DISCUSSION ON ARTILLERY. 
n 
one shell which blew out the whole area contained between the figure 
formed by these holes and thus made a large rent which you could have 
driven a wagon through. That was not the effect I think of a single 
shell but was the result of several shells which made the holes first of all 
and then this one came and blew out the middle. At any rate that 
object had no resisting power against those shells. The walls of the 
citadel were very much larger and thicker; they were reported as 
having been from fifteen to twenty feet high and about six feet in 
thickness, and in those walls I saw shells blow large holes, very large 
holes! 
The Chairman :—Right through the walls ? 
Lieut.-Colonel Elmslie :—Yes Sir, I saw holes made in the walls by 
single shells, and large holes. I do not mean just where the shell pass¬ 
ed through, but holes big enough for a man to walk through, after a 
certain number of hits whole sections of wall fell. 
The Chairman :—What were the walls made of ? 
Lieut.-Colonel Elmslie :—I think. Sir, if you ask Captain Buckle 
who actually examined them, he can tell you better than I can. They 
were of large stones fastened together with mud and so on. After a cer¬ 
tain number of hits large pieces of wall fell down and we were able to 
see right into the place. It was through one of those breaches which we 
made, that the gun-boats were able to fire right up the main street. I 
did not myself, of course, see any effects on people except in one in¬ 
stance. I certainly saw one man who was bolting from a barrack; we 
were firing at a barrack, or what I took to be a barrack, and inside that 
barrack must have been the most awful place in this world with the 
shells bursting there. I saw beams and all sorts of things flying in 
the air and these fearful explosions were going on. We were firing 
battery fire at the rate of at least three shots a minute. The great gate 
of the barrack was facing us on the river bank, and I saw this gate 
open a bit and men began to bolt in one’s, two’s, and three’s ; they ran 
along the front and got round the corner, but when one man was bolt¬ 
ing a shell happened to burst close to him and he disappeared alto¬ 
gether ; there was no body, that I could see and people who entered the 
town told me that a good many men who were probably close to the 
explosions, were actually blown in pieces. Unfortunately we did not 
get the chance of testing the shells at a body of men; I should like 
to have seen that just to know what they could do, but there was no 
opportunity. 
I do not know. Sir, that there is anything else I can say. 
The Chairman :—We are very much obliged to you (applause). 
Now, perhaps Captain Buckle who was in Colonel Elmslie’s battery 
at Omdurman would tell us something of what he observed of the 
effects of these shells. 
Captain A. S. Buckle :—Sir Henry Brackenbury and gentlemen, I 
am afraid I have not very much to add to what Colonel Elmslie has 
said; the examination that we made was rather hasty but still I can, 
perhaps, give a few details of the buildings that were shot at. 
The Mahdi’s tomb was really rather a strong structure ; the lower 
