ks, shirts and other necessaries were given free to every
patient. The steamer did good service, making at least three round
trips to bring down patients.

The wounds received in battle had scarce been dressed before the
Sirdar was seeking to give effect to his schemes for the well-being of
the Soudanese. Means were taken for the speedy connecting by telegraph
of Suakin and Berber, Suakin, Kassala, Gedarif, Khartoum. The wire
from Dakhala to Nasri was brought on to Omdurman a few days after the
victory. Arrangements were further made to bridge the Atbara and carry
forward the Wady Halfa-Abu Hamed-Dakhala line along the east bank to a
point upon the Blue Nile opposite Khartoum. That railway will be
completed in 1899, and there will be through train service from Wady
Halfa to the junction of the two Niles. With the suitable steamers
already in hand, there should be, all the year round, water
communication up the Blue Nile for hundreds of miles, and upon the
White Nile, with a few porterages, to the Great Equatorial Lakes, and
west through the Bahr el Ghazal country. So much was for commerce, for
material benefaction, but there was besides recognition of what was
due to higher needs. I knew the Sirdar had long entertained the idea
of fitly commemorating General Gordon's glorious self-abnegation in
striving to help the natives, single-handed, fighting unto death
ignorance and fanaticism. A scheme that would provide for the
education of the youth of the Soudan, conveying to them the stores of
knowledge taught in the colleges of civilised countries, was what he
aimed at. The desired institution should be founded in Khartoum, which
was to become a centre of light and guidance for the new nation being
born to rule Central Africa. As the Mussulman is nothing if not
fanatical whenever religious questions are introduced, it was to be a
foundation solely devoted to teaching exact knowledge without any
"ism."

I had the opportunity afforded me of several conversations with the
Sirdar upon the subject so dear to him, "a Gordon Memorial College in
Khartoum." The substance of these interviews I cabled fully to the
_Daily Telegraph_, which, with most other journals, warmly advocated
the carrying out of the scheme. It was certain that Gordon and
Khartoum would remain objects of interest to our race, and that public
sentiment demanded the erection of some proper memorial of the sad
past. Nothing better than the founding of a People's Co