With The Camel Corps Up the Nile

By: Edward Gleichen

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Synopsis: A fine account by one of its officers of the role of the Camel Corps in the abortive attempt to save Gen. Gordon and Khartoum in 1885. Despite the grim context the book manages to be witty on the subject of camels.An intriguing account of the part played by the Camel Corps in the 1885 expedition mounted—too late, in the author’s opinion—by the Gladstone Government in the forlorn hope of saving Khartoum from the forces of the Mahdi, and rescuing General Gordon. Gleichen was an aristocratic officer of the Grenadier Guards seconded—to his great joy—to the Camel Corps from garrison duty in Dublin. His book is a record of battles fought and won, of dangers run and difficulties overcome—and of ultimate frustration when the ‘worst possible news’ arrives of Gordon’s death. En route the reader learns a great deal about the behaviour and management of camels. With four appendices on the Camel Corp’s composition and losses, and illustrated with the author’s own talented and witty drawings and a map.-Print ed.