A DOLEFUL DESCRIPTION OF SUAKIN.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VII, Issue 1959, 8 April 1885, Page 2

A DOLEFUL DESCRIPTION OF SUAKIN.

The' Sydney Morning Herald,' after a long account of the movements of the ! volunteers for the.Soudan campaign, who will have to land and possibly stay for some time at Suakin, cruelly • publishes this doleful description of the place:— "From a letter kindly shown us by Mr Herbert Raymond, written by that gentleman's brother Percy, who was lately serving as an officer onboard one of the.' British-Indian steamers conveying troops and boats to Suakin:—'This place —Suakin—is about one-of the most miserable places! was ever in; it ia nothing but sand; not a bit of green, and it is fearfully hot. The harbour (if you can call it such) is composed of nothing but cod reefs, and the ships have to bo moored at the head and stqrn to prevent them swinging w,hen the wind shifts, becauleif they did they would strike on the opposite ooral roof, so you may imagine what spaoe there is, and you oan fancy how nioo it' was when we discovered that we had to be moored here for six or eight months, and all tho sick soldiers on board. There was nothing to do except to boat, sail, and fish all day, At nighttime wp M pretty lively tlmosof It, because tho rebels used to come down ane pepper away with their rifles. They nover do any damage, only waste their ammunition, and as soon as the men-of' war which are down there start firing at theiu they clear out, They could novor understand the electric light, When the men of war put it on them they said it was a second sun. They are a fine set of fellows, and fight with rifles and spears. We have killed a lot of their men, but on oiir side up to the time I left no one had been killed. What damages oiir fellows is, the awfully unhealthy climate. I managed to hang out for three Weeks, and then I was seized with the same thing that is killing all our troops, and' that is. dysentery, 1 wjuj laid pon bqarjj the sjjjpfiu' three weeks, and, by that time I was not worth much, so' the doctors or : dered. nip home, which I was not sorry to hear," The date"of the lotto,? is.f>? ; cemba* 4,1884,