The mails from Dongola have brought some interesting items of
news as to the expedition, collected by the various newspaper correspondents. The army is apparently without boots, and almost without underclothing. The former item is not so serious as it sounds. The native is, of course, always barefoot, and it is chiefly as a mark of distinction that the Soudanese soldier values the enormous lace-up boots in which he tramps across the sands of Egypt. Many officers believe that the sandal—adopted by the Italians for their native levies—would be an improvement, but hesitate to urge the change on account of the men's feelings. Another story of boots from the front deals with the "horned vipers," which appear to have found the officers' foot-gear a convenient sleeping-place. A good story of pluck is that of a surgeon extracting a bullet from the hand of an Egyptian Staff officer, both patient and operator remaining in their saddles during the operation. Colonel Colville, it is reported, though badly wounded, led the landing party at Dongola in pyjamas and slippers, revolver in hand. Perhaps, however, the most striking item of all is that which recounts the Dervishes coming into the Mudirieh at Dongola in crowds, and stripping off their jibbehs—the tunics covered with patches which mark the Dervishes off from other men—to undergo a medical ex- amination prior to enlisting in a Sondanese regiment. Imagine an army recruiting itself as it goes from the beaten enemy,— and getting excellent soldiers too.
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