A flag-staff about eighty feet high
had been neatly erected by Lieut. Baker on the highest point of land
overlooking the river. Every small bush had been cleared away, and the
position in the centre of an open park-like country would have formed an
admirable race-course. The troops, having had two days' rest to wash
their clothes and burnish up their arms and accoutrements, marched from
the station at Gondokoro at 6 A.M.
I had 1,200 men on the ground, including ten mountain rifled guns
throwing 8 and 1/4 lbs. shell.
In their clean white uniforms, with the neat koofeeia or sun-cloth,
which, covering the head, drooped gracefully upon the shoulders, the
troops showed to great advantage, as they marched with the band playing
from head-quarters to the flagstaff above my station. As they filed
through the green trees, and then formed into sections of companies as
they emerged into the open ground, the effect was exceedingly good, and
the sheik, Allorron, and his friends, the headmen of many villages,
looked with amazement upon a scene that was altogether new to them.
Having arrived opposite the flag-staff, the troops formed in line two
deep on the flat grassy surface of the heights above my station. The
long row of glittering bayonets and the gay uniforms of the officers
bewildered the astonished natives. All the sailors, servants, and
camp-followers were dressed in their best clothes. The prevailing
colours, white and red, looked exceedingly gay upon the close and even
surface of the green turf. My staff was composed of my aides-de-camp,
Lieutenant Baker, R.N., Lieut.-Colonel Abd-el-Kader, together with three
other officers, and Mr. Higginbotham. At that time the horses were all
in excellent condition.
Having ridden along the line and halted beneath the flag, the troops
formed three sides of a square with the flag-staff in the centre. The
fourth side, facing the river, was then occupied by the artillery, with
ten guns.
The formality of reading the official proclamation, describing the
annexation of the country to Egypt in the name of the Khedive, then took
place at the foot of the flag-staff. At the termination of the last
sentence, the Ottoman flag was quickly run up by the halyards and
fluttered in the strong breeze at the mast-head. The officers with drawn
swords saluted the flag, the troops presented arms, and the batteries of
artillery fired a royal salute.
This ceremony being completed, the troops marched past; after which,
they formed in order for a supposed attack upon an imaginary enemy, and
fired away about ten thousand rounds of blank cartridge in the advance
down the long slope which led to the temporary camp and tents erected
for the entertainment. Here the bugle sounded "disperse," and all the
men immediately set to work to light fires and prepare the food that had
been already supplied for their dinners.
