Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1882-09-07
POSSIBILITIES OF THE WAR.
The Camp of the Egyptian and Brit
Ish Arlnies-The Bedouin rs a Sol
dior

The Camp of the Egyptian and Brit
Ish Arnies-The BedOuin rs a Sol
dier
Pail Mall Gazette.
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 Libysn 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-havea a
tolerably secure place of retreat In the
event of any disaster Detailing their
arms. The routine of the British SOL
cler'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-cal and answer to his name. Later
he has to take his turn at guard or
picket duty. He may have to fall in
to patrolling party or take part in
a reconnaissance; then when he has
nothing more to do, he may lounge
about among the tents, smoking his
clay pipe or chatting with comrade.
The scene differs strangely In the camp.
of the Egyptians. There the majority
OF the soldiers are dressed in a mongrel
European fashion, with tarboosh or fez
as the most conspicuous national char
acterlstlc of their uniform: but there is
minority whose picturesque costumes
are distinctly oriental 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-alI
form a 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 but rieces 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 chlbouque or narghileh, the bnb-
bling sound of which, as the smoke
passes through the water. is almost the
only sound that Is heard except the
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 tall into line. But
they do it all with very little noise. It
is possible to find not noisy, but
hilarious group; but this is generally
where chosen few of the black-faced
and laughter-loving faithful FROM the
Soudan have surrounded a story y-teller,
whose narrations of the deeds of geni
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 he wauld be
egregiously mistaken. A French trav-
eler, who recently closely observed the
Egyptian army and all 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 an 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 brief sketch of the troops
that are now waiting" Arabi's men
are strongly posted in the vicinity
of Ramleh; but his strongest position
is on the morrow neck of land which
stretches from the Aboukir Lake to the
northern verge of Lake Moreotis. With
a broad country behind him, railroad
and plenty of water In the Mahmou-
dieh Canal, Arab Bey ought to be able
to make a 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 of
very effectiv5 maneuvering.