River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1882-09-07
POSSIBILITIES OF THE MAR.
The Camp of the Egyptian and Brit
ish Armies-The Bedouin as n sol

Pail Malta zette.

Pail Mall Gazette. 49,
Face to face are the armies of the
Egyptians and the British, and an
action is impending The Egyptians,
should they be defeated, have Cairo
and the Libyan desert to fly to. The
British, with Alexandria at their back
and an Alexandria, moreover, which
Is covered by the guns of one of the
strongest fleets that ever went forth to
do battle with an antagonist-have
tolerably secure place of retreat in the
event of any disaster Detailing their
arms. The routine OF the British sol
cier's life in the time of warfare is sim
liar to that of the American. In the
morning he must fall into ranks at bu
gle-call and answer to his name. Later
he has to take his turn at guard or
picket duty. He may have to fall in
to a patrolling party or take part in
reconnaissance; then when he has
nothing more to do, he may lounge
about among the tents, smoking his
clay pipe or chatting with a comrade.
The scene differs strangely in the camp.
of the Egyptians. There the majority
of the soldiers are dressed in mongrel
European fashion, with tarboosh ur fez
as the most conspicuous national char
acteristic OF their uniform; but there is
minority whose picturesque costumes
are distinctly ORE ntal. The Bedouin
with his gaudily colored kercheif wrap
ped about his head, leaving ends that
float upon his shoulders, his long
white, mantle-like garments, and
his sandaled feet; the Soudanese, with
white turbans, flowing raiment and
baggy trousers; the Abyssinian adven-
turer, who dresses as he pleases, much
as his brother, the Nubian, does-all
form singular contrast with the
quietly uniformed soldiers of the "reg-
ular" force. On the eve of battle these
| soldiers show different scene in camp
| from that which their antagonists pres
ent. Sitting cross-legged in front of
their tents, which are out pieces OF
! thin canvass stretched on cross, sticks,
and are so low that their occupants
have to enter them by crawling, they
assemble in groups and pass around
the chibouque or narghileh, the bpb-
bling sound of which, as the smoke
passes through the water. is almost the
| OA1H 6Ouiiu llldG 10 nGdlO SACCpb bl1C
neighing or the stamping of the horses
that are picketed by the heels behind
the camps irregular lines.
An officer gallops along and warns
them to be ready. They rise hastily
to their feet, crawl into their tents for
their weapons and hustle up together
before they finally iall into line. But
they do it all with very little noise. Il
is possible to find not a noisy, but a
hilarious group; but this is geneI lily
where chosen few of the olack-iaoed
and laughter-lovlng faithful from the
SOudan have surrounded story-teller,
whose variations of the deeds of genii
or the merry tricks among mortals or
lesser supernatural worthless alternately
excite their deep voiced wonder or
their spontaneous, childlike mirth. A
British soldier, seeing an Arab or
Egyptian camp. and noting the recum-
bent position and stoical manner OF
the majority of its occupants, might
imagine that such people as these had
no energy for fighting, but be wauld be
egregiously mistaken. A French trav-
eler, who recently closely observed the
Egyptian army and AL its incongruous
elements of pure fellaheen--Copts,
Berbers, Nubians, Western Christians,
Turks, Abyssinians and Soudanese,
come to this conclusion: They are
admirably trained, drilled and discip-
lined under the supervision of sn ex-
ceedingly able staff of American and
other foreign officers, and the result is
that "a finer looking soldier than an
Egyptian soldier can be seen nowhere
Such is a brief sketch of the troops
that are now waiting" Arabs men
are strongly posted in the vicinity
of Ramleh; but his strongest position
is on the morrow neck of land which
stretches from the A5uukir Lake to the
northern verge of L Ike Moreotis. With
a broad country behind him. railroad
and plenty of water in the Mahmou-
dieh Canal, Arabl Bey ought to be able
to make stubborn resistance to any
British force attempting to move along
the neck and and drive him from his
position. A CONSPICUOUS feature of that
neck of land is that it is filled with
marshy ground, which will seriously
interfere with the free movements both
of British cavalry and artillery. The
ground Arab has chosen is, on the
contrary. firm enough to permit o.
very effective maneuverlng.