energy the expedition was kept together. The sick and wounded were sent back to Khartoum, and the command was soon reduced to less than five hundred men of all ranks and occupations. Numerous expeditions were sent into the surrounding country, to the consternation of the natives, who were astonished at the appearance of the soldiers, especially as they were accompanied by music from the bugles of “The Forty Thieves” and the band of the Egyptian regiment.
At the expiration of his term of service, Baker descended the Nile and arrived at Cairo in August, 1873, where he was warmly received by the Khedive and decorated with the order of the “Medjidie.”
Colonel Gordon, whose name had become well known through his connection with the wars in China, and his organization of the army that received the title of “Ever Victorious,” was appointed to succeed Baker Pasha. Late in 1873 he proceeded to the Soudan, where he took command of the troops which had been left at Khartoum and Gondokoro. The expedition was reorganized, and in 1874 was ready to proceed. Fresh soldiers were sent from Cairo, a better equipment was given to the soldiers, and several of the foreign officers in the Khedive’s service were transferred to the Soudan. Arms, ammunition, goods, provisions, and all needed supplies were liberally provided, and the work of exploration and the suppression of the slave trade was actively pushed.
While I was in Egypt I became acquainted with two of the American officers who were to accompany Colonel Gordon, and they departed for the south during my stay at Cairo. They were Lieutenant-Colonel Long and Major Campbell, and both impressed me as able and efficient officers thoroughly devoted to their duty. As I write they are still in Equatorial Africa; the work of the expedition was expected to continue for three years from January, 1874, and is therefore far from complete.
The Khedive shows a determination to put an end to the barbarous traffic in humanity and to discover the sources of the Nile, thus setting at rest a question which has vexed the scientists from the days of Herodotus to our own. He has followed up his policy of annexation by taking the rich country of Darfoor under his standard and proclaiming it the territory of Egypt. Darfoor has long been at war with Egypt, and it is to be hoped that the annexation of the country will bring a lasting peace that will tend to agricultural and commercial development. The moral influence of breech-loaders and rifled artillery in the hands of Gordon and his energetic assistants is actively at work, and the results can be confidently expected at no distant day. The whole of Equatorial Africa will come under the sway of Egypt, and the old kingdom of the Pharaohs will assume an extent never dreamed of in the days of Isis and Osiris.
