A LADY'S LETTER FROM THE SOUDAN.

Manawatu Standard, Volume X, Issue 17, 18 June 1885, Page 2

A LADY'S LETTER FROM THE SOUDAN.

The Lady's Pictorial has just received a leLier from a laiy at Cairo, who bravely accompanied hsr husband to Ejjypt when his regiment was put under orders for Souakim. She says : — " 1 have been to see our Korti wounded _ m the hospital to-day. You cannot imagine a finer set of men. Badly wounded fever-stricken, and invalided, yet all so cheerful, and making slight ot their terrible trials and all ready to go through everything again — -except the fearful dearth of water. Some of the men from the hot corner of the Square at Abu Klea are the worst wounded, for the natives always try to sever the spine at the base of the skull with their large spears, which are about lOin long. The consequence is that the poor follows who escape aliva are almost beheaded. One LifeguanlKinan had seven spear wounds and a hu^e spear-head was left sticking m his ai.ln *o firmly that it had to be cut ; out. Ho is quite pround of the horrid thing, and keeps it rolled up m cloth between the uaattrasses of his bed. He trotted off and got it m order that we might see his • trophy, 1 aa he calls it. I have just had a letter from my husband, containing a short account of that disastrous fight on a fatal Sunday. He says that, from pure mismanagement, it was nearly proving a very shocking and a terrible calamity indeed. . . . F was with poor Dalison when" he was • shot. They had been laughing and talking together the moment before, and F , having left him and run lorward to attend to some signals', was horrified on coming back to find Dalison shot through the heart. The Arabs all fight — men, women, and children. The women are armed like the men, and have their heads shaved. One handsome young woman fought her way into the middle of the square, and was found shot m five places. Neither Osman nor the Mahdi ever fight personally, but, like their predecessors, retire to some high hill, whence they can see all m safety and cari pray at their leisure."

When the late General Gordon was serving m the Crimea with the Engineers three young officers came under his notice whose intrepidity excited his attention and admiration. Thirty years have passed, and m the meantime these three, Lieutenants Wolseley, Roberts, and Stewart, have distinguished themselves and become tamous. Lord Wolseley is commanding the expedition originally plan to release Gordon from Khartoum. The van of the advancing army was bravely held by Sir Herbert Stewart until he fell at Gubat, and the third lieutenant is Sir Frederick Roberta, who is at present holdin? a high command m India.

By a coincidence it was m Khartoum, after a visit to General Gordon, then on the White Nile, that Colonel Burnaby resolved upon taking his famous ride to Khiva. A paragraph m an English newspaper stated that Russia would not permit a foreign traveller to enter its Asiatic possessions, and this inspired Colonel Burnably to make the attempt. We all know from his most entertaining narrative how he fared, but the tragic ending of the gallant sol dier 's adven turous career will arouse fresh interest m the story of his former Achievement. His " Ride to Khiva " has gone through numerous editions, and is now issued by Messrs Cassell and Company m a cheap form, price Is 9d m cloth. Apart from the association of its authorship, the book throws much light on Russian operations m the border lands of our Indian empire, a subject to which pub. lie attention' is being drawn with increasing interest.