Part 3

circumstances will account for Lord Stratford's anxiety to have some troops of his own at Constantinople. This arrangement will be in every respect more agreeable, inasmuch as no base has been established as yet at Gallipoli, Malta serving as such for the present, where we should hope to have all our stores, reserve ammunition, etc. etc. Between you and me, I do not think matters have been well arranged at the Horse Guards. Excepting the Guards, no brigade has been put together as yet. Hardly any of the Staff have come out, although the whole of the infantry of the Expeditionary Force has not only been at Malta for some considerable time, but has actually gone on to the seat of war, leaving their Brigadier-Generals and Staff to follow them at some later time, instead of those officers being the first to land and superintend the disembarking and first settling down in a foreign land of their respective brigades. Some 15,000 troops are now at Gallipoli, not brigaded, and with the exception of Sir George Brown and a staff of five officers, there is only one Brigadier-General (besides the Colonel of Engineers) to look after them all. I cannot tell you how we all long to be off, and how we look forward to Lord Raglan's arrival to have our forces arranged and handled by a true master hand. There were reports at first that the neighbourhood of Gallipoli was deficient in wood and water, but from a letter I have seen from Lady Erroll (who intends accompanying her husband in the Rifles all through the campaign) there is an ample supply of both, wood being procured from Asia, as there is not a tree hardly in the whole peninsula. The French have been beforehand with us in landing in Turkey; before our Rifles started, some 5000 or 6000 French had already gone on. All their ships conveying troops have touched here on their way to coal, chiefly as yet from Algeria. I should think nearly 20,000 were landed in Turkey already. Our troops here are in admirable health and spirits, though a little bored at remaining so long inactive. They are conducting themselves in the most exemplary manner. Ella's trip to Constantinople was very successful; she saw Henry there for three days, and remained out altogether twelve days, which enabled her to see a great deal, and derive immense pleasure from her visit. I have been quite delighted with this island, and from having been here so long with little to do, have had opportunities of seeing it in a manner which does not fall to the lot of ordinary tourists. Last week, four of us made a complete tour of Malta and Gozo; we took a dragoman with us and two mules, on which latter we placed a tent and our kettles and eatables. We remained about four days and completely explored the island, sleeping under our tent at night, and cooking our dinner ourselves; Ij'^ing down early, and being up with tent packed ready to start soon after sunrise. There are very beautiful spots to be seen, and a very great deal to interest one, which can only be seen in the way we saw it. A more priest-ridden spot does not exist on the face of the earth, consequently the island is covered with churches, most of them very handsome. The utter absence of trees is very remarkable, you hardly see such a thing; and considering Malta's celebrity for oranges, it is a singular fact that, with the exception of two small groves, there is not an orange tree visible, the gardens being all surrounded by walls to protect them from the sea-breeze. Valetta is one of the cleanest, most picturesque towns I have seen, and the view of the Grand Harbour, upon which you can look down to a depth of 200 or 300 feet from certain parts of the town, with its numerous forts, is probably as fine as any of its kind in the world. I hope my next letter will be of a more interesting nature than this one, and that it may contain some account of our active proceedings, which seem to me to have been sadly delayed. Give my kindest and best love to Julia,^ and tell her I am often thinking of her and all the dear girls.... An Illustrated News would now and then be very