1896] Abbas on the Dongola Campaign 243 



parole, he was reinstated only to escape and betray again. We shall see 

 this honourable soldier made a K.C.B. [And so he was]. 



" 27th Oct. — Arrived at Sheykh Obeyd to-day, the garden very 

 green and beautiful. The Nile is a't its full, and everything is drink- 

 ing deeply in the hot sun. I am surprised, as I am every year surprised, 

 at the quality of the loveliness, the vivid colours, the depths of shade, 

 the brilliancy of the light. It is an absurdity to waste one's life else- 

 where. I am too idle to wri'te, I can only enjoy. 



"gih Nov. — Sheykh Mohammed Abdu called to-day, and we had 

 a long talk about the Khedive. Abdu is dissatisfied with certain things 

 His Highness has done, and especially with a dispute about land he 

 has had with Hassan Musa el Akkad. He calls the Khedive's con- 

 duct puerile, which it doubtless is. He says that his marriage was en- 

 tirely his mother's doing. When Abbas first came back from Europe, 

 he wished to have a bachelor's establishment without women, but his 

 mother forced half-a-dozen slaves on him, and eventually he chose 

 the one he has married. He has had a new disappointment this year 

 in the birth of a second daughter instead of a son. 



" igth Nov. — To Cairo to see the Khedive. He received me in the 

 same friendly way as always, and talked, as always, without reserve. 

 He asked me if I had been to Constantinople, and we discussed the 

 situation there and the probability of European intervention, which 

 mus'fc come with the Sultan's increasing financial difficulties. The 

 power of the Porte will then be re-established and a financial control 

 set up. 



" He talked much about Dongola and the unfairness that had been 

 exercised towards his own Egyptian soldiers as contrasted with the 

 English soldiers, only one baggage camel was allowed to every five 

 Egyptian officers, while Ki'tchener took as many as 150 camels for 

 himself and his mess. The Egyptian soldiers had to do all the work, 

 the English got all the credit. As to the English battalion it did next 

 to no work, and did not even march on foot, but was sent by rail 

 while all the Egyptians marched. The fellah soldiers, too, had never a 

 hot meal given them, nor more than ten hours rest in the twenty-four. 

 They had insufficient water, and only two loaves instead of the three 

 they gave them at Cairo, the third loaf 'they could have, but they must 

 pay for it. I asked him how much the expedition had cost. He said 

 first a half million taken from the Caisse, then several hundred thou- 

 sands taken for the railway. He did not know when the expedition 

 would be renewed, but not till next autumn. 



" He also told me the whole history of Rhodes and the Soudanese 

 he took from Cairo. He, the Khedive, had seen them himself being 

 embarked for Suez. There were 200 of then, men got together by 

 Kitchener, and made over to Rhodes in a lump. Kitchener had told 



