Captain Shepherd must be ranked as one of the exploring travellers of the Royal Engineers. In the year 1877 he made an adventurous journey homeward from China, through Mongolia and Siberia, following a track but little known to Europeans. He has given a very good account of his journey, making light of its difficulties and hardships; but reading between the lines, it is easy to see that these were by no means light. After leaving Pekin he pushed northwards, until he came to the great wall of China, which he thus describes :

"The steepness and roughness of the road increase as we near the top; a short cut, with a quarter of an hour's serious scrambling, brings us to an enclosure with two gateways, which is the outlet through the inner wall. The place is desert, the wall bare of guardians, its front face, smooth and unassailable, silently excludes the outer world; on the inside steps and slopes lead up to the pathway along the ramparts, whose noble dimensions would fitly be occupied only by giants. With dogged perseverance and unbroken regularity the wall climbs hill after hill, and reaches from crest to crest; a square tower crowns each eminence. You seem to be gazing at some marvel traced by magic in defiance of earthly difficulties, or in scorn of man's weaker toil; no other signs of his presence exist to temper your imagination, nor to suggest that his patient industry is sufficient to create this wonder; all you can take in are bare hills, with the wall creeping up to the top, to dive down on the farther side, and again to rise and fall in a long sinuous line over more distant peaks."

The journey was not difficult so long as the road lay within Chinese territory. It was only when the Mongolian desert was reached that hardships really began. After passing Kalgan, it was necessary to make provision for the rough work to be encountered. Here is Shepherd's account of his desert march :—

"After dinner we make a start and travel a few hours through the night, halting at about 10 p.m. The camels are unladen, the cart propped up, and the two men stretch themselves on the ground to sleep. Next morning I wake betimes and look on the scene. There are no signs of habitation, or of any other man or beast than those of our party. My first impression is curiosity why this particular spot came to be chosen. There was, of course, no reason, the desert being like the sea is more than a phrase, and one feels the similarity almost from the start. We cross it in a general track, and where we finish we lie to; how can there be a choice when all around is alike a level green surface? It does not take long to harness and load the camels. Starting between five and six we march till ten, halt a couple of hours for breakfast, then march till sunset, halt for dinner, and again march till ten. This is the daily routine, which is changed only when very warm weather prolongs the morning halt. After the first week the camels begin to

grow leg-weary, and then, if the draught happen to be over sandy soil, the one in the shafts drops in his tracks, and it requires much twitching at his nose-string, and much assistance with a whip on my part, to induce him to get up again. During the halts they no longer care to eat; without moving from the spot where they have been seated side by side, they stretch their long necks along the ground and gravely blink their eyes, but otherwise are motionless. They get a drink of water every second day, and, for the rest, draw upon the resources stored in their humps."

He gives a description of the way in which the Mongols who were with him fed themselves:

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The iron pan, half-filled with water, is put on, and piled with joints of mutton above its rim. A quarter of an hour's boiling or steaming is a satisfactory allowance. The tongs are used for pinching the mess, which, when considered ready, is served out lump by lump, slices are cut off equal to an ordinary civilized helping. The meat is often seized by the teeth at one end, the other end of the joint is dragged by the left hand, while a knife assists in detaching a good fid, which is swallowed in a gulp. A large joint per man is consumed, and the balance is stowed away in a bag for the evening meal."

Thus he pushed his way across the desert, the monotony being at times varied by a severe storm of wind, hail, or snow, until, towards the end of September, he approached the valley of Urga. By this time his animals were nearly worn out.

"My camels lie patiently side by side; they are past attempting to improve their condition, grumbling hoarsely only when some hungry sheep browses at their wool; the scene is not one of sleep, but a picture of final rest; the earth lies under a white pall, not a tree nor tuft of grass protrudes through the covering; beyond our encampment the whole area is a blank, pure and spotless, a vast sheet from which the artist hand has chosen to exclude all signs of life and action."

After a stay of two days at Urga, where he was able to procure three fresh camels, he pushed on to Kiachta, a journey of six days. Here he entered Russian territory, being on the frontier of Siberia.

