial of the dead-The battle-field- Return to Abu Kru-Bivouac at Abu Kru- Arrival of Gordon's steamers - Gordon's soldiers landed-Gordon's note of December 29-Position of British force-Withdrawal from Matammeh— Major Pöe wounded-Return to Abu Kru-Let- GUBAT TO SHENDY AND BACK. In Gordon's steamers-Off Shendy-Mr Ingram— Preparations-Start from Gubat-Gordon's steamers -Native soldiers - Gordon's decoration - The 'Bordein'-The 'Talahawiyeh'-Friendly Shagi- yeh-Feki Mustafa-Stop for wood-Our pros- pects-Wad Habashi—The ‘Bordein' aground— The Bordein' aground again - An awkward place-Shabloka-Jebel Royan-Report of Gor- |