Although Colonel Swayne has arrived at Berbera, and is able
to announce that his force is safe, the Mullah having evidently feared to pursue him, it has been decided, we think wisely, to send a larger expedition against that pertinacious adventurer. Within a mouth a force esti- mated at five thousand men, with a fair supply of light artillery, will have passed through Berbera, and as most of its components will be picked regiments from India and the excellent Rifles raised in East Africa—not West Africa, as we wrote last week—it will be too strong for any attack. It may, moreover, be strengthened by camel corps which have been placed at the disposal of the Indian Government by the Princes of Jodhpore and Bikaneer, who will exult at the opportunity of testing the peculiar forces of which they are proud. The grand difficulty will be transport; but money will bring camels both from Aden and Mombasa, in addition to the large local supply, which, as the Italians are favourable, may be increased also from their territory. If the affair is left to the Indian Government, reserves will not be forgotten, and with the British force on one side, Italian Somaliland on the other, and the Abyssinians to the north, the Mullah should not find it so easy to escape as he has hitherto done. He has a good supply of rifles, but his store of cartridges can be at best but limited.
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