"On the 2nd October we reach Mah-ma-chin; here I must give up my Chinese passport, a splendid document three feet by two, adorned with a margin of flourishes, and setting out the names of the British minister and myself in long columns of artistic writing. I am then allowed to pass on to the Russian settlement of Kiachta, a few hundred yards distant."

From this point the journey became easier; post horses were procurable, and the travelling, though still not devoid of hardships, comparatively straightforward.

"The road generally through Siberia is abominably bad; except at bridges, where it must be banked, the road makes itself, and is nothing better than a score of cart-ruts. It must be remembered that I am writing of the main military and commercial road through Siberia."

Captain Shepherd has recorded much of interest in the remainder of his journey, but it does not call for further detail in this work.

PART IV.-BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS.

THE following biographical sketches have been compiled with the object of showing in more detail than was possible in the general history of the Corps, the work of some of those of its members who have distinguished themselves beyond their compeers. In order to prevent such sketches from assuming proportions too great for inclusion in this work, they have been restricted to the public acts of those whose career has been traced. No social details have been admitted, the biographies commencing only from the time when the subjects thereof entered the Corps.

The order in which they have been placed requires a few words of explanation. Three courses were open to me. First, to rank them in the order of their importance; second, to class them alphabetically; third, to place them in the order of their historical sequence. The last has been the one adopted, the date of the first commission in the Corps being taken as the guide. In compiling these lives, I desire to express my sense of obligation to Colonel H. Yule, R.E., to whose admirable Obituary Notices of deceased Engineers which have from time to time appeared in the pages of the "Royal Engineer Journal," I am indebted for many of the sketches of Officers of the Indian branch of the service. The life of General Skinner has been abridged from one sent to me by his descendant, Captain Monier Skinner, R.E.; and that of Sir John Burgoyne has been greatly taken from the valuable work of MajorGeneral the Hon. George Wrottesley. I would also acknowledge my obligations to Sir Lawrence Jones, who has kindly permitted me to make use of an autobiography of his grandfather, Sir John Jones, printed only for private circulation. One curious point may be mentioned with respect to this autobiography, viz., that it is written in the third person.

In the case of three of the lives, I have allowed myself larger space than was possible for the remainder. They form what I may term the Trilogy of the Corps. Sir John Burgoyne, Lord Napier

of Magdala, and Major-General Charles George Gordon stand out so pre-eminently above their compeers, that it was only fitting their respective careers should be dealt with in some detail.

I have omitted from the list those who are yet alive, and to this I have made but one exception, viz., Lord Napier. To have produced a series of Engineer Biographies in which that honoured name found no place would have been an unpardonable omission, and in this instance I have broken through the rule. As regards the remainder, and they are many, who have earned distinction, but who are still with us and prepared to do further good work, I feel that it will be well the record of their services should await the completion of their respective careers. In most cases what they have done is recorded under one of the several heads under which this work is divided, and does not seem to call for further detail.

Many of the names of those who were at the head of the Corps in its earliest days find no place in these sketches. Of some of them, such as Sir Charles Lloyd, Sir Bernard de Gomme, and Sir Martin Beckman, little has been recorded from which to compile even a brief biography; whilst of others, such as Armstrong and Lascelles, the principal incidents of their respective careers are told in Part I.

Doubtless many names have been omitted which should find a place in these pages, and differences of opinion will arise as to the merits of some of those who have been selected for notice. Still it is hoped that on the whole a fairly just choice has been made, and that in the record of so many valuable lives, the Corps will be found not unworthily represented.

BRIGADIER-GENERAL HOLCROFT BLOOD

was son of the notorious Colonel Blood, who in the reign of Charles II. endeavoured to steal the Crown jewels from the Tower. He served on board the English fleet in the second Dutch War in 1672-3, and afterwards became a cadet in the French Guards. There he began the study of fortification, in which he obtained so great a proficiency that, when in 1688 James II. formed an Ordnance Train as part of an army to resist the threatened invasion of the country by William of Orange, Blood was appointed Captain of the Pioneers.

After the Revolution, William III. placed him on the Establishment as an Engineer, and in 1696 raised him to the position of